Jews and Others
tory, with no explicit mention of what was being dedicated, or make clear
that they record the construction or dedication of a specific architectural ele-
ment within a larger setting. Moreover, even where a temple is described
unambiguously as new, it does not follow that the deity mentioned had not
been worshipped in Dura already, either on the same site or elsewhere.
Throughout, the inscriptions raise two persistent problems. Does a dedi-
cation to a particular deity imply that the whole cult site is to be interpreted
as ‘‘the temple of ’’ that deity? Secondly, how are we to identify the vari-
ous architectural elements recorded in the inscriptions, and which of them
(again) are evidence for the existence of ‘‘the temple of ’’ a particular deity?
It must be stressed that, inevitably, it was the discovery of religious inscrip-
tions which provided the excavators with labels for the buildings excavated
at Dura. But there is unfortunately no simple or obvious deduction from the
discovery of an inscription naming a deity to the identification of an entire
excavated complex as that deity’s temple. This question cannot properly be
pursued here in detail, even with the aid of reproduced plans of all the sites.^36
For precisely what would have to be at stake in any serious review of the ex-
cavations, and the notes and field reports on them, would be how these plans
and identifications were arrived at. They cannot simply be taken as a datum.
However, even a sketch based fundamentally on inscriptions, and using
the powerful religious iconography of Parthian Dura whenever possible, will
provide a partial insight into the culture and society of the city, and into the
huge problems which remain to be investigated.
The religious history of Parthian Dura begins with the Necropolis Temple,
situated some metres outside the wall, and with the earliest dated in-
scription from Dura, the Palmyrene text of Seleucid year (/..),
mentioned above, recording the construction of a temple to Bel and Yarhi-
bol (HYKL’ LBL WYRHBWL).^37 The god ‘‘Bēlos’’ is also mentioned in two
Greek inscriptions from the same site.^38 Since the so-called temple of Bel in
the city has played such a large part in modern conceptions, it ought to be
stressed that these are the only references to Bel (a Babylonian deity who was
also the god of the main temple at Palmyra) from Dura.
From the city itself we know of the following temples which are attested
from the Parthian period. The numbers relate to the plan of the city pre-
sented in map .
. AsinDowney(n.).
. Mesnil du Buisson (n. ), no. PAT, no. .
.ReportVII/VIII, , nos.–.