Dura-Europos
About
Roman forces occupied this fortified caravan city on a bluff forty meters above the Euphrates during Trajan's sweep down the river in 115-116 CE, planting a garrison inside walls the Parthians had held for over two centuries. The city sat on the direct route south from Zeugma toward Ctesiphon, making it a natural staging post for the army's advance into the Parthian heartland. Roman troops still held Dura-Europos when Trajan died in August 117 CE. It was one of the last outposts of the conquered province given up, evacuated by the end of September that year as Hadrian pulled every garrison back across the Euphrates. Rome would not return to hold Dura-Europos for good until 165 CE, under Lucius Verus.
What happened here
A legionary fortress holds five thousand men and is laid out to the same plan everywhere, so a transferred soldier knows his way around on the first day. Two main streets cross at the headquarters building, where the standards and the pay chest are kept in a sunken strongroom under guard. Around it: the commander's house with a courtyard garden, granaries raised on stone piers, a hospital, workshops, and long barrack blocks divided into rooms for eight men who cook and mess together. Training is daily, and building work is constant — soldiers make their own bricks, tiles and boots. A civilian town grows against the walls, with bars, traders and the unofficial families of men who are not legally allowed to marry.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →