Kursi (Gadara) (Israel)

Overview

Kursi, also known as the land of the Gadarenes in the region of the Decapolis. The Decapolis comprised 10 Roman cities that functioned like city-states. It was an immoral area representing all that sinful humanity had to offer. Therefore, it was considered unclean to the religious Jews. It was here where Jesus heals a man possessed by demons, casting them into a herd of pigs that ran down a steep bank into the sea (Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39). The caves where the demon-possessed man would have lived can be seen on the hillside above Kursi. This area is the site of the largest known Byzantine monastery complex in Israel, whose impressive remains have been partly reconstructed. On the side of the hill behind the monastery are the remains of an earlier chapel, built into a cave. It overlooks a huge boulder enclosed in a retaining wall of stones - identifying the site as the place of the miracle of the swine. It's also in this area that Jesus fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish (Matthew 15:29-39). It has other churches and monuments marking the key events that happened here.