remains of more than a dozen different cult buildings, including many
shrines of the polytheistic religions of the Mediterranean and Near
East. But the excavators also discovered places of worship for the
monotheistic creeds of Judaism and Christianity.
SYNAGOGUE PAINTINGSThe synagogue at Dura-Europos
is remarkable not only for its very existence in a Roman garrison
town but also for its extensive cycle of mural paintings (FIG. 11-2)
depicting biblical themes. The building, originally a private house
with a central courtyard, was converted into a synagogue during the
latter part of the second century. The paintings surprised scholars
when they were first reported, because they seemed to defy the
Bible’s Second Commandment prohibiting the making of graven
images. The Dura find established that although the Jews of the Ro-
man Empire did not worship idols as did their pagan contempo-
raries, biblical stories appeared on the painted walls of synagogues
and probably also in painted manuscripts, though no illustrated
Bible of this period survives. God (YHWH, or Yahweh in the Old
Testament), however, never appears in the Dura paintings, except as
a hand emerging from the top of the framed panels.290 Chapter 11 LATE ANTIQUITYMAP11-1The Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity.
Ravenna
SplitMilan VeniceRomeRossanoTarantoAthensThessalonikiConstantinople
(Istanbul)Jerusalem
AlexandriaAntiochNicaeaDamascusBethlehemDura-Europos
Mediterranean
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TURKEYSYRIAEGYPT
0 250 500 miles
0 250 500 kilometers11-2Interior of the synagogue,
Dura-Europos, Syria, with wall
paintings of Old Testament themes,
ca. 245–256. Tempera on plaster.
Reconstruction in National
Museum, Damascus.
The Dura-Europos synagogue
was a converted private house
with a central courtyard. The niche
housing the sacred Torah is at the
center of one long wall adorned
with paintings depicting Old and
New Testament scenes.