biology

Legion (demons)

Legion (demons) is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Legion (demons) rather than just read about it. In short: In the New Testament, Legion (Ancient Greek: λεγιών) is a group of demons, particularly those in two of three versions of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, an account in the synoptic Gospels of an incident in which Jesus of Nazareth performs an exorcism. Legion is a large collection of demons that form a group mind, sharing a single mind and will.

Key takeaways

Legion (demons) belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Legion (demons) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Legion (demons) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In the New Testament, Legion (Ancient Greek: λεγιών) is a group of demons, particularly those in two of three versions of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, an account in the synoptic Gospels of an incident in which Jesus of Nazareth performs an exorcism. Legion is a large collection of demons that form a group mind, sharing a single mind and will.

Development of the story

The earliest version of this story exists in the Gospel of Mark, described as taking place in "the country of the Gerasenes". Jesus encounters a possessed man and calls on the demon to emerge, demanding to know its name – an important element of traditional exorcism practice. 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 two Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of Luke shortens the story but retains most of the details including the name (Luke 8:26–8:33). The Gospel of Matthew shortens it more dramatically, changes the possessed man to two men, with Michael R. Licona noting a tendency by the author to doubling figures from Mark. The location becomes “the country of the Gadarenes”. The author likely was aware that Gerasa is around 50 km (31 mi) from Galilee, though Gadara is still 10 km (6.2 mi) away; ancient biographers could display such differences in detail, with Craig S. Keener noting a comparison with the location of Straton’s governance. In this version, the demons are unnamed. (Matthew 8:28–8:32).

Cultural background According to Michael Willett Newheart, professor of New Testament Language and Literature at the Howard University School of Divinity, in a 2004 lecture, the author of the Gospel of Mark could well have expected readers to associate the name Legion with the Roman military formation, active in the area at the time (around 70 AD). The intention may be to show that Jesus is stronger than the occupying force of the Romans. The Biblical scholar Seyoon Kim, however, points out that the Latin legio was commonly used as a loanword in Hebrew and Aramaic to indicate an unspecified but large quantity. In the New Testament text, it is used as a proper name, which is "saturated with meaning". In this sense, it can mean both the size and power of the occupying Roman army as 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").

References

Citations

Sources

See also Collective consciousness Group mind Hive mind (disambiguation) Roman legion

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

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Legion (demons)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Legion (demons) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Legion (demons) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Legion (demons) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Legion (demons)

In research: Legion (demons) appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Legion (demons) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Legion (demons) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Demons in Christianity, Exorcisms of Jesus, New Testament Latin words and phrases, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Legion (demons) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Legion (demons) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Legion (demons) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Legion (demons) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Legion (demons) in simple terms?

Why does Legion (demons) matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Legion (demons)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Legion (demons).