Dura-Europos synagogue
34.747540.73Koordinaten: 34 ° 44 ' 51 " N, 40 ° 43' 48" E
The Synagogue of Dura Europos was in Dura Europos, an ancient city in the east of Syria, which belonged to the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD. It is of particular importance since it is the only surviving synagogue from antiquity, which was completely decorated with figurative murals. The wall paintings are now on display in a separate room in the National Museum of Damascus.
Description of the synagogue
The Synagogue of Dura Europos developed as well as the little south to house church of Dura Europos from a private home that has been well used already in the late 2nd century AD as a church. The building was rebuilt after a few dated tiles on the ceiling in the years 244/245. 256 destroyed the entire city the Sassanids. The frescoes must therefore have been painted in the intervening years on the plaster.
The house measured about 15 × 8 meters and had an approximately 10 × 8 meter cultivation. The rooms were grouped around a courtyard. The cultivation consisted of a peristyle and the meeting house for the community. This meeting room was painted with murals depicting stories from the Old Testament.
238 AD had conquered the Sassanids in an attack almost Dura Europos. Immediately prior to their attack 256, which was successful after vehement resistance of the besieged, the outer walls were raised and for this purpose especially on the vulnerable west side outside and inside filled with sand to stabilize and earth. The synagogue was mounted directly on the western perimeter wall and was filled to a large extent. Outside was a glacis, with the attacker should be kept at a distance, inside the back pressure had to be balanced. The synagogue was one of a long line of buildings that were mounted directly on the outside wall. The paintings on the west wall are almost completely preserved, at the north and south walls about half, below a diagonal, which was formed by the angle of repose. Something better the north wall is obtained. From the east wall uncovered only a narrow strip is left on the ground on either side of the door.
Discovery
Dura Europos was excavated 1922/1923 and again from 1928 to 1937 by historians James Henry Breasted and Michael Rostovtzeff on behalf of Yale University. The wall paintings of the synagogue were discovered in 1932. They have received excellent because they were hidden under the soil, they kept the dry desert air before flushing and because the place was abandoned shortly after the conquest and not repopulated.
Individual scenes
The biblical narratives are circumferentially divided into three zones on the walls and into individual image fields that are delimited by narrow bands. The paintings are part of the tradition of Parthian art.
The paintings are unique, yet there are signs that at the time there were others out painted synagogues, although in Judaism, there is a prohibition of images, which applies to the religious sphere. In the Jerusalem Talmud ( Avoda Mischnatraktat sara [ idolatry ] 3/42a III ) is reported that one began about this time to paint the walls of synagogues and the then Rabbi Yohanan this is not prevented. From Apamea Kibotos there are coins that were minted under Septimius Severus and show Noah's ark. The list of representations is structured in the Old Testament after the occurrence of the respective narratives.
I. Pentateuch
II history
III. Prophet
Moses birth and preservation. Left half ( I. 4)
Isaiah (III. 1)
Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel ( II 14)