Dura-Europos under Parthian Rule gards Dura as it had been in the Parthian period, from the end of the second
century..to the s.., when Roman forces occupied it, the state of
our knowledge is yet more precarious. Firstly, it is inevitable that the site,
apparently deserted after the Persian conquest of the middle Euphrates area
in the s, should, when excavated, have yielded most information about
the eight decades of Roman occupation. It is to the spectacular finds dating
to the Roman period that the majority of the most revealing volumes of
theFinal Reportsrelate,^8 and most of the contents of the wonderfulFinal Re-
porton the parchments and papyri,^9 which is largely taken up with Roman
military documents. The otherFinal Reportslargely concern small finds. No
Final Reportson private houses have been published, and I do not know if
any are planned.^10 Nor do I know if there are any plans for aFinal Reportof
the inscriptions. It is the lack of serious, coherent study of the inscriptions,
which include regular stone-cut ones, dipinti (some of them on frescoes),
and graffiti on walls and sherds—almost all types, in fact, except mosaic in-
scriptions—which is the greatest single weakness of the whole publication
process. The inscriptions have to be considered as the main victim of the
only partial continuation of the work on Dura in the period since the Second
World War.
It is thus Roman Dura, with its remarkable concentration of different
types of religious buildings, pagan, Jewish, and Christian, and its extraor-
Doura-Europos. Questions de typologie,’’ –; P. Leriche, ‘‘Chronologie du rempart de
brique crue de Doura-Europos,’’ –; P. Arnaud, ‘‘Doura-Europos, microcosme grec ou
rouage de l’administration arsacide?,’’ –.
Syria (): P. Leriche and A. Al-Mahmoud, ‘‘Bilan des campagnes de et
de la mission franco-syrienne à Doura-Europos,’’ –; E. Will, ‘‘La population de Dura-
Europos: une évaluation,’’ –; Ch. Velud, ‘‘Histoire des recherches à Doura-Europos.
Contexte historique régional des fouilles de Doura entre les deux Guerres mondiales,’’ –
.
Syria (): P. Leriche and A. Al-Mahmoud, ‘‘Bilan des campagnes – à
Doura-Europos,’’ –.
Mesopotamia: S. B. Downey, ‘‘New Soundings in the Temple of Zeus Megistos at Dura-
Europos,’’ (): –; E. Dabrowa, ‘‘Dall’autonomia alla dipendenza: le città greche
e gli Arsacidi nella prima metà del I secolo D.C.,’’ (): –; S. B. Downey, ‘‘Exca-
vations in the Temple of Zeus Megistos at Dura-Europos,’’ (): –.
. C. H. Kraeling,The Synagogue(, reprinted with additions, ); C. H. Kraeling,
The Christian Building().
. C. Welles, R. O. Fink, and J. F. Gilliam,DuraFinalReportV.:TheParchmentsandPapyri
(). The documents in this publication are designatedP. Dura.
. See, however, Allara (n. ).