5:1 the country of the Gerasenes. Gerasa was thirty miles southeast of the lake. There is also a village named Khersa on the eastern shore with the kind of cliffs and tombs described in the story. Jesus enters the Decapolis, a political association of ten independent Greek city-states, anticipating the future Gentile mission of the church. The Gentile character of the population is apparent since the Jews did not raise pigs, which were unclean under Mosaic law.