Jesus healing the man from Gerasa. Medieval illumination

Legion, also known as the Gadarene demon, or translated as Lots, is a demon found in the Christian Bible in Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30. A parallel version of the story can be found in Matthew 8:28-34, but this version does not contain the name "Legion" and tells of two men, not just one, possessed by a multitude of demons. In the story, Jesus traveled to "the country of the Gadarenes" (Luke 8:37), "the country of the Gergesenes" (Matthew 8:28), or "the region of the Gerasenes" (Mark 5:1) and met a man possessed by an evil spirit, which spoke to Jesus in a conversation. The most commonly quoted version is found in Mark 5:9: Image File history File links Healing_of_the_demon-possessed. ... Image File history File links Healing_of_the_demon-possessed. ... “Fiend” redirects here. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... The Gospel of Mark, anonymous[1] but traditionally ascribed to Mark the Evangelist, is a synoptic gospel of the New Testament. ... Mark 5 is the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Gospel of Luke (literally, according to Luke; Greek, Κατά Λουκαν, Kata Loukan) is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... Demonic possession, in supernatural belief systems, is a form of spiritual possession whereby certain malevolent extra-dimensional entities, demons, gain control over a mortal persons body, which is then used for an evil or destructive purpose. ...

And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. (KJV) [ it is argued that the phrasing is, "we are legion, for we are many"

Another version of the quote is in Luke 8:30: The King James or Authorized Version of the Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible first published in 1611. ... The Gospel of Luke (literally, according to Luke; Greek, Κατά Λουκαν, Kata Loukan) is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. ...

And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. (KJV)

In some versions of the Bible, the quote is different: We are mob, for there are so many of us The King James or Authorized Version of the Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible first published in 1611. ...

The demons that composed Legion were aware of the tremendous power of Jesus, and begged to be spared from being tossed back into the bottomless pit of Hell (none of the words translated Hell in the Bible are used, those being sheol, Gehenna, Haides, tartaros; rather, in Mark 5:10, the Greek word choras is used, translated "country" but more accurately meaning an empty expanse, and in Luke 8:31, the word abyssos is used, meaning a bottomless depth). Jesus instead cast the demons out of the man and, granting their request, allowed them to dwell in a herd of pigs. The pigs then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee. The Inferno redirects here. ... In Hebrew, ²² Sheol (שאול, Shol) is the abode of the dead, the underworld, the common grave of humankind or pit.[1] In the Hebrew Bible, it is a place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both the bad and the good, slave and king, pious and wicked must go at... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ... In Greek mythology, Tartarus, or Tartaros, is both a deity and a place in the underworld - even lower than Hades. ... An abyss (Greek: a-, privative, bussos, bottom) is a bottomless depth; hence any deep place. ... The Sea of Galilee or Lake Kinneret (Hebrew ים כנרת), is Israels largest freshwater lake. ...

Location

The Decapolis with the location of Gadara and Gerasa.

John Dominic Crossan believes the story may be considered a parable of anti-Roman resistance. This would explain why the Gospels variously situate the story in Gadara, Gerasa and Gergesa: All three would be disguises for Caesarea, the location he postulates for the actual events behind the story. Download high resolution version (513x752, 112 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (513x752, 112 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The oval forum and cardo of Gerasa (Jerash) The Decapolis (Greek: deka, ten; polis, city) was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Syria and Judea (renamed Palestine in 135 AD). ... John Dominic Crossan (born Nenagh, Co. ... Caesarea Palaestina, also called Caesarea Maritima, a town built by Herod the Great about 25 - 13 BC, lies on the sea-coast of Israel about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, on the site of a place previously called Pyrgos Stratonos (Strato or Stratons Tower, in Latin Turris Stratonis). ...

Other authors give the ruins of Umm Qais as the location of Gadara. Based upon the Gospel accounts, the location of the miracle had to have a nearby port, tombs for the men to live in, an area for pigs to graze, a nearby city to which the men could flee, and most importantly, a steep bank for the herd to rush down. The problem that has yet to be dealt with however is the site’s topography. Origen initially rejected Gadara for its lack of high ridges and steep slopes down which the pigs “ran violently down into the sea” (Matthew 8:32). Above the port there are multiple hills which could potentially match up with the biblical account. The most likely site is found at the end of a chain of hills that has a bank descending into the sea. The bank is the modern site of Tell es S’alib located near the New Testament Gadaran suburb of es-Samrah^[1]. A visual representation of the location of this tell can be seen in Mendel Nun’s work The Land of the Gadarenes^[2]. Although this tell may not have had as steep a slope as that found at Kursi, it does have a hill that runs into the sea and could accommodate a “large herd of swine numbering about 2,000” (Mark 5:11). In addition to the slope, other features of the site make it match up well with the biblical account of the miracle. In excavations by B. De Vries completed in 1973, a Roman tomb from the time of Jesus was found in a valley nearby es-Samrah^[3]. This could account for the tombs in which the demoniacs lived. Also, there is needed a nearby site where the swine would have grazed and “the groves of oak trees on the plateau above would have provided the acorns they favored” (Walking in their Sandals: 2^{[verification needed]}). Thus, the site of Gadara can align both textually and geographically with the biblical account of the demoniacs and the herd of swine. This entry incorporates text from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia with some modernisation. ... Origen Origen (Greek: ÅŒrigénÄ“s, 185–ca. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον, Kata Maththaion or Kata Matthaion) is a synoptic gospel in the New Testament, one of four canonical gospels. ... Tell Mar Elias, North Jordan in 2005 Tell or tall (Arabic: ‎, tall, and Hebrew: , tel), meaning hill or mound, is an archaeological site in the form of an earthen mound that results from the accumulation and subsequent erosion of material deposited by human occupation over long periods of time. ... ...

Joseph Atwill in his book Caesar's Messiah, believes that the story is a representation of Titus Vespasianus, as the messiah (see also Josephus' Jewish Wars 6.5.4), and the invading Roman Legions in dealing with the Zealots and their insurrection in Caesarea. The pigs may also be an allusion to Legio X Fretensis, which occupied Jerusalem after AD 70, and had the boar as one of its symbols. An editor has expressed a concern that the subject of the article does not satisfy the notability guideline. ... This is about the emperor of ancient Rome. ... In Judaism, the Messiah (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian ; Aramaic: , ; Arabic: , ; the Anointed One) at first meant any person who was anointed with oil on rising to a certain position among the ancient Israelites, at first that of High priest, later that of King and also that of a prophet. ... The Roman Legion (from Latin , from lego, legere, legi, lectus — to collect) is a term that can apply both as a transliteration of legio (conscription or army) to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly (and more commonly), to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of... Zealotry denotes zeal in excess, referring to cases where activism and ambition in relation to an ideology have become excessive to the point of being harmful to others, oneself, and ones own cause. ... Caesarea Palaestina, also called Caesarea Maritima, a town built by Herod the Great about 25 - 13 BC, lies on the sea-coast of Israel about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, on the site of a place previously called Pyrgos Stratonos (Strato or Stratons Tower, in Latin Turris Stratonis). ... Legio X Fretensis (Latin: Tenth legion of the sea strait) was a Roman legion levied by Augustus in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic. ...

The Bartimaeus connection

As noted above, Matthew has two demon-possessed men instead of one, and does not mention the name "Legion." Similarly, in his version of the Blind Man of Jericho, Matthew has two blind men instead of one and omits the name Bartimaeus, both men remaining anonymous. Duplication and anonymity are characteristics of the Matthean versions of both stories. Matthew the Evangelist (מתי, Gift of the LORD, Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew: Mattay; Septuagint Greek: Ματθαίος, Matthaios), most often called Saint Matthew, is an important Christian figure, and one of Jesus Twelve Apostles. ... Bartimaeus (more accurately Bar Timaeus, Son of Timaeus) is the name given in the Gospel of Mark to a blind man healed by Jesus as he exited Jericho (Mark 10:46-52). ...

In popular culture

See also: My name is Legion

Some works of fiction had taken "Legion" as the proper name of a demon. For example, William Peter Blatty's sequel to The Exorcist (the basis for the 1990 The Exorcist III, which he also directed) is called Legion. The collective aspect can be emphasized such as in Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, the second film in the heisei Gamera series, that uses the first biblical quote to introduce the space insects Legion. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Legion (demon). ... William Peter Blatty (born January 7, 1928) is an American writer. ... The Exorcist is a horror novel written by William Peter Blatty first published in 1971. ... The Exorcist III (also known as The Exorcist III: Legion or Exorcist III: Legion), is a 1990 horror movie directed by William Peter Blatty and based on Blattys novel Legion, the sequel to Blattys original Exorcist novel. ... Legion is a 1983 Horror novel by William Peter Blatty, a sequel to The Exorcist. ... Heisei (Japanese: 平成) is the current era name in Japan. ... Gamera ) is a giant, flying turtle-like creature from a popular series of daikaiju eiga monster movies produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company in Japan. ... Legion is a kaiju from the Heisei era, and is Gameras principal opponent in the 1996 film Gamera 2: Attack of Legion. ...

"We are legion, for we are many" was also referenced in the film Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage when the character Blackheart imbued himself with the power of thousands of damned souls.

In the Film The Exorcism of Emily Rose Legion is one of the demons said to be within the title character.

References

1. ^ Laney, J. Carl Geographical Aspects of the Life of Christ, page 141, Unpublished Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1977
2. ^ Nun, Mendel Gergesa (Kursi), page 5, Kibbutz Ein Gev, 1989
3. ^ Holm-Nielson, Svend, Gadarenes in Anchor Bible Dictionary vol. 2, page 867, ed. D.N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992

Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) is a conservative graduate-level theological seminary located in Dallas, Texas, which has been, according to its mission statement, equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of His Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide since its founding by Lewis Sperry Chafer... Kibbutz Ein Gev (or En Gev) is an Israeli kibbutz located along the eastern shore of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) in northern Israel. ... The Anchor Bible Series is a scholarly and commercial co-venture that has been setting a high standard since 1956, when individual volumes of the series began publication. ...

External links

• EarlyChristianWritings.com Gospel of Mark, see discussion at bottom of page