In his intriguing interpretation of the exorcism in Mark 5, Nick Perrin notes that the allusions to the Roman occupation go beyond the demonic name “Legion.”  The swine, he suggests, supplied the Roman garrison in nearby Hippos.  By sending the pigs over the cliff into the sea, Jesus is depriving “the legionnaires of a staple delicacy.  In this way, Jesus’ measures amounted, albeit in an indirect way, to an act of political sabotage.”

Further, “the wild boar was the mascot of the Tenth Legion, which occupied Palestine and therefore also Hippos.”