Sura (Syria)

Sura was an ancient city on the Euphrates in the north of today's Syria, 25 kilometers west of Ar-Raqqa and 35 kilometers north of Resafa near the village of al-Mansura (modern name: al-Suriyya). In the Roman Empire , the fortress city was in the Roman province of Syria , later Syria Coele or in late antiquity Syria Euphratensis .

In the 1st century AD, Sura was a border fortification on the Strata Diocletiana against the Parthians . It was only in late antiquity that the city became important again. According to the Notitia dignitatum or. 33, 6, 28 Sura was the seat of the Prefect of the Legio XVI Flavia company . The legion camp was in the city. The city wall (approx. 1700 × 450 meters) was renewed under Justinian I.

The titular Sura of the Roman Catholic Church goes back to the city, which was the seat of a bishopric in late antiquity .

literature

• Nigel Pollard: Soldiers, Cities, & Civilians in Roman Syria. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2000, ISBN 0-472-11155-8 . Pp. 295-296.
• Karlheinz Kessler : Sura 3. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , Sp. 1117.
• Michaela Konrad : The late Roman Limes in Syria. Archaeological investigations at the border forts of Sura, Tetrapyrgium, Cholle and in Resafa. Resafa 5. Zabern, Mainz 2001.

Coordinates: 35 ° 53 ′ 55.7 ″  N , 38 ° 46 ′ 46.99 ″  E