The Excavations at Dura-Europos 1928 to 1937
Simon James
This is a paperback reprint of the first edition, which appeared in
2004, published by British Museum Press. The ancient city of
Dura-Europos, destroyed by a Sasanian Persian siege in the AD 250s,
was an important regional centre of commerce, government and
military control under the Seleucid, Parthian and Roman empires.
During excavations in the 1920s and 1930s it became famous for
finds such as a painted synagogue and early Christian chapel. Not
the least spectacular of the discoveries in this 'Pompeii of the
Syrian Desert' were the remains of the town's garrisons and
siegeworks and massive quantities of military artefacts. The latter
comprise perhaps the most important single collection of arms,
armour and other equipment to survive from the Roman period, a
collection which is exceptional in its size, diversity and state of
preservation. Its colourful painted shields and horse armour, for
example, are unequalled in the vast Roman empire or in neighbouring
lands. It also holds vital importance for our knowledge of the
material culture of the military in the eastern frontier lands of
the Roman world. This book provides a complete catalogue of the
military artefacts, most of which are now housed in Yale University
Art Gallery, and analyses and assesses their cultural affiliations
and uses. The archaeological evidence from the site is combined
with the equally rich and rare textual and representational
evidence in the form of papyri, graffiti and wall-paintings, not to
mention the buildings of the city themselves, to examine the ways
in which material culture actively creates and expresses identity,
in this case of Roman soldiers of Syrian origin.
Format 21,6 x 2,5 x 30,5 cm, Paperback, 336 Seiten, zahlreiche s/w
Zeichnungen und 13 farbige Tafeln
Best.-Nr. Ox024