In theNew Testament,Legion (Ancient Greek:λεγιών) is a group ofdemons, particularly those in two of three versions of theexorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, an account in thesynoptic Gospels of an incident in whichJesus of Nazareth performs anexorcism. Legion is a large collection of demonsthat share a single mind and will.
The earliest version of this story exists in theGospel of Mark, described as taking place in "the country of theGerasenes". Jesus encounters apossessed man and calls on the demon to emerge, demanding to know its name – an important element of traditional exorcism practice.[1] He finds the man is possessed by a multitude of demons who give the collective name of "Legion". Fearing that Jesus will drive them out of the world and into the abyss, they beg him instead to cast them into a herd of pigs on a nearby hill, which he does. The pigs then rush into the sea and are drowned (Mark 5:1–5:13).
This story is also in the other twoSynoptic Gospels. TheGospel of Luke shortens the story but retains most of the details including the name (Luke 8:26–8:33). TheGospel of Matthew shortens it more dramatically, changes the possessed man to two men (a particular stylistic device of this writer) and changes the location to "the country of theGadarenes". This is probably because the author was aware that Gerasa is actually around 50 km (31 mi) away from theSea of Galilee—although Gadara is still 10 km (6.2 mi) away. In this version, the demons are unnamed[2][3] (Matthew 8:28–8:32).
According to Michael Willett Newheart, professor of New Testament Language and Literature at theWashington, D.C.Howard University School of Divinity, in a 2004 lecture, the author of the Gospel of Mark could well have expected readers to associate the nameLegion withthe Roman military formation, active in the area at the time (around 70 AD).[4] The intention may be to show that Jesus is stronger than the occupying force of the Romans.[5] The Biblical scholarSeyoon Kim, however, points out that theLatinlegio was commonly used as a loanword inHebrew andAramaic to indicate an unspecified but large quantity.[6] In theNew Testament text, it is used as a proper name, which is "saturated with meaning".[7] In this sense, it can mean both the size and power of the occupying Roman armyas well as a multitude uncounted/ uncountable of demonic spirits. It is the latter sense that has become the common understanding of the term as an adjective in modern English (whereas when used as a noun it indicates the Roman military number, between 3,000 and 6,000 infantry with cavalry; cf. "we are legion" and "we are a legion").[8]