What is "dura-europos"

Events at Dura

c. 300 BC

Dura-Europos founded by the Seleucids

[+187 years]

c. 113 BC

Parthians take Dura

c. 65-19 BC

City walls constructed, including some towers

[+80 years]

c. 33 BC

Dura becomes a Parthian provincial administrative center

[+16 years]

c. 17-16 BC

Palmyrene Gate begun

[+133 years]

AD 116

Trajan takes Dura. Triumphal arch built

[+5 years]

AD 121

Parthians regain Dura

[+39 years]

AD 160

Earthquake

[+4 years]

AD 164

Romans under Lucius Verus again control Dura

c. AD 168-171

Mithraeum first built

c. AD 165-200

House converted to synagogue

[+47 years]

'c. AD 211

Dura a Roman colony

post-AD 216

City walls heightened

[+13 years]

c. AD 224

(Parthians defeated by Sassanids)

c. AD 232-256

House converted into a Christian chapel and decorated

[+14 years]

AD 238

Graffito stating "Persians descended on us" was written

[+2 years]

c. AD 240

Mithraeum rebuilt

c. AD 244-254

Synagogue paintings

[+13 years]

AD 253

First Sassanid attack

post-AD 254

Defensive embankment built to bolster city walls

[+3 years]

AD 256-257

Dura falls to the Sassanid king Shapur I

Dura-Europos , also spelled Dura-Europus, was a Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border city built on an escarpment above the right bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in today's Syria. In 113 BC, Parthians conquered the city, and held it, with one brief Roman intermission (114 AD), until 165 AD. Under Parthian rule, it became an important provincial administrative center. The Romans decisively captured Dura-Europos in 165 AD and greatly enlarged it as their easternmost stronghold in Mesopotamia, until it was destroyed after a Sassanian siege in 257 AD. After it was abandoned, it was covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight.

Dura-Europos is extremely important for archaeological reasons. As it was abandoned after its conquest in 256–7 AD, nothing was built over it and no later building programs obscured the architectonic features of the ancient city. Its location on the edge of empires made for a co-mingling of cultural traditions, much of which was preserved under the city's ruins. Some remarkable finds have been brought to light, including numerous temples, wall decorations, inscriptions, military equipment, tombs, and even dramatic evidence of the Sassanian siege during the Imperial Roman period which led to the site's abandonment. After being severely looted by the Islamic State in the ongoing Syrian Civil War, it was demolished by ISIS.