Temple of Zeus Kyrios

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The stele from the temple

The temple of Zeus Kyrios stands in the Syrian Dura Europos and was probably built in the 1st century AD. It was excavated in 1934 by an American-French expedition.

The small sanctuary is leaned against a tower of the city wall in the west of the city. This location seems to have been chosen deliberately; In the Syrian region, towers are well documented as part of the temple architecture.

It is the smallest temple excavated in Dura Europos to date. When it was founded, it consisted only of a room built against the city wall with an altar leaning against the wall. In a second construction phase, two more rooms were added in the north. They had their own separate entrance and were equipped with benches. In the last phase of construction, too, the building had three rooms, but the actual cult room with the altar was greatly expanded. It was now a large, long hall that may not have a roof and is therefore better described as a courtyard. To the north of this there were two smaller rooms, an entrance corridor with a door to the street and a room furnished with benches on all sides. The entire structure was 15.8 m long at this stage.

A stele was found in the sanctuary, which is either a cult image or a relief from a pond. The stele shows Zeus seated and the founder, who is a man from Palmyra . The stele bears an inscription in the Palmyrenic language , according to which it was erected in AD 31 by a certain Baratheh, son of Luke, and his son Abubuhi. Ba'al Shamen is named as god . A Greek inscription gives the Greek name of the founder: Seleukos, son of Leukios. In a short Greek inscription, the god on the stele is referred to as Zeus . In a longer Greek inscription on the stele, Seleukos, a date and the god who appears here as Kyrios are mentioned.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Susan Downey, "Temples à Escaliers": The Dura Evidence. In: California Studies in Classical Antiquity. Volume 9, 1976, pp. 27-29.
  2. ^ Delbert R. Hillers, Eleonora Cussini: Palmyrene Aramaic texts. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1996, ISBN 0-8018-5278-1 , p. 171, number 1089 (Doura 23).

literature

  • MI Rostovtzeff , FE Brown, CB Welles: The excavations at Dura-Europos: Preliminary Report of Seventh and Eighth Season of Work 1933-1934 and 1934-1935. Yale University Press, New Haven et al. 1939, pp. 284-309.

Coordinates: 34 ° 44 ′ 42 "  N , 40 ° 43 ′ 40.5"  E