Matthew 8:28

The country of the Gadarenes (ten cwran twn Gadarhnwn). This is the correct text in Matthew while in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26 it is "the country of the Gerasenes." Dr. Thomson discovered by the lake the ruins of Khersa (Gerasa). This village is in the district of the city of Gadara some miles southeastward so that it can be called after Gerasa or Gadara. So Matthew speaks of "two demoniacs" while Mark and Luke mention only one, the leading one. "The tombs" (twn mnhmeiwn) were chambers cut into the mountain side common enough in Palestine then and now. On the eastern side of the lake the precipitous cliffs are of limestone formation and full of caves. It is one of the proofs that one is a maniac that he haunts the tombs. People shunned the region as dangerous because of the madmen.