Dura-Europos

Dura-Europos sits on a bluff over the Euphrates, a Hellenistic foundation that became a Roman frontier garrison, and when it fell in the 250s AD the defenders piled earth against the walls and sealed a whole streetful of buildings: the earliest well-preserved Christian house-church, a synagogue painted floor to ceiling with biblical scenes, temples of a dozen cults, and the famous painted shields. The paintings went to museums; the walls, gates and grid of streets remain on the bluff.

Background

The ruins occupy an escarpment on the southwestern side of the Euphrates, 90 metres above the river, near the village of Salhiyé. Seleucus I Nicator founded the city around 300 BC where an east-west trade route met the route along the river. A clay tablet from the time of King Hammurabi of Hana, 1900 BC, names the place Da-ma-ra. In the 2nd century BC it was rebuilt on the Hippodamian model, with rectangular blocks around a large central agora. After it was abandoned in 256-257 AD nothing was built on top, which is why it earned the name "Pompeii of the Desert". Franz Cumont coined the double name Dura-Europos in 1922, and digs ran in 1922-1937 and from 1986.

Source: Wikipedia, "Dura-Europos"

What's there

• The city walls - the circuit and towers above the river.
• The Palmyra Gate - the main entrance to the grid of streets.
• The house-church and synagogue sites - where the famous buildings stood.
• The Euphrates bluff - the drop the city was built to hold.

When to go

March to April and October to November are bearable; summer is extreme. Light on the walls is best early and late.

Things to know

The site was looted on a massive scale in the 2010s and the ground inside the walls is cratered with holes. The painted rooms themselves are long since in museums in Damascus and abroad. Access is remote and needs local arrangement.

Nearby

Mari is downriver, and Deir ez-Zor is northwest.

Key facts