ISAW Presents Edge of Empires Exhibition, 9/23-1/8

The ancient city of Dura-Europos, which stood at the crossroads of the Hellenistic, Persian, and Roman worlds for some five centuries, is the subject of an upcoming exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW). Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews, and Christians at Roman Dura-Europos, on view at ISAW from September 23, 2011, through January 8, 2012, tells the story of life in the city, located in present-day Syria, from the mid-second to mid-third century CE, when it thrived as a Roman military garrison.

Founded in the fourth century BCE by Macedonian successors of Alexander the Great, Dura-Europos was successively occupied by Parthians and Romans before its destruction in the middle of the third century CE. It was home to an unusually multicultural population that-hailing from across a wide geographic swath-lived, worked, and worshipped side by side, speaking and writing in an exceptional variety of languages.

The thousands of archaeological treasures that have been uncovered at Dura include the world's best-preserved ancient synagogue, with paintings of Biblical scenes that revealed a figural tradition in Jewish art, previously believed not to exist; the earliest Christian house-church, with the earliest-known baptistery; and numerous places of pagan worship.

Edge of Empires explores Dura's multiplicity of religions, languages, and cultures through a presentation of 77 significant objects from the city and a display devoted to the history of archaeological excavation and discovery there. Artifacts on view range from elaborately painted ceiling tiles from the famous synagogue, to a painted shield, to such quotidian objects as a child's leather shoe and an engagement ring.

The objects in Edge of Empires are on loan from the Yale University Art Gallery, and are drawn from material jointly excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by Yale University and the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.