few non-Jewish cities in the region not to kill or imprison its Jewish residents, and its residents even escorted any Jews who wanted to leave to the border.

Gerasa was the birthplace of the mathematician Nicomachus of Gerasa . It has been proposed to identify it as Geresh, a place mentioned by Josephus as the birthplace of Jewish Zealot leader Simon bar Giora, but other scholars identify it with modern-day Jurish.