Dura-Europos

Description

Dura-Europos is one of Syria's most important archaeological sites. Situated on the edge of the Euphrates river, it was the subject of extensive excavations in the 1920s and 30s by teams from Yale University and the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Controlled variously by Seleucid, Parthian, and Roman powers, the site was one of impressive religious and linguistic diversity: it was home to at least nineteen sanctuaries, amongst them a Synagogue and a Christian building, and many languages, including Greek, Latin, Persian, Palmyrene, and Hebrew which were excavated on inscriptions, parchments, and graffiti. Based on the author's work excavating at the site with the Mission Franco-Syrienne d'Europos-Doura and extensive archival research, this book provides an overview of the site and its history, and traces the story of its investigation from archaeological discovery to contemporary destruction.

J. A. Baird is Reader in Archaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. Her publications include The Inner Lives of Ancient Houses: An Archaeology of Dura-Europos (2014) and Ancient Graffiti in Context (co-edited with Claire Taylor, 2011).

Baird has provided an excellent up-to-date overview of what is known about Dura-Europos. It is a lucid introduction and invaluable for the references for further reading. The greatest added value, however, comes from the author's keen sense of the way in which the history of scholarship depends on particular historical circumstances. * Journal of Roman Archaeology * Baird's presentation of the history and the archaeology of Dura is exemplary ... An excellent book that has changed my outlook on many aspects of Dura and its reception, and a book that inspires me to incorporate Dura in my own undergraduate and postgraduate teaching again, not least because Baird's work ... constitutes an invaluable resource for doing so. * Antiquity * In order to properly estimate the value of Baird's short and agile monograph on Dura Europos, the reader should take into consideration the goals of the series it belongs to: Archaeological Histories ... The material remains of the past are not only presented, but also contextualized: they are placed in the society that brought them to light and interpreted them ... Baird's excellent book deals admirably with Dura Europos. It is well documented, interesting, and approachable for the non-specialist. It is also an inspiration for the scholar for deep reflection. * Ancient History Bulletin * [I]nformative, surprising, and powerful ... [the author] offers not just an introduction to one city, but a tacit mission statement on the nature of ancient archaeology as a discipline. * Greece and Rome * Dura-Europos dexterously surveys a century of work at Dura at the same time that it measures the distance in methods and questions that separate the age of Rostovtzeff and Cumont from our own....Baird allows us to see Dura more clearly in the light of current scholarly preoccupations. * Classical Journal * In this well written and produced book, Jennifer Baird gives a concise and readable summary of the exploration of the great site of Dura Europos, until recently a jewel in the archaeology of Syria, now devastated ... this work will be of value to both specialists and generalists, a perfect introduction for students and a handy reference for researchers. Baird deserves warm thanks for the service she has done in producing this work. * Levant * The book provides rich information on one of the most important sites of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. Its value is increased by the fact that the site has been much damaged during the Syrian war. One will really appreciate the high degree of preciseness and exhaustivity of information given in the limited frame of a general book. The familiarity of the author with the site and its archives can be felt on every page. The book is, moreover, very well written and pleasant to read. There is no doubt that this volume will serve as a useful tool for researchers and students to whom it will provide a rich and updated overview. * Classical Review * [T]his outstanding book has no equal... Baird's exemplary account will greatly facilitate all future efforts to further our understanding of all aspects of the site's history and civilization. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review * Baird's book pleasantly confounds expectations. What really makes Dura-Europos stand out is its persistent interest not just in the historical Dura, but in the history of its excavations, and in particular Baird's attempt to return to their rightful place those neglected actors who contributed so much and have been credited so little. From the book's earliest pages, she seeks to add these figures back into the story ... Baird's book is thus informative, surprising, and powerful. * Greece and Rome * Baird's presentation of the history and the archaeology of Dura is exemplary, setting the primary evidence (inscriptions and papyri as well as archaeology) in the contexts of changing interpretations up to the present day... this is an excellent book that has changed my outlook on many aspects of Dura and its reception, and a book that inspires me to incorporate Dura in my own undergraduate and postgraduate teaching again...Baird is right that Dura was not necessarily "a utopia of multi-cultural harmony" (p. 153), but as she also indicates, we have much to learn from its cultural diversity and its complex and long-standing relationships with colonial power of one kind or another. * Antiquity * Dura-Europos is one of the world's most astonishing archaeological sites, a kind of Pompeii providing a remarkable snapshot of life in the Parthian and Roman Middle East when Christianity was developing, and Islam was yet to appear. Jennifer Baird's excellent new book fulfils a longstanding need, for an up-to-date overview of the remarkable archaeological discoveries made at the site, and their significance for scholarship and world heritage. Further, it places exploration of the site, initially conducted in the 1920s and 1930s, in the context of contemporary colonial politics, doing much to explain how and why Dura's treasures came to be revealed. It is also timely for grimmer reasons, as the site has recently been devastated by looters exploiting the chaos of the Syrian civil war. Understanding and disseminating the still-unfolding story of this once-thriving city on the Euphrates is a pressing need, to preserve its testimony and draw on its historical implications. Baird's highly readable book is a major contribution to this effort. * Simon James, Professor of Archaeology, University of Leicester, UK * Ancient Dura-Europos sat at the crossroads of empires and cultures. Baird admirably reevaluates the excavations and scholarship that shaped our view of the city and reveals its people as never before. * Susan B. Matheson, The Molly and Walter Bareiss Curator of Ancient Art, Yale University Art Gallery, USA *