Dura Europos

Dura-Europos' ruins are located near the village of Salihyia on the south bank of the Euphrates River northwest of Abu Kamal. This once thriving metropolis is located in what used to be a transitional zone between the Roman and the Parthian empires and as such had to change master more than once until it was definitively destroyed by the Sassanians in 256 C.E. 

This disaster would in time be a godsend to modern archaeologists for the simple reason that it has always been far easier, cheaper, and more rewarding to excavate abandoned sites than continuously inhabited urban centers such as Damascus to mention but one example. 

The works commenced in the early 1920's were to uncover 16 temples including a Christian Church, a Jewish Synagogue, and an edifice dedicated to Palmyrene gods. The city was a cosmopolitan center par excellence. 

This is not the place to elaborate on Dura-Europos' sad fate in the twenty first century at the hands of the murderous obscurantists known as the Islamic State, ISIS for short. Luckily quite few of the city's treasures were transferred to the National Museum of Damascus long before all hell broke loose back in 2011. 

This gorgeous fresco dates from the first century CE and is one of Damascus Museum's priceless collections. The scene takes place inside a temple with the priest Conon son of Nicostratus (first from left) preparing with his assistants to sacrifice an offering to the gods. Seen in the middle is his daughter Bithanaïa with four young men on her left, his sons and grandsons. In the forefront we identify a young girl and two boys. The clergy are barefooted as is the case for Ishtar's priesthood. This beautiful painting mixes Hellenistic with Oriental and Parthian influences. The figures are two-dimensional and there exists no sense of perspective. The views are all frontal and the look is fixed. The costumes follow  Hittite, Babylonian and Assyrian models. 

Gérard Degeorge 

Syrie

Art, Histoire, Architecture

Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts

1983