‘And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.'
‘The country of the Gerasenes.' Differing manuscripts and versions have different names for the area in mind, probably mainly because of the later difficulty of identification - Gerasenes, Gergesenes, Gadarenes, Gergustenes. Gerasa was a well known city thirty miles inland, (and must thus be ruled out, although its inhabitants may have owned land by the sea) and Gadara was six miles inland, although the land between Gadara and the sea was known as ‘the country of the Gadarenes'. Both Gerasa and Gadara were included among ‘The Ten Towns' (Decapolis), and Matthew actually identifies the place as ‘the country of the Gadarenes' because that was relatively well known and the incident took place in the area around Gadara. Mark however was more precise and may well have had in mind the small coastal town now known as Kersa or Koursi which is in that area (thus ‘the land of the Kerasenes' pronounced with a guttural). Near that town is a fairly steep slope within forty metres of the shore, and the cave tombs can still be seen there.
The whole region was known as the Ten Towns (Decapolis) because it was originally a place where ten major towns formed an alliance for mutual protection. It was semi-independent and ruled itself, although loosely connected to the Province of Syria. It was predominantly Gentile but had been at one time conquered by the Macabbees and thus now also contained a (relatively small) Jewish population. It may have been Jesus' intention to proclaim the coming Kingly Rule of God to the Jews in the area, although in the event He did not do so, but it is more likely that His intention was mainly to take a respite from the huge crowds that He could not avoid on Jewish territory.