Reevaluating the Dura Synagogue's west wall iconography: A deuteronomic response and affirmation.

Discovered during the 1932 excavations of the city, the Synagogue in Dura-Europos revealed an assembly room whose walls contained narrative paintings inspired by biblical and extra-biblical Jewish literature. Found in a nearly complete state is the sacred Jerusalem-facing west wall. Embedded centrally is the earliest intact Torah Shrine retrieved from Late Antiquity, signifying the congregation's loyalty to the Law of Moses. Since their discovery, neither a convincing unifying theme nor a plausible motivating purpose has emerged from numerous iconographical studies of the paintings.Impressed by the carefully planned design of the important west wall, I made an iconographical analysis which clarified designated areas of emphasis, leading to new insights regarding the contents. Providing a key to the iconography is my identification of the monumental scroll-reading portrait as Moses reading from Deuteronomy, his protective legacy to the Israelites and their descendants. Adherence to this document's threshold injunctions would ensure protection of Jewish religious and national integrity; thus, Deuteronomy as a unifying theme seems justified. A study of the regional religious and historical context of the Synagogue paintings, however, led to a closer examination of the Jewish versus Christian conflict over the validity of the Law of Moses, namely, Deuteronomy. Dura's Jewish community might have felt the effect.My dissertation proposes that emphasis on Deuteronomy and its critical contents provided both the unifying theme of the west wall's iconographic program and its motivating purpose, reflecting at the same time a response to Christianity's threat to Jewish religious integrity, founded and built on Mosaic Law, and a reaffirmation of covenantal loyalty to Deuteronomy.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.School code: 0031