Strange Meeting at Salihiyeh: Who Discovered (or Encountered, or Identified, or Invented) Dura-Europos, and When?

The centenary of the establishment Department Classics at University Kraków coincides with that beginnings study ‘Pompeii Syrian Desert.’In spring 1920, British Indian soldiers digging in ruins known as Salihiyeh overlooking Euphrates accidentally revealed ancient paintings. Recorded by archaeologist James Henry Breasted, these discoveries would soon lead to further excavations Franz Cumont (1922–1923), and eventually great Yale-French Academy expedition under Mikhail Rostovtzeff (1928–1937). By then site was famous ‘Dura-Europos,’giving us remarkable insights into Hellenistic Greek, Parthian, Roman, early Christian Jewish life Middle East. Not least related Dura’s Roman garrison. This paper traces history revelation—and, part, invention—of Dura-Europos 1920s. It is a story eminent scholars, but also others who actually evidence: soldiers, both officers men, armies French empires which dominated region time. Today, time ‘decolonisation’of scholarship, very formulation ‘Dura-Europos’itself subject contention.