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Dura-Europos Synagogue

كنيس دورا أوروبوس

3rd-century synagogue at Dura-Europos famed for its painted murals, moved and rebuilt in the National Museum of Damascus.

At Dura-Europos on the Euphrates, near al-Salihiyah in Deir ez-Zor, excavators in the 1930s found a 3rd-century synagogue, one of the 20th century's most famous archaeological discoveries.

Its walls were entirely covered with painted scenes from the Hebrew Bible — Moses and the Exodus, Joseph, Ezekiel — in a style blending Greco-Roman and Parthian influences. They survived because, before the Sasanian siege in the mid-3rd century, defenders buried the street and buildings along the wall with earth to strengthen it.

The synagogue was discovered in 1932, built backing onto the city wall, which was important to its survival. Its last phase was dated by an Aramaic inscription to AD 244, placing it among a handful of ancient synagogues identified beyond doubt, and it is unique because the structure was preserved virtually intact with extensive figurative wall paintings that came as a surprise to scholars. The city was abandoned after the Sasanians took it in 256–257 and never resettled.

The synagogue with its paintings was moved to Damascus and reconstructed inside the National Museum.

Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.

For the visitor

Photos

Photos: Marsyas — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Sodabottle — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Frank Kidner — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)