Gerasa (Judaea)

In the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War, around 66 CE, a place called Gerasa (Hebrew: גרש) (Ǧeraš) was overrun by the troops of Vespasian, under the command of Lucius Annius, who after taking the town, slew of its able-bodied men and took captive their wives and children.

Archaeologists Boaz Zissu and Ze'ev Safrai who have studied the various options have both concluded that the site is to be identified with Khirbet Jurish which once stood along the ancient Roman road from Jerusalem to Beit Gubrin, and which is now protected by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

The site, surveyed by archaeologist Boaz Zissu on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, covers an area of about 40 dunams (9.8 acres) and sits at an elevation of 751 metres (2,464 ft) above sea-level.

The ruin lay adjacent to the old Jerusalem-Beit Gubrin Roman road, and was visited by PEF explorers, Conder and Kitchener.

Safrai (1980/81) and Zissu (2007) have argued, from the sequence of events, that the toparchy of Akrabat (Acrabatenne) and the region adjoining thereto (i.e. Jurish of Samaria) were subdued by the Romans about one year after Vespasian's forces completed the encirclement of Jerusalem and had erected citadels in Jericho and in Adida, and had destroyed Gerasa in Judea, based on the timeline of these events in Josephus, The Jewish War 4:487 and 4:550–551.

H. St. J. Thackeray, translator and editor of Josephus' The Jewish War (4.9.1), and John Kitto,[15] have both thought that this Gerasa is none other than the site Jerash in Transjordan.

[16] Historical geographers have argued against Thackeray's view, claiming that Jerash in Transjordan was a Greek city on the side of the Romans, and even if the Jews had taken possession of Gerasa and expelled the Greeks, it leaves unexplained why Annius destroyed the city and also devastated the surrounding area - in the area of the Decapolis which was hardly Jewish; in fact, the excavations there have revealed no destruction at the time of the Jewish uprising.