The papyri discovered at Dura Europos, together with the more recently discovered Euphrates papyri, show that there were numerous fortifications and other settlements along the Euphrates to the north and south of Dura, and also along the Khabur river, in the second and third centuries AD.6 The files of part of the third-century garrison, Cohors XX Palmyrenorum, show that detachments of soldiers from Dura were stationed at these locations along the Euphrates and Khabur rivers and demonstrate that Dura Europos had become a centre of military organization on the middle Euphrates by the early third century AD. It is also clear that Dura was an important centre for civil administration throughout the same area and that the soldiers of the garrison played an important role in this function. The many smaller fortifications at which soldiers of the Dura garrison were based in this region were an important means by which Rome controlled the middle Euphrates and lower Khabur, using the various methods discussed previously. Defence in time of war was an obvious role for these soldiers and fortifications, but they were generally not large enough to be effective in the event of a large-scale invasion.7
The military papyri from the Roman period, together with papyri of a civil nature from the Parthian period, also indicate that a number of
Figure 3.1 A section of P. Dura 101, a strength report of Cohors XX Palmyrenorum of AD 222. From C. B. Welles, R. O. Fink and J. F. Gilliam, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report Volume V, Part 1: The Parchments and Papyri, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959, plate XLV.
Fortified settlements across the territory of the middle Euphrates and the lower Khabur were in existence for centuries before the Romans arrived. Clearly, Dura played a significant role in civil administration in the Parthian period and this continued in the Roman period. The new element that the Romans brought to the region and to Dura itself was the significant role the Dura garrison and its soldiers would play in the process of Romanization.
The extent to which the territory of the middle Euphrates and lower Khabur rivers was controlled in military and administrative terms in the third century is demonstrated by the considerable list of locations named in the papyri of the Dura garrison. Roman soldiers were clearly present on the landscape, and the functions they performed were part of the process of establishing a long-term Roman presence in the area. It is worth considering just how extensive and regular the military presence was on the middle Euphrates and lower Khabur rivers as one way of understanding the consolidation and expansion of Roman power in Syria and Mesopotamia under the Severans. Some of the locations referred to in the papyri at which soldiers were stationed can be confidently identified today, others are the subject of speculation, while the locations of others are unknown. The list of cities captured in the invasions of Shapur I in the early 250s, and recorded on the SKZ, is also useful evidence when considering the military organization of the middle Euphrates in the third century AD. Despite problems in definitively identifying a number of relevant sites, the attempt at establishing the whereabouts of these locations provides a snapshot of the Roman military presence over a broad area.
The parchments and papyri discovered at Dura Europos include a number of documents, mostly dating to the third century, that originated in other villages, fortifications and settlements on the Euphrates and Khabur rivers. These documents include deeds of sale and loan contracts, as well as marriage and divorce contracts. Some documents may have been brought to Dura with people fleeing from smaller fortifications and villages at the time of the mid-third-century Persian invasions, but in most cases they were probably there due to the presence of a registry office at the city.8 While civil in nature, they also provide some information on the Roman military presence, particularly on the Khabur, and they clearly demonstrate Dura’s role as a centre of civil administration in the Roman period and that this continued from the Parthian period. The Euphrates papyri also indicate some of the locations on the Khabur that acted as administrative centres late in the middle of the third century AD, but they provide little information on military sites.
Some of the locations of the sites mentioned in the Dura and Euphrates papyri may be identified with references to them elsewhere in antiquity, and possibly by the names of modern villages on the lower Khabur and middle Euphrates today. The Parthian Stations of Isidore of Charax is an important ancient text that lists the names of settlements and fortifications on the section of the middle Euphrates under discussion. While it dates to a period 250 years earlier than the third century, some locations it refers to are also referred to in the Dura papyri of the second and third centuries. In a number of cases it can be shown that settlements, fortifications and administrative regions continued in use from the period of Parthian control to the Roman period. Isidore described the overland trade route from Syria to India, and the section of his description relevant to this discussion is quoted as follows, beginning at Nicephorium/Callinicum on the left bank of the Euphrates:
Then Nicephorium by the Euphrates, a Greek city, founded by King Alexander, 5 schoeni, farther on, by the river, is Galabatha, a deserted village, 4 schoeni. Then the village of Chumbana,
1 schoenus; farther on Thillada Mirrhada, a royal station,
4 schoeni. Then a royal palace, a temple of Artemis, founded by Darius, a small town; close by is the canal of Semiramis, and the Euphrates is dammed with rocks, in order that by being thus checked it may overflow the fields; but also in summer it wrecks the boats; to this place 7 schoeni. Then Allan, a walled village,
4 schoeni. Then Phaliga, a village on the Euphrates (that means in Greek half-way), 6 schoeni. From Antioch to this place, 120 schoeni; and from there to Seleucia, which is on the Tigris, 100 schoeni. Nearby Phaliga is the walled village of Nabagath, and by it flows the river Aburas (Khabur), which empties into the Euphrates; there the legions cross over to the Roman territory beyond the river. Then the village of Asich, 4 schoeni; beyond which is the city of Dura Nicanoris, founded by the Macedonians, also called by the Greeks Europos, 6 schoeni. Then Merrha, a fortified place, a walled village, 5 schoeni. Then the city of Giddan,
5 schoeni. Then Belesi Biblada, 7 schoeni. Beyond is an island in the Euphrates, 6 schoeni; there was the treasure of Phraates, who cut the throats of his concubines, when Tiridates who was exiled, invaded. Then Anatho, an island in the Euphrates, of 4 stadia, on which is a city, 4 schoeni; beyond which is Thilabus, an island in the Euphrates; there is the treasure of the Parthians, 2 schoeni. Then Izan, a city on an island, 12 schoeni.
(trans. W. H. Schoff)
There has been considerable scholarly attention paid to the identification of the sites mentioned by Isidore of Charax. The Parthian Stations was essentially a description of the main stopping points and the distances between them on the main overland caravan route from Syria to India late in the first century BC, although in reality the route described ended in Afghanistan. As some of the locations Isidore mentions are able to be identified, attempts have been made at identifying the locations of all of the sites because he gave exact distances between them.9 As already noted, Isidore’s text is much earlier than the period under discussion and not all of the sites in the above extract from Isidore are relevant, but the text is relevant to this chapter because some locations it mentions appear in the Dura papyri of the second and third centuries AD.
Modern names of sites have also been analysed in an attempt to derive their ancient names. Musil, Chapot, Dussaud, Bell, Sarre and Herzfeld and Poidebard are notable examples of scholars who made such attempts in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their interests generally lay in a broader time-frame than the second and third centuries AD, but their observations are potentially important for the identification of some sites mentioned in the Dura and Euphrates papyri. Most of these scholars did not have knowledge of the Dura and Euphrates papyri when they identified sites and their possible ancient names on the Euphrates and Khabur. Their identification of sites has in some cases continued to hold, but in other cases they have been challenged.
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