In older scholarship, the political and military roles of Dura Europos in the Parthian period located it as the front-line Parthian fortification on an agreed-upon frontier between Rome and Parthia on the Khabur river.113 As discussed in Chapter 3, the suggestion of the Khabur as an agreed frontier came from a reference by Isidore of Charax, together with archaeological observations of the walls at Dura made in the 1930s. Writing towards the end of the first century BC, Isidore referred to the village of Nabagath near the Khabur confluence as the place where the legions cross over into Roman territory.114 This reference, together with reports of a peace agreement between Augustus and Phraates IV in 20/19bc, were taken as an indication that the Khabur was fixed as the frontier as part of the agreement.115
The most extensive analysis of the fortifications at Dura was undertaken in the 1930s by Armin von Gerkan.116 Briefer preliminary studies of the walls were also made in the 1920s.117 Von Gerkan concluded that the
Figure 4.14 The desert wall and rampart pathway at Dura Europos looking north from near tower 18.
Towers of the walls were rebuilt in stone by the Parthians c. 65-19bc and that stone curtains were erected over most of the wall circuit in the same period.118 The dates were crucial to his interpretation as the work was held to have commenced at the time of Pompey’s establishment of the province of Syria and ended with the establishment of the peace agreement between Augustus and Phraates IV c. 20/19bc.119 Von Gerkan and Hopkins were keen to fit observations of Dura’s walls into these broader events. In doing so they claimed that Dura was part of the front line of Parthian defences against the Roman Empire after the agreement reached by Augustus and Phraates.120 Excavations and extensive analysis conducted more recently by Leriche show that the fortifications were mostly completed in the late Seleucid period and that the Parthians undertook very little work on them.121 It was noted in Chapter 1 that Isidore of Charax’s reference is more indicative of a boundary than a defended frontier. It is not until the second half of the first century AD, that we have any evidence for a permanent Roman military presence on the Euphrates, and that presence was much further up the river than the Euphrates/Khabur confluence.122
The period of Parthian rule at Dura Europos also witnessed the experience of Trajan’s extensive military campaign into the Parthian Empire. The evidence for the impact on Dura Europos of this campaign, which was directed largely down the Euphrates, includes the remains of a triumphal arch located just outside the city, which was dedicated to Trajan in 116.123 This event is also reflected in the numismatic evidence from Dura with a notable increase in denarii from the Rome mint at the city dating to Trajan’s reign.124 The earliest evidence of bronze coinage from the Rome mint found at Dura also comes from Trajan’s reign. There is no evidence from Dura to indicate that the Roman presence at the city during the campaigns of Trajan had any lasting effect. Indeed, the only specific indication of the Roman presence at Dura, other than the triumphal arch, is an inscription from the shrine of Epinicus and Alexander. It dates to 116/17 and records the dedication of new doors for the shrine because the original doors were taken away by the Romans when they left the city.125
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