Page 73 - Advanced Life of Christ - Student Textbook

Only one of these 10 cities was on the western side of the Jordan River, Beth Shean (where King Saul’s
headless body was strung up on the city gate by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 31:8-10). The Greeks
renamed it Scythopolis, and it may be this “distant country” that Jesus referenced in his Prodigal Son
parable when the son “fed the swine” (Greeks ate pork and used pigs in sacrifices). “Riotous living” was
also commonplace in Scythopolis (Luke 15:11-32).

Besides Scythopolis, Hippos is the only other Decapolis city in modern Israel today. The rest were too far
east, now in Jordan (Pella, Gadara, Dion, Gerasa, Canatha, and Raphana), and Syria (Damascus and
Philadelphia).

Several significant New Testament events happened by a Decapolis city:
• Jesus cast out demons into pigs, His first trip to a Gentile area in Gadara (Mark 5:9-20).
• Jesus healed a deaf mute (Mark 7:31-35).
• Jesus had huge crowds of followers here (Matthew 4:24-25).

Tour of Beth She’an

Eventually earthquakes, Rome’s fall, and multiple Muslim invasions led to the abandonment or
destruction of the Decapolis league, except for Damascus and Philadelphia (Amman today). Scythopolis
and Hippos are the two best-preserved Roman cities in Israel. Beth She’an or Scythopolis will take your
breath away. Most likely named for Scythian cavalry in the army of Ptolemy II, she has extensive ruins

Ruins of the city of Beth She’an also called Scythopolis, the capital city of the Cities of the Decapolis

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