Sea of Galilee key locations

Here’s a quick visual that can illustrate some of the towns on the northern shoreline of the Sea of  Galilee, and the region of the Gadarenes across the lake. The northern end of the lake was  populated by Jewish people. Each village had a synagogue. Life was completely different on the  eastern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. Hippos (also called Sussita), was part of the Decapolis.  Not only is there no synagogue there, but much of what the Bible labels as immoral was  celebrated in these Greek-styled cities. When Jesus went to the “other side of the lake,” his disciples probably weren’t surprised that a dangerous storm threatened to drown them. Once they  were safely ashore, they were immediately confronted by an out-of-control man living among the  tombs. A huge herd of pigs (Luke 8:22-39) was also close by, yet another sign that the area was  non-Jewish. The “other side” of the lake may have also been the “far country” that was the  setting of Jesus’ parable of a wayward son (Luke 15:13).