Dura Europos
The International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens 2010
edited by Domenico Luciani and Patrizia Boschiero
Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche
Treviso 2010
144 pages
87 illustrations in colour and 55 black and white
available on request from the Foundation
the Italian edition is also available
Dura Europos, near Salhiyé, on the right bank of the middle course of the River Euphrates, in Syria, is what remains of an ancient city, surrounded on three sides by defensive walls, with the east-facing fourth side overlooking the great river from a height of over 40 metres, an escarpment that offers a spectacular view both of the fertile alluvial plain stretching away to the horizon and of the powerful vertical structure of the dramatically poised ramparts.
Discovered “by chance” by a military detachment in 1920, this archaeological site immediately attracted the attention of eminent European and American scholars. Thanks to three successive phases of investigations Dura Europos has been one of the richest sources of historical information about the events and aspects concerning the civilizations, arts and religious cults that flourished in the Middle East in the five centuries and more between the end of the IV century BC and the middle of the III century AD in an area that was especially permeable to contacts and interchanges between the Mediterranean and Asian worlds.
Contents
The International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens 1990-2010, 4
Regulations and Jury, 5
Dura Europos. Jury Report, 7
(in English, Arabic, Italian and French)
Pierre Leriche, Europos Dura on the Euphrates, 28
Syria. The geographical nature of the region, 45
Syria today, 48
Syria. A brief historical chronology, 50
Dura Europos. Chronology, 56
Bernard Geyer, Dura Europos: the site, the environment, the river, 59
The seasons of Dura Europos, 73
Franz Cumont, The excavations of Dura Europos, 1922-1923, 75
Clark Hopkins, The excavations of the synagogue paintings, 80
Ségolène de Pontbriand, The legacy of research at Europos Dura. A shared wealth, 82
Susan B. Matheson, Dura Europos at Yale, 89
The “shield” of Dura Europos, by Massimo Rossi, 93
Corinne Bonnet, Franz Cumont, Mikhail Rostovtzeff and Dura Europos, 94
Ted Kaizer, Temples and cults at Dura Europos, 97
Lucinda Dirven, Notes about religious interaction at Dura Europos, 101
Joseph Gutmann, The Dura Europos synagogue: a re-valuation, 103
André Grabar, Christian painting and sculpture before the Edict of Milan, 112
Arne Effenberger, The domus ecclesiae and the synagogue, 119
Peter Brown, Christianity and Empire, 123
Bibliography consulted, 127
Syria-Italy cultural heritage cooperation projects in the fields of archaeology and museography, 135
References for the illustrations, 136
International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens 2010 public events, 140
