A.T. Robertson Commentary Matthew 8:28

"And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man could pass by that way." — Matthew 8:28 (ASV)

The country of the Gadarenes (τεν χωραν των Γαδαρηνων). This is the correct text in Matthew while in Mr 5:1 and Lu 8:26 it is "the country of the Gerasenes." Dr. Thomson discovered by the lake the ruins of Khersa (Gerasa). This village is in the district of the city of Gadara some miles southeastward so that it can be called after Gerasa or Gadara. So Matthew speaks of "two demoniacs" while Mark and Luke mention only one, the leading one. " The tombs " (των μνημειων) were chambers cut into the mountain side common enough in Palestine then and now. On the eastern side of the lake the precipitous cliffs are of limestone formation and full of caves. It is one of the proofs that one is a maniac that he haunts the tombs. People shunned the region as dangerous because of the madmen.