...of the Syrian Desert? Valley & steppe

Dura actually wasn't a desert city at all. It stood in hot, dry steppe country, which is far from being entirely barren. More importantly, it took its life from the great river which it overlooked: the Euphrates.

Certainly, Dura stands mostly on a rocky plateau which, for much of the year, is searingly hot and looks lifeless. But is was laid out between two great wadis-- valleys cut by flash-floods from the limited but violent rains which fall during most winters. These rains cause the plateau to bloom with lush grasses and wild flowers in springtime, sustaining flocks of sheep.

However, the city perched on cliffs with a panoramic view of the powerful, fast-flowing Euphrates and the great valley it had carved out. Several kilometres wide, this regularly received fresh rich silts and water from the river's frequent floods. The Euphrates valley is a kind of linear oasis through the hot country like the Nile in Egypt. With the Tigris to the East, it framed Mesopotamia, the 'land between the rivers', one of the cradles of civilization. (Dura, on the south bank of the Euphrates, stood in Parapotamia, 'the land along the river', but overlooked Mesopotamia across the water.)

It was primarily the Euphrates, and its fertile, well-watered valley fields, orchards and pastures, which gave Dura its life and living.