Peaceful Pluralism; the Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and Christian Building," Journal Vol: Journal Issue: Journal Year: 2011 Article Pages: 189-199

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Journal Title: Dura-Europos ; crossroads of antiquity / Pub: Chestnut Hill, Mass. ; McMullen Museum 0 Article Author: Patricia Deleeuw Article Title: A Peaceful Pluralism; The Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and Christian Building," Journal Vol: Journal Issue: Journal Year: 2011 Article Pages: 189-199

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This publication is issued in conjunction with the exhibition Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity, org, niz d by the YaleUniversity Art ellery and the McMullen Museum ofArt, Boston College.

McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College February 5-June 5, 2011

Organized by the Yale University Art Gallery and the McMullen Museum of Art, Bast n 011 g , Dura-Europo: rotsro d of A"liquity ha been curated by Lisa R. Brody (Yale University Art Gallery) and Gail L. Hoffman (B t n liege, las i s Dep rtm I1t)with supp rt fr0111 the National Endowment for the Arts, Boston College, and the Patrons of the McMullen Mu urn, Additi nal supp rt w pr vidcd by th Newton College class of 1965.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010942145 ISBN: 9781892850164

Distributed by the University of Chicago Press

Exhibition design: Diana Larsen , Object photography: Rich House and Anthony De Camillo , t Additional photography: Jessica Smolinski r Copy editing: Margaret Neeley ± + Book design: John McCoy r• r ; t , THIS PUBLICATION IS FUNDED IN PART BY , THE PEGGY SIMONS MEMORIAL PUBLICATIONS FUND •·

t f ------,

PATRICIA

A PEACEFUL PLURALISM: THE DURENE MITHRA UM, SYNAGOGUE, AND CHRISTIAN BUlL IN

On a bluff overlooking the Euphrates River, the town ofDura-Europos was founded in th f urth ntury BCE by Macedonian Greeks to defend the caravan route between Antioch and Seleucia. Alth ugh th it is now barren and forbidding, there is some evidence that at the time of the town's flourishing, fr m th late-second century BCE to its defeat and destruction by Sasanians in 256/257 CE, the area urr undo ing the town was a fertile agricultural center. It was at the same time a military garri on and a enter £ r

trade and politics in the Parthian Empire. 1 Macedonian, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, Sa anian, reek, atin, Persian-Dura-Europos was a place where people of various ethnicities, languages, culture, and religi ns, lived, worked, and worshipped, as far as we know, peacefully. The excavations of Dura conducted in the 1920s and 1930s revealed a town dotted with r ligi u it , as would have been true, most likely, of all Greco-Roman settlements of its size and complexity. Th fir t inhabitants of Dura worshipped at the temples of Artemis-Nanaia and of Atargatis and Hadad built near th town's Agora (see plan, p. 15).2 Thus, our earliest evidence of Durene religion demonstrates the tend en y oflocal Semitic gods to adopt the names and attributes of deities of the dominant Greek culture. th r temples would follow as people with different ethnicities and cultures came to Dura and built home and places where they might speak to their own gods; temples dedicated to the Palmyrene Gods, to the local g d Aphlad, to Zeus Kyrios, to Artemis Azzanathkona, to Zeus-Theos, and to the Semitic Gad, a guardian g d, were erected in Dura in the first and second centuries CE.3 In the mid-second century CE, the armies of Rome came to Dura, and it was a Roman colony and military garrison from the late-second century until the town's destruction by the armies of the a anian Persians in 256. The Roman army built its camp and governor's palace in Dura northwest of the original Greek and Parthian settlements, separated from them by a low wall. During the time of Roman occupation, three houses in Dura were adapted by their owners to become centers of worship for Judaism, Chri tiarrity, and the mystery cult ofMithras. The architecture and decoration of the ensuing Synagogue, Hou e Chur h, and Mithraeum are some of our most important witnesses to those religions." The history of Christianity in its first centuries often is written using the metaphor of birth; from it jewish origins and Greco-Roman intellectual and political milieu, Christianity emerges and grow to inde- 1 0 A Peaceful Pluralism: the Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and hristian Building 1 1 -----.,~------p ndence. Adopting the metaphor invites the hi torian to vi w th arlyJ II m v m nt' d vel prnenr a recognize the Messiah in their midst. 12 on formedbybirthstrugglestobreakfreeofit moth r().5 v nwith ut th In u.g fbirth.th hi tory Other early Christian writers justified Christianity against paganism. In his Apology, Ari tide m k f the relationship between Christianity, Judai rn, and the van u pa an r Ii i n f h fir t nturie CE the "Greeks" and the "Egyptians" for having created many gods, male and female, who suffer from th w r t i written usually as one of antagonism and nvalry.s It i true, f ur ,that hri ti niry w n t viewed deficits of character, murder, incest, adultery, as do humans. 13The best-known Christian apologi t sg in t alway with favor by the Roman authoritie or the pe pl th Y rul d, nd f, LJ w r fJ u w re ome- the pagans is the theologian Origen, who wrote in Alexandria in the early third century. Inhi w rkAgail1 t tun victim of persecution. One of the earlie t authenti de ripti n f th me rtyrd m fa hri tian Celsus, Origen takes on the pagan Celsus, the author of a treatise attacking both Judaism and hri tianiry. bi ho~ m the mid-second c~ntury in Smyrna (a city on th A gean a tin wb tin w Turk y) d ribe Among Ongens many complaints about Celsus' treatment of Christianity is Celsus' claim that hri tianity the arre t and death of the bishop Polycarp a in tigat d by a m b. wh n P Jy arp kn I d th t h ' hri "th h cnow a e t is "unreasonable"-like the beliefin a number of superstitions he lists, among them that ofMithra .A rd- a II nan, ,t e w ole mass of gentiles and Jews liVing in myrna ri d ut in unr train and with a ing to Celsus, superstitions like Mithraism and Christianity are led by wicked men who convin imp! gr at hout, ThISISthe teacher of Asia, the father of th hri tian ,th d tr y r f ur people to believe in their false teachings without explanation, Origen responds by arguing that lu'i tianity A picture of the religiOUS life of the Greco-Roman world ftll c.., ttL '. tu ' . d . 11 I' . or IU n n parnte u II1g offers complex and sophisticated ideas to its learned adherents while providing a sound moral cod f, r th or y t le eVIdence ofhterary sources indeed would higlilight antag ill' m am tl ' Ii . .'. ' ng 1 varl u r J u group. betterment oflife to those unable to devote themselves to the study of Christian philosophy. 14 Ju tin Mar- tOIles of the persecutIOn of Christians by Roman goverrun ntal auth riti fr m tll mid-fir t thr ugh the tyr, in another apologetic work, his First Apology, claims that the "wicked devils" who adhere to the ult f early fo~rth century captivated subsequent generation of Chri tian and haped ili ir writing f the early Churchs hIstory Although we kn h h . Mithras have imitated the actions commanded by Jesus of his followersj like Christians, follower fMithra " now ow t at suc persecutIOn wer m t ften I al and poradic the accounts 0f the herOIsm of the m t th d d ' eat and drink with prescribed prayers during their ritual, though it is bread and water rather than win in aliCI . f In I ar yrs eypro uce were Ource ofprid ,identity,andent rtainmentfor which they partake.ls a tl ln~ fulans' t lese accounts, Christians are captured, tortured, and put t death f, r ili rim fathei m , ley re se dto sacnfi ce to the gods of the G R ' ' Although the apologetiC literature of the first centuries CE is often polemical, replete with deri ive and ' I' . . reco- oman state, Or f anl1lbali m ami und r tanding that tllelr secret re IgIOuSntual invited.8 , mocking language and tone, what is revealed clearly in these texts is the familiarity of the autllor with th One of the most prevalent literary genres d db h beliefs and rituals of their opponents. Justin the Christian, Trypho the Jew, Celsus the pagan, and rig n ofR ' "h a opte y t ose who wrote ab ut religi n dW'ing the time orne s empIre ISt at of the apolo (te t . . . the Christian were well-educated, sophisticated inhabitants of cities of the Greco-Roman w rId, wh ilie religions of others) 9A I ,gy x s wntten to defend the r ligJ n of ili auili r while riticizing educational institutions and libraries were very similar. 16Although the failures and weakne e fR m ' . po ogetlc texts were written b Chr' f J ' religions and cults In th h Y IS lan, ew, and adh rent f vanou other empire are obvious, the advantages of common languages-predominantly Greek and to a Ie er ext nt . em, one sees t e developme t f li' 'd . through their competitio 'thJ d . n 0 re gIOus 1 ntlty tl1r ugh con11 t. Indeed, it is Latin-and the relative ease of travel among the cities that ringed the Mediterranean and dotted the trad n WI u alsm and Greco Ro '1 define themselves and their beliefs. - man pagal1lsm t lat hri tian wer compelled to routes allowed for a bustling commerce and the free interchange of ideas. Documentary evidence f tll There are several apologetic texts written b Ch' . , religiOUSmilieu of the Roman Empire illustrates a well-informed hostility of one religiOUSgroup to an tller ofDura-Europos and the b 'ld' f' I Y nstlans agamst Jews during tlle time of ilie flourishing and an insistence by their adherents on the demarcation and differences among belief systems. The auili r UI mg 0 Its p aces of wo h' F II ' to the Christian community at Th I ' rs Ip. 0 owmg the example of Paul in his first letter of these texts are nonetheless members of the same Greco-Roman elite who could speak and write to ne essa 0111capreserved' Ch" , Jews" killed Jesus and the prophets (1 Thes 2 14'15 111 nstlan scnpture, in which he clain1s that "the another across the boundaries of religiOUSdifference. and its interpretation of Script d " . ), the authors of these texts clearly know well Judaism The town ofDura-Europos was not, as far as we know, a center of education and intellectual life but ure an use ItS own Script '. of Barnabas, the author who ado t th 'd' ures aga111stIt. In ilie mid- econd-century Epistle rather a place where merchants and soldiers mingled. I? This was especially true during the century ofR man , p s e 1 entity of the a tl f h ' purported Covenant with Israel and I' h pos e 0 t at name, rehearses ilie history of God s control of Dura, from the mid-second century to the town's destruction in the mid-third century E, A ili . . calmst attheJewsd'd tall' . mIsgUidedly put their faith in cir . . d ' 1 no actu y receIve It because of their sin.Jews base of a Roman garrison, Dura gained new prosperity and a great deal of new construction in gOY rnrnental CumClsion an 111their te I' J to be understood spiritually not ph ' II 10 L. mp em erusalem, when God had intended both and commercial bUildings, private houses, baths, and temples.18 In addition, many existing building were YSlCay. A uagment of h 'b tIle latter part of the second cent I' h a ymn attn uted to Melito of Sardis written in improved or modified to fit new styles of architecture and decoration or to meet new needs. Of ili r ligi u ury calms t at Jesus had t b rule then accuses the Jews of deicid II 0 f hoe put to death to free Christians from Jewish sites, two new temples dedicated to unknown or multiple orientalized deities were built witllin the camp of . e. ne 0 t e best-know I' . Jews ISthe Dialogue with Trypho th T ' n apo ogles wntten by a Christian against the the Roman soldiers (many or most of whom, of course, would have come from the eastern region f tlle eJew, was wntten byJusf ( II century Syrian convert to Chri f 't) Th 111usua y called Justin Martyr, a mid-second- empire), a temple of Artemis near the town's center was enlarged, an existing Mithraemn wa rebuilt twi e, s lam y. e text purport t b d b named Trypho. In this less polemic I k J' s 0 e a e ate betweenJustin and a learned Jew aJeWish synagogue was built and subsequently enlarged, and a Christian church was built and enlarged. . , " a Wor , ust111allows T h mconsistenCles 111 Christian teach' lth h ryp 0 reasoned arguments against apparent Although the archaeologist Michael Rostovtzeff's description of Dura as "the Pompeii of the yrian 111g,a oug Trypho and th J e ews are bested at the end for the failing to desert"19 has been recognized as hyperbolic, it remains true that the wealth of data we po e from tlle 1 2 Patricia D Leeuw ------A Peaceful Pluralism: the Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and hristian Building ite-especially from the years just before the town's destruction in the mid-third century E bl , dailv li . -ena esus spread east," it was most popular among the soldiers of the empire, who, at least in principle, could n t to picture at y life there m ways unimaginable for most of the Roman mpire. W know that in the decade belong to the two eastern religions that forbade sacrifice to the state gods, Judaism and Chri tianity." Mu h of the 240s CE, a Roman soldier stationed in the garrison headquarter d in the north rn cto ofth 'ty, of our evidence for the cult derives from numerous monuments and Mithraea, which survive from a r who perhaps worshipped at the Mithraeum located within the camp near th we tern wall ofth: city e iuld the expanse of the Roman Empire. The Mithraeum at Dura is among the best preserved, and it ar hite • leave the camp and, remaining close to the wall, troll a few hundr d rn ter al ng what th archaeolo- ture, decoration, and graffiti tell us much about the ways in which this international cult wa und r t d gists dubbed "Wall tr et" to the Jewi h ynagogue, then, 100 in Syria during the first half of the third century. As in all Mith- '. ,, meters further, to the hri tian hurch. Alth ugh, a we have raea, whether the traditional cave or a building as at Dura, the seen, there were many ther temple and pIa e of worship worshipper entered the sanctuary at a narrow end, here on scattered throughout the ci ty, the thr w r the centers of the eastern side of the building, and his Sight was immediately 'I ". / . I ' religions that hared particular haracteri tic in belief ritual drawn to the cult niche across the room on the west, some 10 I and the use of sacred pac .20 Wh rea contemporary;iterar; meters away (fig. 11.2). 2SInthis niche, at the top of seven stairs sources of apology and p r cution demon trate rivalry and and behind a door in the Late Mithraeum at Dura, were the s~orn among the adher nt ofMithrai m,Judai m, and Chris- two bas-reliefs that illustrated the story that lies at the heart of tianity, the archaeological evidenc for the e r ligions at Dura the cult, the tauroctony (killing of the bull). The walls within, I:>OM.t:.T~lC ~EcTION 0" ~1l)DLe ?£.ll100 underscores the familiarity tho e adherent had with the other above, and surrounding the niche were covered with paintings belief systems and, indeed, their willingne to share certain that further taught the worshipper the stories and world view common elements in their ritual pace. This sharing was not of the cult. In front of the bas-reliefs was an altar for sacrifice, the syncretism of the pagan temple bu t rather the pluralism of and along the north and south walls of the basilica were long religions existing side by side. benches used in the shared ritual meal. Th.e Mithraeum (site for the wor hip of the god Mithras) In Mithraic myth, the god Mithras is born from a rock in was ongmally a house remodeled in the mid- econd century a moment outside time, and as an adult he conquers the pri- near the time of the Roman conque t of Dura by the com- meval bull and drags the carcass into a cave. Following this mander of the Palmyrene archers tationed there' a bas-relief struggle, Mithras and the sun god Sol enjoy a banquet together, c' ' and Mithras consecrates Sol with a laying-on of hands and the ofMithra, ,s kill'mg tIre bull found 111 the early Mithraeum bears a dedication noting his name, Ethpeni, and the date." This simple bestowal of his radiant nimbus. These stories and many others are portrayed in the decoration of the Dura Mithraeum. rectangul, ar b illildimg contains only benches and an altar table at ')M.. ... '·RIC ~EcrH"I/oJ In addition, the Mithraic legends are associated with classical um I A~l PI JUon Its western end below the bas-relief commissioned by Ethpeni Figure 11,2: Excavation photograph f th Mithra notions of the spheres of the universe, the systems of stars and showing steps leading to altar, Dura-Eur p and another com mrssro'. na d two years later by a subsequent planets, and the signs of the zodiac: in the Dura Mithraeum, the Collection, Yale University Art Gall ry. Pahnyrene commander Zenobius. In 210 CE the building was Figure 11,1: Isometric sections of the M'th signs of the zodiac were painted on the back wall of the niche I . . ' I 8~m much enlarged and refurbished by another commander the s lOWing the middle and late phases of the shrine around the bas reliefs in the Middle Mithraeum and repainted Roman legionary Ant oruus' ~var. Ientmus,' whose name comes' drawn by a member of the Yale University excavati~n on the soffit of the arch at the front of the niche in the Late Mithraeum (fig. 11.3). The vault of the niche t am, pi bably Henry Pearson or Herbert Gute. Dura- down to us in anotherer inscnption,i " this one above the lintel of was covered with blue paint and decorated with large and small eight-pointed stars," thus, the Mithraeum Europos Collection, Yale University Art Gall ery. the entrance door No ' L . this inscri " . w m atin, s inscription dedicates the itself is a model of the universe in which the adherents, as they sacrifice to Mithras at the altar and enjoy a temple of the god Sol In VIC'ctus M'It hras" to th e Roman emperors ritual meal of bread and water at the benches under the heavens, replicate the actions of Mithras and 01. 27 Septimius Severus C II d G doubl ed th e size of the Mith d I . ' araca a, an eta. ValentirIus more than raeum, remo e ed It a b T d Like the universe, the Mithraeum-at Dura a building, in many other sites across the empire a cave-i "an In about 240 CE, the Mithraeum I d .s a aSI ica, an added an arched niche behind the altar. inside without an outside": unlike other Greco-Roman temples, the outside does not matter. Although our , (fi was en arge again the alta . d to It gs. 11.1 and 11.2). The temple of210 CE h ' rwa.s raise ,and seven steps were builtleading understanding of the cult of Mithras during its popularity in the world of the Roman Empire from the fir t CE all were highly decorated and co tai d ,t e Middle Mithraeum, and the Late Mithraeum of240 to the fourth century CE is limited by our sources-many material objects and sites of worship and few a Whether the mystery cult of Mnt~me d ~umber of grafitti. documents-the sacred space of the Dura Mithraeum bespeaks the understanding among the soldier who _ I ras enves from Persia d d 2 ______-.:a=n~s~p~r~e=a=_w=e:st~,_2~0:r~b:eg~a~n~in~R~o:m:e~a:n:d~~~------______4 1 4 A Peaceful Pluralism: the Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and hri tian Buil ling 1

worshipped there that they had a connection to vent out ide t;...... ,w11I·h they uld brinn to the present as a church shortly after its erection most likely in the fifth decade of the third century.Y'Ihi dating m k in their rituals. all three sites of worship remarkably contemporary in their last stage of construction and decoration. 1 TI1 ynag gu n Wall treet Christian Building's assembly hall (a rectangular space some 3 m wide and 13 m long ) was unad rn d, it wa , like the Mithr at Dura, com- only installation is a raised dais (approximately 1.0 m deep, 1.5 m wide, and 0.2 m high) at its hort a tern prifir t edin thef dlatm. sti ultic purposes end ()fig. 9.3 . This dais, or bema, is an indication that the liturgy conducted in the hall wa n t the a p , in, p rhap theJew- (communal meal of the earliest Christian communities) but rather a ceremony led by a pr id r. It i n t i h community in ura r w I r r nd m r pr perous, In. the assembly hall but rather another room across an adjoining room from it that identified thi a ad Inll 244/245 E2 B th th of the yna- eee1esiae ( a transitiona Ib uiIding in Christian h istory b etween th e use a f private homes by the rli tJ u gogu building ntain an m Iy hill (14. m I I1gand 7.5 followers for worship and the construction of churches in the fourth century). In the northw t rn rn r m wide) highly drat din th I t r pha with painting cov- of the building (a room approximately 3 m wide and 7 m long) is a baptistery, identified by it wall paint- enng all f ur wall, ani h n th w t rn wall upported by ings and especially by the font at its western end under a canopy with a barrel-vaulted ceiling upp rt d by column (whi h fun ti n d a , ~ r 11 hrin ), and benches columns.

along the wall. Th lumn < r paint d t I k like marble The scriptural stories depicted in the wall paintings in the baptistery are discussed at length I ewh r and decorated with paint d fruit garland. TIle pa e abovethe in this volume (Peppard). They are largely scenes from the life ofJesus or metaphors from the pel (th arch of the hrine is v r d with lu paint a a a kground to woman at the well, Jesus healing the paralytic, Jesus and Peter walking on the water, and the ood h P" three 1I1u trati n : tl1 sa rifi fI aa ,a r tangular architec- herd), though there are some references to Hebrew scripture (David and Goliath, Adam and Eve). TIle m t turalobj ct, and a m n rah (n .7.2, 7. ,7. .and 7.6).29 dominant figures in the paintings of the room are a procession of women carrying bowls and torche m v- mce the ex avati n f th yn gu in 9 2, holars ing from right to left toward a large rectangular structure with a gabled roof and stars shining at its mer have debated th wall paintin s f tile yna gue, metimes (pl. 18). Scholarly interpretation of this scene has focused on the scriptural story of the women c rning t the. identificati 11 f me ftl 1 s nes and Iway their. mean- anoint Jesus' body on the morning of his resurrectionr'" More recent scholarship that widen the I n t mg. I there a "m tanarr tiv 'in wlu h th individual paintings include literary and baptismal liturgical evidence from the third century argues convincingly that ind d partICIpate r, as on" hi t rian ha aptly u t d, i tile collec- the women are rather the wise and foolish virgins of Matthew 25, on their way to a wedding fea ti tile wlut tlOn of painted pan I m rely" pi u ha '?30 In either case building is either a tent for the marriage feast or a bridal chamber, and the stars are not of the early mornin 35 it is clear that the painting, illu trati n flu t rical cenes but of the evening. from.. Hebrew scr·Ipture an d p rtraIt. p rhap f prophets, have The focus of worship and liturgical action in the baptistery was at the font at its western end. Again, it a dIdactIc purpo e. Th JeWI. h c ngregant who gathered to is a niche whose vaulted ceiling is supported by columns (fig. 9.4 ) . The columns are, remar kidab y, paint pray and to hear reading fr m the Torah were reminded by the to look like marble in the same design as that used for the Torah shrine in the Synagogue; the vault of tile Images tl1at surround d tllem on ali ide of the tories of their canopy is a blue field, the same blue as that used on the Torah shrine; and the blue field is covered with tar , 36 heroes , their cove nan t·tIWI 1 0,d aIld perhap the promise 0f as we saw in the vault of the Mithraeum. Art historians have noted a "Durene" style in the painting an d Fi ure 11. : Paintingson the arch f Mrthraeum,including zod" . 0 the Late a.MeSSIah . The pictur e 1111g. ht have even fun ctlOned. as "adiever- scu ptures Ioun d th roug h out Dura- Europos 37an d hIdave specu ate ab·out Its sources m. th e Greco- Roman, II. . rae srgns"Dura-Europos o ctron, YaleUnrversityArt Gallery. tlseme .nt"s t0 educate and per uade con ert to Judai m.3!Like Semitic, and Parthian cultures of western Asia in the early years of our era. It has been suggested that the the pamtmgs. in th e Mithr·ftaeum, the ynagogue paintings Ii commonalities of the Mithraeum, the Synagogue, and the Christian Buil dIding in stye an decoration ar but rather to events of other times d. the VIewer out of the pre ent, not here to event out ide time somehow unique to Dura as well; the underlying assumption here is that if we could find three cult build- and scnptura. I stories in these placesan fl.tImes-to-come . At th e sam time, tlle illu tration of the Mithraic ings as well preserved as those of Dura at another site of the Roman Empire, wewou Id not see suc h nota bly tlle :ewer. with the figures in them. 0 wars IIp pd·ara OXlCally bring tll0 vent to the pre ent and unite common features. scant 100 meters south of the S We began this discussion of the religiOUSmilieu of the Greco-Roman world as the archaeological evi- ovated house, though much smaller :~ag~gule along Wall treet i tl1e hri tian Building-another ren- dence ofDura-Europos reveals it with an examination of contemporary written sourceSj and saw there the

Building saw severa I phases: its construction SImp er. Like. the Mitl lfaeum an d th ynag gu , the ChristIan. st'rang antagomsm b etween cuItura IIye I"Ite mem b ers 0f one reI·IglOn. an d ano th er, th oug h we no ted th e cIear ( omewhat later than the houses that dn ~s a pnvate hou e mo t likely in tlle arly third century CE familiarity that the writers of apologies had with one another's beliefs. The apologetiC literature of the fir t ______~p~r_e_c_e=e~tl1=e~Mi:·tI~lf:ae:w:l1~an:d~~yn:ag~0:gu:e~)~ar~1:d~I~.t~ad~a~p~t:a~ti:on~fo:r~u:s~e_---~----c-e-n-tu-r-ie-s-C-E-h-a-d-a-s-a-m-a-jO-r-i-m-p_u_I_se_t_h_e_e_s_ta_b_l_is_h_m_e_n_t_o_f_c_le_a_r_a_n_d_d_i_s_ce_r_n_a_b_Ie_r_e_li_gi_O_U_s_i_d_en_tI_"ty__' _in_d_e_ed, 1 A Peaceful Pluralism: the Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and 1 7

uperiority of the religious beliefs of the authors. The possibility of th influ nee of one cult on another's Notes 8 William H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecutioll ill the ritual was voiced by Justin Martyr, who noted the similaritie b tween th ritual meal ofMithraists and Early Church: a Study of a Conflict from the Ma cabee hri tian , though his partisan view is that this was the former' era and indeed diabolical imitation ofthe On the history ofDura-Europos, see Clark Hopkins, to Donatus (Garden City, N.Y.: Anch r B ks, 19 7), latter. The Discovery of Dura-Europos, ed. Bernard Goldman 14-21; and Luke TimothyJohn on, Amollg the entius: The notion of the resistance of one religious group in the g nerally tolerant R man Empire to another, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984),251-71; Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity (N w H. v n: Y: 1 r to the "dominant" official state pantheism, has shaped th und r tanding of om modern cholars of and Annabel Jane Wharton, "Good and Bad Images University Press, 2009),187-93. urene religious art." This is especially true for the art of th ynagoguej in a earch for a "metanarrative," from the Synagogue of Dura Europos: Contexts, Sub- cholar have argued that the scenes depicted in its painting w re cho en ither a an "active and aggressive texts, Intertexts," in The Image in the Ancient and Early 9 Although there is general agreement a c mrnentary" on local pagan religion or in reaction to the Chri tian atta k, made a we have een by the Christian Worlds. Art History 17 (1994),1-4. teristics of apologetic texts, there i debar am n r nt apologist author of the Epistle of Barnabas, on the Abraharnic cov nant, 9 th r have a rted the compe- scholars on whether they are a literary gem j And r - tition, perhaps even for adherents, among the various religion group that wor hipped in Dura-Europos 2 Hopkins, 62-73; Prelim. Rep. III, 3-11; and Prelim. Christian Jacobsen, "Apologetics and Ap 1 gies- m Definitions," in ill 111 argum~nts bas.ed on both architectural and artistic evidence.r? All of th e cholar rnu t acknowledge Rep. Iv, 14-20. Continuity and Discontilluity Early ed. Jorg Ulrich, Ander - hristit n that the similarities IIIstyle, detail, and color (columns painted to look lik marble eight-pointed stars a Christian Apologetics, particular shade of blue) that we have seen in the Mithraeum, the ynagogue, and :he Chri tian Buildi~g 3 Hopkins, 83-88,219-20; Prelim. Rep. V,98-200; and Jacobsen, and Maijastina Kahlos, Early hristianity in mu t indicate that the artists themselves borrowed one another's idea or might have come from the same Prelim. Rep. VII/VIII, 244. the Context of Antiquity 5 (Frankfurt: Lang, 2009), workshop. 17-21. The inhabitants of the town ofDura-Europos-not members of an educated cultural elite but rather 4 On the adaptation of private buildings to sites of wor- oldiers and merchants-who cont 1 hi d i 10 James A. Kleist, trans., The Epistle of Barnabas, An i nt emporaneous y wors llpe III the sacr d spaces aw and felt much ship, see especially 1. Michael White, Building God's Christian Writers 6 (Westminster, Md.: N wman,l 4 ), 1 e that was the same . They were tra nspor ted by thee picturesni b erorec and around them to place and events House in the Roman World: Architectural Adaptation that bore cultic significance and pe s 1 . In 1 .. .. . among Pagans, Jews, and Christians (Baltimore: Johns 60. rona connection. eac 1religious bwldmg their eye were drawn to the focus of the ritual in a nich d t d . h· ' e ecora e WIt representatIOns of the key el ments of the cult-the tau- Hopkins University Press, 1990). roctony, the sacrifice ofIsaac the G d Sh h d d wi 11 Melito of Sardis, Hymn. Fathers of the Third and Fourth b .' 00 ep er -an with color and image that invited in the world eyond. TIle remarkable similarities in th th b ildi , d . 5 After generations of ecumenism and dialogue, even Centuries, tran~. E. Cleveland Coxe, Ante-Nicene Father . e ree UI Illgs eSlgn, decoration, and purpo e must challenge an understandmg from literary so 1 f h 1" . . . "new" histories of the early Church describe Juda- 8 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdrnans, 1978),757. .. urces a one 0 t e re IglOUSffilheu of the Roman Empire. The rivalry,den- SlOn, and dIstrust among educated adh f h 1" ism as a "seedbed" for Christianity; see, for example, 1 1 I f erents 0 t e re IglOns of the third century appear to give wayin the 10 y paces 0 Dura-Europos. Charles Freeman, A New History of Early Christianity 12 Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho the Jew: tile Apostolic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 8. Fathers, trans. E. Cleveland Coxe, Ante-Nicene Father 1 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1979), 194-270; on

6 See the articles in the recent collection LeifE. Vaage, Melito and Justin, see Freeman, 137-41. ed., ReligiOUSRivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity (Montreal: Wilfred Laurier, 13 J. Rendel Harris, ed., The Apology of Aristides (Pi cataway, 2006). N.J.: Gargias, 2004),40,45.

7 Quoted by Judith Lieu, "Jews, Christians, and 'Pagans' 14 Origen, Against Celsus: Fathers of the Tl1i"dCe'jtury, tran . in Conflict," in Critique and ApologetiCS: Jews, Chris- E. Cleveland Caxe, Ante-Nicene Fathers 4 (Grand Rap- tians, and Pagans in Antiquity, ed. Anders-Christian ids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1979),433. Jacobsen, Jorg Ulrich, and David Brakke, Early Chris- tianity in the Context of Antiquity 4 (Frankfurt: Lang, 15 Justin Martyr, First Apology, ed. Leslie William Barnard, Ancient Christian Writers 56 (New York: Pauli t,1997), 2009),43. 70-71. ------~'------______4 1 8 Patricia Deleeuw A Peaceful Pluralism: the Durene Mithraeum, Synagogue, and hri tian Builling

16 Teresa Morgan, Literate Education in the Hellenistic diver e R man arrni s m st lik Iy had m r than a few Oxford University Press, 2008), 24-25; White, 119-20; and Roman Worlds (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- Chri tian Idier; LLI ind: Irven, "R ligi LI ompeti- and Graydon F. Snyder, Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evi- ity Press, 1998),2-7; and Edward]. Watts, City and tion and the De rati n of an tuari : th a e of Dura dence of Church Life before Constantine (Mercer: Mercer School: Late Antique Athens and Alexandria (Berke- Eur p ,"Early hri tiGl'lArll (20 4): . University Press, 1985),68-71. ley: University of California Press, 2006), 30-31.

25 'TI1e rna ulin pr n LInh r i n t nly but nvenicnt, 34 Kraeling, Christian Building, 80-88. 17 Few of the many documents that have been pre- true, in th L1r. Mithraeum am n th hundred or 0 erved from Dura are literary works: Ann Perkins, narn r, wi d in th pl: ter s graffiti, n ne i feminine; 3S Peppard, this volume. The Art of Dura-Europos, ed. Bernard Goldman umont, 1 9; and Fran i ,4 2. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1973),9. 36 Kraeling, Christian Building, 44. 26 Prelim. Rep. VII/VIII, 102, 110. 18 Ibid., 23-32. 37 Perkins, 114-26; and Rostovtzelf,69. 27 Beck,102-1 . 19 Michael 1. Rostovtzeff, Dura-Europos and Its Art 38 See especially jas Elsner, "Cultural Resistance and the (Oxford: Clarendon, 1938),2; see also Eric D. 28 Carl H. Kraeling, The y"agogue. tt« Excavations at Visual Image: the Case of Dura Europos," Classical Phi- Francis, "Mithraic Grafitti from Dura Europos," in Dura-Europos onducted by Yale Ulliversity and the Frend. lology 96, no. 3 (2001): 269-304. Mithraic Studies. Proceedings of the First International Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, Final Report ,Part I, Congress of Mithraic Studies, ed. John R. Hinnells ed. Alfred R. Bellinger et al. (N w Haven: Yale Univer ity 39 Ibid., 283; and Weitzmann and Kessler, 157. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1975), Press, 1956), 7- 2:425. 40 Summarized in Dirven, 4-9. 29 Ibid., 56. 20 Richard Kieckhefer, Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley (New York: 30 Wharton, IS. Kurt Weitzmann in Kurt Weitzmann and Oxford University Press, 2004), 70-74. Herbert L. Kessler, The Frescoes of the Dura y"agogue alld Christian Art, Dumbarton Oaks tudies 28 (Washington, 21 Prelim. Rep. VII/VII, 64-89; and Francis, 425-28. nc.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1990),17-141, describes and identifies each panel. 22 The traditional view; see for example, Franz Cumont, "The Dura Mithraeum;' trans. and ed. Eric 31 Joseph Gutmann in The Dura Europos Synagogue: a Re- D. Francis, Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First evaluation (1932-1992), ed.Joseph Gutmann (Atlanta: International Congress of Mithraic Studies, ed. John Scholars, 1992). R. Hinnells (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1975), 1:155-60. 32 Carl H. K.raeling, The Christian Building. The ExcavatiollSat Dura-Europos Conducted by Yale University and the Prellch 23 Roger Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, Final Report 8, Part 2, Roman Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ed. C. Bradford Welles (New Haven: Dura-Europos Publi- 2006), quoting Reinhold Merkelbach in a view with cations, 1967),38. which he concurs,S 1.

33 Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Sacred Powelj Sacred Space: an Intro- 24 Although by the third century, the very ethnically duction to Christian Architecture and Worship (New York: ------