Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to undertake a detailed analysis of some important aspects of the history of Dura Europos so as to better understand the city’s history in light of developments on the middle Euphrates and in Mesopotamia and Palmyra during the period in which the Romans controlled it. A review of the important evidence from Dura Europos from the Parthian and Roman periods is undertaken to illustrate continuity and change at the city as Roman power in the Near East developed from the first century BC. The ongoing importance of Hellenistic institutions at Dura Europos, together with the flourishing of the city in the Parthian period, forms part of the analysis. The remains of Dura’s prosperity in the first and second centuries ad demonstrate the city’s connections with the cities and regions which came under Roman control and influence in the first and second centuries AD.

The Roman period of control at Dura, and the evidence of a military nature from the city, forms an important section of this chapter. Considerable analysis of the Roman military evidence from Dura has been undertaken over the last 80 years, including the excellent recent studies by Nigel Pollard and Simon James.1 Pollard undertakes a detailed analysis of the relationship between soldiers and civilians at the city and investigates some important issues such as the possible ethnic origins and composition of the soldiers of the garrison. This study does not seek to replicate or challenge this analysis, but it does ask questions about some of the original assumptions made by the Yale excavation team. There have been various modifications of conclusions made by the original French and American excavation teams from the 1920s to the 1950s, but in some cases observations originally made on slender and difficult grounds are still accepted or are only subjected to limited questioning. Part of this chapter undertakes a review of some of the important material that was originally used to make assumptions about the Roman military presence at the city - assumptions that still hold but require more extensive

Figure 4.1 Aerial photograph from the Yale excavations of Dura Europos taken from the north. Reproduced with kind permission of Yale University Art Gallery.

Questioning so as to better understand the regional role played by the Dura garrison. The aim of this chapter is, therefore, twofold: first, it seeks to provide an up-to-date and more regionally contextualized history of one of the most important settlements on the middle Euphrates in the Parthian and Roman periods; second, it seeks to provide a better understanding of Dura’s military role by challenging earlier assumptions about the nature of the garrison at Dura and in particular the role of the Dux Ripae.