Dura-Europos Shield
The club copy of the famous Dura-Europos shield, which is the only intact Roman shield found still extant from the ancient world, and now on display at Yale University. The Yale University conservator commented that this was the best copy that they had yet seen.
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This is the only known surviving example of the semi-cylindrical shield known as a scutum, used by the Roman legions. Found flattened, in thirteen pieces, and missing its umbo (central boss), the shield was reconstructed by the Yale-French excavation team. The painted decoration reflects Roman iconography of victory, including an eagle with a laurel wreath, winged Victories, and a lion. It is made of painted wood and rawhide, dated to the mid-3rd century AD, and measures 105.5 x 41 x 30 cm.
The report on the excavations at Dura-Europos is available from the Great Library of Rome
Dura-Europos was founded in 303 BC by the Seleucids on a 90-metre-high escarpment above the right bank of the Euphrates river to control the trade route crossing. Following Alexander the Great's conquests, in the 2nd century BC the Greeks rebuilt on the Hippodamian model, with formally laid out rectangular blocks defined by cross-streets ranged round a large central agora. In 113 BC, Parthians conquered the city, which served as a frontier fortress. Its population of Greek settlers were increasingly outnumbered by people of Semitic stock.
In 114 AD, the Emperor Trajan occupied the city for a couple of years, and Legio III Cyrenaica erected a Triumphal Arch to the west of the Gate of Palmyra. The Romans returned in 165 AD when it was taken by Lucius Verus during the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166. It was an outpost for expeditions against the Parthian empire and their Tigris capital in 198 AD. The city became a border post of the Roman "Kingdom of Palmyra". In 194 AD, Emperor Septimius Severus divided the province of Syria to limit the power of its previously rebellious governors, and Dura became part of the new province of Syria Coele.
After 209 AD the northern part of the site was occupied by a Roman camp, isolated by a brick wall, with soldiers housed between the civilians, and the commander's palace built on the edge of a cliff. The city then has several sanctuaries beside the temples dedicated to the Greek gods (Zeus and Artemis); there were shrines dedicated to Mithra, to Palmyrene gods and local deities (Aphlad, Azzanathkôna) dating from the 1st century AD. Later in 216 AD, a small amphitheater for soldiers was built in the military area, while the new synagogue, completed in 244 AD, and a house of Christians were embellished with frescos of important characters wearing Roman tunics, caftans and Parthian trousers. The population of Dura, at the rate of 450-650 houses grouped to eight per island, is estimated at about 5000 people per maximum.
Around 256 AD, the city was sieged by Shapur I of the Sassanid Persians. He tried to tunnel in under Tower 19, two towers north of the Palmyrene Gate, but was intercepted by a Roman counter-mine. The Sassanids managed to fight off the Roman attack, so the city defenders sealed the entrance, which left the stragglers entombed inside. (It was the coins found with these Roman soldiers that dated the siege to AD 256.) The Persians next attacked Tower 14, the southernmost along the western wall, which overlooked a deep ravine. This time the mining operation caused the tower and adjacent walls to subside but the Roman countermeasures which bolstered the wall prevented it from collapsing. A ramp was raised again attacking Tower 14, and while the defenders were on the walls, the invaders entered behind them in yet another secret tunnel dug into the city. The city was sacked, and the inhabitants killed or enslaved. It was never rebuilt, so archaeologists were able to uncover pristine remains.
Dura-Europos was founded in 303 BC by the Seleucids on a 90-metre-high escarpment above the right bank of the Euphrates river to control the trade route crossing. Following Alexander the Great's conquests, in the 2nd century BC the Greeks rebuilt on the Hippodamian model, with formally laid out rectangular blocks defined by cross-streets ranged round a large central agora. In 113 BC, Parthians conquered the city, which served as a frontier fortress. Its population of Greek settlers were increasingly outnumbered by people of Semitic stock.
In 114 AD, the Emperor Trajan occupied the city for a couple of years, and Legio III Cyrenaica erected a Triumphal Arch to the west of the Gate of Palmyra. The Romans returned in 165 AD when it was taken by Lucius Verus during the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166. It was an outpost for expeditions against the Parthian empire and their Tigris capital in 198 AD. The city became a border post of the Roman "Kingdom of Palmyra". In 194 AD, Emperor Septimius Severus divided the province of Syria to limit the power of its previously rebellious governors, and Dura became part of the new province of Syria Coele.
After 209 AD the northern part of the site was occupied by a Roman camp, isolated by a brick wall, with soldiers housed between the civilians, and the commander's palace built on the edge of a cliff. The city then has several sanctuaries beside the temples dedicated to the Greek gods (Zeus and Artemis); there were shrines dedicated to Mithra, to Palmyrene gods and local deities (Aphlad, Azzanathkôna) dating from the 1st century AD. Later in 216 AD, a small amphitheater for soldiers was built in the military area, while the new synagogue, completed in 244 AD, and a house of Christians were embellished with frescos of important characters wearing Roman tunics, caftans and Parthian trousers. The population of Dura, at the rate of 450-650 houses grouped to eight per island, is estimated at about 5000 people per maximum.
Around 256 AD, the city was sieged by Shapur I of the Sassanid Persians. He tried to tunnel in under Tower 19, two towers north of the Palmyrene Gate, but was intercepted by a Roman counter-mine. The Sassanids managed to fight off the Roman attack, so the city defenders sealed the entrance, which left the stragglers entombed inside. (It was the coins found with these Roman soldiers that dated the siege to AD 256.) The Persians next attacked Tower 14, the southernmost along the western wall, which overlooked a deep ravine. This time the mining operation caused the tower and adjacent walls to subside but the Roman countermeasures which bolstered the wall prevented it from collapsing. A ramp was raised again attacking Tower 14, and while the defenders were on the walls, the invaders entered behind them in yet another secret tunnel dug into the city. The city was sacked, and the inhabitants killed or enslaved. It was never rebuilt, so archaeologists were able to uncover pristine remains.
