38. Ted Kaizer - Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos (Yale Classical Studies, Book 38) (Retail).pdf

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Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos

This volume advances our understanding of the religion, society and

culture of Dura-Europos, the small town on the Euphrates known

since the 1930s as the ‘Pompeii of the Syrian desert’. Several features

make the site what is potentially our best source for day-to-day life in

a small town situated on the periphery of the Roman world: inscrip-

tions and graffiti in ten ancient languages; sculptures and frescoes

combining elements of Classical and Oriental art; the most impor-

tant papyrological dossier of any military unit in the Roman world;

documents relating to the local economy; over a dozen pagan sanc-

tuaries, plus a famously painted synagogue and the earliest Christian

house church, all set in a gridiron city plan and surrounded by well-

preserved fortifications. Dura’s unique findings facilitate the study of

life in a provincial small town to a degree that archaeology and his-

tory do not usually allow.

Ted Kaizer is Reader in Roman Culture and History in the Depart-

ment of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University. He is

the author of

The Religious Life of Palmyra

(2002) and has written

many articles on various aspects of religion and history of the Clas-

sical Levant.

iii

YALE CLASSICAL STUDIES

VO LU M E X X X V I I I

RELIGION, SOCIETY AND

CULTURE AT DURA- EUROPOS

Edited for the Department of Classics by

TED KAIZER

University of Durham