Origins: Hellenistic Europos
The later Hellenistic citadel at Dura. It replaced the presumed original fortifications of the Macedonian phrourion of Europos which stood on this rocky prominence dominating the ancient road up the wadi (still a track, right). The later Hellenistic city, of which the rebuilt citadel was a part, grew from a village nestling in the wadi at right. (Photo montage: Simon James)
The fortified military colony of Europos was founded around 300 BC at the behest of Seleucus Nicator, Macedonian ruler of the new Seleucid kingdom in Iran, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Syria. This was just a generation after Alexander's conquest of the Achemenid Persian empire. By the mid-second century BC this military outpost was expanding to becoming a Greek-style city (polis) in this wider, now 'Hellenistic' (culturally Greek-led) world. However, the process was unfinished before it fell under the power of the expanding Arsacid (Parthian) empire, around 110 BC.
The recent Franco-Syrian expedition has shown that Europos was not initially established as a city, but rather as a military station. The new Seleucid regime decided to establish a phrourion (fortified garrison) here for strategic reasons. Dura lay midway on the vital axis of communication between the sprawling kingdom's eastern core zone around Seleucia-on-the-Tigris near modern Baghdad, and its western core around Antioch-on-the-Orontes in Mediterranean Syria. The phrourion was probably named after the birthplace of King Seleucus: Europos in Macedon.
The location of Dura-Europos, midway along the Euphrates corridor linking the Seleucid empire's twin heartlands in Mediterranean Syria and Babylonia. (drawing Simon James)
The soldiers settled at the new garrison station of Europos fortified the rocky promontory overlooking both river and road which gave the site its local name, Dura, 'the stronghold'. A settlement would soon grow up in its shadow. But they took their living from the rich nearby farmlands along the valley.
This region, like the rest of the former Achemenid Persian empire, was now what Greeks called 'spear-won land'. It was not vacant real estate; the valley was home to indigenous Syrians. The soldier-colonists established themselves as a new ruling elite dominating the local population, ultimately by the threat of the sword. They also maintained their distinction from their Aramaic-speaking subordinates by their Greek language, and their Macedonian descent, culture and institutions. They and their privileged descendants would soon become known as Europaioi ,'the people of Europos'.
It was not until the middle of the second century BC that Europos transformed from a primarily military colony to a Greek-style city-state. At the urban centre at Dura this involved quarrying hundreds of thousands of tons of stone from the river cliffs and wadi sides to build a new citadel and defensive walls around the new street grid laid out mostly on the plateau. The construction programme was still incomplete when the region came under threat from the expanding Arsacid ('Parthian') state, which was rolling up the Seleucid Empire from the east. Europos fell under Arsacid rule around 110BC.