Word Summary
Dekapolis: Decapolis, a region East of the Jordan
Original Word: ΔεκάπολιςTransliteration: Dekapolis
Phonetic Spelling: (dek-ap'-ol-is)
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Short Definition: Decapolis, a region East of the Jordan
Meaning: Decapolis -- a region East of the Jordan
Strong's Concordance
Decapolis.
From deka and polis; the ten-city region; the Decapolis, a district in Syria -- Decapolis.
see GREEK deka
see GREEK polis
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 1179: ΔεκάπολιςΔεκάπολις,
Δεκαπολισεως,
ἡ,
Decapolis (
regiodecapolitana,
Pliny, h. n. 5, 16, 17), i. e. a region embracing ten cities. This name is borne by a district of the tribe of Manasseh beyond the Jordan and bordering upon Syria, embracing ten principal cities with smaller towns also scattered in among them. But the ancient geographers vary in their enumeration of these ten cities.
Pliny, the passage cited reckons Damascus among them, which
Josephus seems to have excluded, calling Scythopolis
μεγίστην τῆς Δεκαπόλεως,
b. j. 3, 9, 7. All seem to agree in this, that Gadara, Hippo, Pella and Scythopolis were of the number. Cf.
Winers RWB under the word Decapolis; Vaihinger in
Herzog 3:325f;
Riehm, HWB, 266f; (
BB. DD., under the word):
Matthew 4:25;
Mark 5:20;
Mark 7:31.