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Destruction of Christian Building, Dura-Europos
structure located in block M8 at Dura-Europos (Syria), converted from house to Christian worship space
- 250s – 250s CE
- Middle East
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structure located in block M8 at Dura-Europos (Syria), converted from house to Christian worship space
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
The Dura-Europos church (or Dura-Europos house church) is the earliest identified Christian house church. It was located in Dura-Europos, Syria, and one of the earliest known Christian churches. It is believed to have been an ordinary house that was converted to a place of worship between 233 and 256 AD, and appears to have been built following the Durene tradition, distinguished by the use of mud brick and a layout consisting of rooms encircling a courtyard, which was characteristic of most other homes built in the Dura-Europos region. Prior to the town being abandoned in 256 during the Persian siege, the Romans built a ramp extending from the city wall which buried the church building in a way that allowed for the preservation of its walls, enabling its eventual excavation by archaeologists in 1933. It was less famous, smaller, and more-modestly decorated than the nearby Dura-Europos synagogue, though there are many similarities between them.
The church was uncovered by a French-American team of archaeologists during two excavation campaigns in the city from 1931–32. The frescos were removed after their discovery and are preserved at Yale University Art Gallery.
The fate of the church after the occupation of Syrian territory by ISIL during the Syrian Civil War is unknown; it is assumed the building was destroyed.
The Christian chapel at Dura-Europos was a domus ecclesiae that occupied an old, private dwelling in the ancient city's M8 block, along the western rampart of the city, opposite Gate 17, a short distance south of the main door. This house's layout is typical of local domestic architecture; it had a square, central courtyard around which the various rooms were arranged. Access from the street was though a modest door.
The building's construction was dated using an inscription on the plaster that showed the date 232/233. The inscription was made on a wet plaster and later covered over. The house was probably built on a plot of undeveloped land; it was a little larger than the average size used for individual residences in Dura. The building was trapezoidal, and measured approximately 17.4 m (57 ft) from east to west, and between 18.6 and 20.2 m (61 and 66 ft) from north to south. The islet M8 was briefly occupied by a building—probably a private house—during the first century AD but was destroyed by the beginning of second century, judging by the significant thickness of the abandonment layer 1.3 m (4.3 ft) covering its remains. The construction of a first dwelling on the islet came after the Roman occupation of 165, and was followed by other constructions in the years of strong urban growth accompanying the military reinforcement of the city (209-211). The house was bordered by other buildings on the east side but the area to the south remained vacant. The conversion to a Christian church probably occurred in 240/241.
The new building was about 17.4 m (57 ft) long and 19 m (62 ft) wide, and was close to the city wall, from which it was separated by a street. The house consisted of a peristyle with living rooms on all four sides. In the north was the entrance into an anteroom that led into the peristyle, which had two columns on the east side. Some rooms were 5.22 m (17.1 ft) high and other rooms were probably about 4 m (13 ft) high. There was a staircase to the roof and a small basement.
During the conversion of the private house into a church, a wall between two small rooms was demolished to make space for the large assembly room. This signified the shift to "church houses", which were more permanently adapted for religious use. As noted in The Oxford History of Christian Worship; "one of the larger rooms served as a baptistry, another for the celebration of the Eucharist, and a third possibly for the instruction of catechumens".
The house seems to have been converted in one campaign, and mainly concerned the west and south parts of the building. The first room from the street (Room 8, approximately 5.7 m × 2.5 m (18.7 ft × 8.2 ft), in the northeast corner of the building, served as a vestibule. It opened with a passage monumentalized by an arch in the courtyard, two steps below. This almost-square space 7.7 m × 7.7 m × 8.55 m (25.3 ft × 25.3 ft × 28.1 ft) was renovated; the ground was raised by 0.08 m (3.1 in) and covered with cinder, plaster, and tiles, removing in the operation a small basin to collect rainwater that was previously located in the northwest corner. A low, narrow masonry bench 0.5 m × 0.42 m (1.6 ft × 1.4 ft) was built along the west, north, and south walls. It was preceded by a step- in front of stairwell 7 and the door to room 6. The east side of the courtyard opened onto a portico of two columns with a diameter of 0.75 m (30 in) equally spaced. It measures approximately 9 m × 2.65 m (29.5 ft × 8.7 ft). The columns make it possible to estimate the height of the ceiling in rooms 2 and 3 at around 4 m (13 ft). In the middle of the south side of the courtyard opens a 1.6-metre (5.2 ft) monumental door, which was the main access to the south wing of building.
Originally, this included the house's triclinium, the largest room, about 8 m × 5.15 m (26.2 ft × 16.9 ft) that served as a dining room (room 4A). High ceiling (about 5.07 m); it was also raised above the courtyard almost 0.5 m (1.6 ft) and included a peripheral masonry bench covered with a plaster coating. A brazier was located immediately to the right of the entrance. A small door in the northeast corner was the only access to a secondary room in the southeast corner of the house (room 3), which was probably a utility or storage room for this dining room. Another door in the northwest corner of room 4A opened to a room 4B, which was probably also a utility room.
During the conversion, the two rooms 4A and 4B were joined to form a large, rectangular room 12.9 m × 5.15 m (42.3 ft × 16.9 ft), the floor of which is raised by back-filling the previous one to a height of the seat. On the east side, a platform was set up against the partition wall separating the new room from room 3, which was preserved: this platform would have accommodated a lectern for a reader or a cathedral. A hole in the ground next to it would have accommodated the base of a lamp. A window was cut into the wall facing the courtyard, just north of the gate. This large room was the Christian community's meeting room.
In the house's north wing, room 5, which was approximately 7.5 m × 4.2 m (25 ft × 14 ft) and together with room 6 at the north-west corner, formed the private quarters of the house—perhaps the gynaeceum. A window was pierced in the south-eastern wall, and the doorway leading to room 6 to the north had a careful decoration that was unusual for an interior door. Room 6 was about 6.8 m × 3.15 m (22.3 ft × 10.3 ft); this was converted into a baptistry. In its original state, it was a service room. It was first divided in the direction of the height by installing a ceiling at 3.45 m (11.3 ft) off the ground. The western part was dug up to the bedrock for the installation of a basin against the western wall. The basin was 1.63 m (5.3 ft) wide and 0.95 m (3.1 ft) deep, including 0.5 m (1.6 ft) above the ground level of the room. It was topped with brick-and-mortar masonry ciborium consisting of a barrel vault 174 m (571 ft) wide, which was supported by two pilasters along the west wall and two masonry columns on the east side. A 0.2 m (0.66 ft) step was built in front of basin. The whole constitutes the baptismal pool of a building of worship. On the other side of the room, a low bench 0.22 m × 0.5 m (0.72 ft × 1.64 ft) was built along the wall. A semicircular niche is dug in the south wall between the two doors, and a table was set up in front of it. All of the room's the walls received a rich, painted decoration; geometric and plant motifs were painted on the baptismal pool; the room's ceiling and the vault were decorated with white stars on a blue background, according to a pattern quite similar to that of the vault of the mithraeum of Dura Europos. The decoration of the ciborium also recalls that of the Torah niche in the synagogue; the same artists were probably responsible for both.
No prominent altar was found and archeologists are unsure where exactly it was located, it was suggested a platform in the big room could have held an altar. In contrast with the others, the room serving as the baptistry was very developed. The layout of the building's assembly room seems to suggest the emergence of the ritual Christian Mass at this time, with a raised dais on one end elevating the speaker and making them visible and audible to a large assembly, and the orientation of the room towards the east as opposed to the western Jerusalem, which was already at this moment in history a documented Christian custom. This room's numerous wall paintings were relatively well preserved and were made in the tradition of Parthian art, although their quality is significantly lower than that of the Dura-Europos synagogue.
The building is notably smaller and sports less modifications than the nearby synagogue that was excavated during the same time period, which can generally be attributed to the Christian population in Dura-Europos being much smaller and less affluent than the Jewish population at the time of its construction. Another reason for this may have been restrictions placed on the practice of Christianity by the Roman Empire who had control over Dura-Europos at the time of its construction; the church was small so the believers could met in secret while the building looked the same as other houses of the block.
The house-church was uncovered during an archaeological project that was first initiated at the end of World War I, and after stalling in 1923 due to civil unrest and revolts against French control in Syria, was reinvigorated in 1928 with the involvement of American researchers led by scientific director Michael Rostovtzeff of Yale University. Clark Hopkins, who was field director of the site from 1931 to 1935, oversaw the discovery of the house-church in 1931 working closely with Harry Pearson, who was able to construct a detailed floor plan of the church. The discovery was significant at the time due to it being the only ritual Christian building dated from before the Constantinian era. It also offered a unique glimpse into the layout and architecture of such early converted Christian buildings before they were transformed into larger churches, since many such house-churches are known to have existed but were either destroyed or never uncovered.
The finding of the church gives an important window into the early spread of Christianity throughout Syria, and lends truth to apostolic legends which claim that Jesus' first generation of followers originated Christianity in Syrian cities. There is ongoing scholarly debate about the greater significance of Christian presence in Dura-Europos specifically, and the reason for the church's construction. Some scholars have attempted to draw a connecting line between the existence of the church and the Jewish synagogue excavated nearby, claiming the church may have branched off from the synagogue or emerged as a counter to it, evidenced by a piece of Hebrew writing found within the church which "resembles not only a Jewish prayer, but also a mealtime blessing passed down in the Didache, an early Jewish-Christian liturgical manual likely from Syria." Others have associated the tradition of Christianity in Dura-Europos with the spread of Valentinianism; a school of thought originated by the mid-second century Christian theologian Valentinus whose ideas were preserved in texts and circulated throughout the eastern world. Due to the similarity in traditions documented in Dura-Europos specifically and by Valentinian teachings, some scholars believe Valentinian presence and influence in Dura-Europos is what led to the construction of the church. Another theory is that Christianity arrived in Dura-Europos with the Roman army who made up "as much as 50 percent" of the city's population during the time in which they occupied it. The church was excavated near the city wall, which was the frontier of the city's expansion during the time in which they were under Roman control. Considering many nearby houses were known to be occupied by members of the army, and graffiti was found inside the church containing Latin-originated names, Roman involvement in the church is more or less confirmed, though how much their presence directly led to its formation is still debated.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Dura-Europos church”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.