Edge of Empires. Pagans, Jews, and Christians at Roman Dura Europos by JY Chi and S Heath

Edge of Empires (ISBN 978-0-691-15468-8) by JY Chi and S Heath, depicts the history of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates in a unique way. The book was published by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University on the occasion of the exhibition Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews, and Christians at Roman Dura-Europos that ran from September 2011 until January 2012.

It contains lots of valuable information, both for those who know the site as for those who hear the name for the first time. 

After starting with a precious map and site plan of Dura-Europos, several aspects of the city and its excavation history are being highlighted.

Dura-Europos was discovered in 1920, and a French military detachment started excavations in 1922, under the direction of Franz Cumont. This initial approach is treated with an update in Chapter I, New Research by the French-Syrian Archaeological Expedition to Europos-Dura and New Data on Polytheistic Sanctuaries in Europos-Dura by Pierre Leriche and Gaëlle Coqueugniot, with the active collaboration of Ségolène de Pontbriand, Mission Franco-Syrienne d’Europos-Dura.

Chapter 2, Art Historical Frontiers: Lessons from Dura-Europos by Thelma K. Thomas, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, underscores the unparalleled array of religious art and architecture and highlights objects of everyday use.

Chapter 3, Trading at the Edge: Pottery, Coins, and Household Objects at Dura-Europos by Sebastian Heath, Institute of Study of the Ancient World, New York University, generally treats trade and military power in the 3rd century AD. Being at the edge of the Roman Empire, the city was coveted by the Parthians and the Sassanids. In 256 AD, after a fierce fight that left its marks all over town, the Sassanids took over. To save Dura-Europos, much of the houses and many structures were buried, preserving many objects that illustrate its far-stretching connection and military infrastructure.

Chapter 4, The Diversity of Languages in Dura-Europos by Jean Gascou, Université Paris-Sorbonne underscored the mixture of languages that were common in Dura-Europos. The list seems endless: Greek, Latin, Hebrew, forms of Aramaic, Syriac, Judeo-Aramaic, Northern Arabic, Iranian although in Parthian and Middle Persian form.

Chapter 5, Excavations at Dura-Europos: Archival Photographs from the Yale University Art Gallery, Dura-Europos Collection with a unique series of black and white photographs taken during the early years of excavations.

Last but not least, a Checklist with pictures complements the photographs used in the previous chapters of the book.

All in all, a very informative document, which I truly enjoyed reading from cover to cover. It brought back memories of the site as I saw it in 2009 (see: Dura-Europos, last stop on the Euphrates), i.e., just before the Arab Spring. I have no idea how it looks like today. Much has been destroyed as appears from areal views (see: Loss of our cultural heritage in the Middle-Eastern conflicts) or may simply have crumbled through negligence.