Reconsidering a century-old interpretation
Once an impressive stronghold of the Roman Empire, the city of Dura-Europos, located along the banks of the Euphrates River in eastern Syria, is a treasure trove of archaeological discoveries. However, one of its most famous features—the oldest house church ever discovered—may not be what it first appears. Publishing in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, two scholars have suggested that while the building is certainly the oldest place of Christian assembly ever discovered, the term “house church” is likely a misnomer.
Since its discovery in the 1930s, the famed house church of Dura-Europos has been viewed as a key stage in the development of Christian spaces, from the private homes mentioned in the New Testament to the magnificent basilicas of the Byzantine period. More importantly, with the abandonment of Dura-Europos in 257 CE, the so-called house church, which dates to the third century, is the only known structure that was definitively used for Christian assembly before the reign of Emperor Constantine (306–337 CE) when Christianity was legalized under the Roman Empire.
However, while the building was originally constructed as a home, any domestic use ended when it was converted for Christian worship and assembly. To prove this, Camille Leon Angelo of Yale University and Joshua Silver of the University of Manchester set out to reanalyze the building, asking not just how it was used but also how it was not. Comparing their findings to other excavated houses at Dura revealed many important differences. These include the conversion of its triclinium (dining room) into an assembly room with a built-in dais, the complete removal of the building’s water cistern and food preparation area, and the splitting of a room to create a separate baptistery.
Additionally, utilizing daylight simulations, they discovered that the lighting in the remodeled building was intentionally shifted from what would have been standard for a typical home. This change added more natural light in several rooms and focused the light in ways that would draw a visitor’s gaze to particular places, such as the dais, which would have had a pseudo-spotlight on it after the renovations.
Between removing features necessary for domestic use and adding in features that were not needed in a house, the team concluded that there is little reason to view the Dura-Europos “house church” as a house. So, does that make it the earliest church? According to Angelo, in communication with Bible History Daily, “Certainly, Dura’s Christian building was used for Christian assembly. But the designation of a building as a church often conjures certain patterns of use and architectural forms not evident at Dura’s Christian building.”
The Christian building of Dura-Europos may be unique in the archaeological record, but it is not unique inside the city itself, as two other religious spaces were also excavated that began their lives as homes: the mithraeum and synagogue. Both were converted in the late second century. All three buildings also shared similar design features, which set them apart from ordinary houses and marked them as distinctly cultic buildings within the city.
These similarities include the way that each building was decorated, with areas painted dark blue with white dots to frame important spaces inside the building. In the synagogue, this aesthetic framed the Torah shrine, whereas in the Christian building it surrounded the baptismal font where there was also a painting of the Good Shepherd. All three buildings also included paintings with important religious imagery, such as biblical scenes or the cosmogony of Mithras. While the renovators of the Christian building may have intentionally copied the style of the mithraeum and synagogue, it is also possible that the same workshop was involved in the renovation of all three buildings, which were located on the same street along the western wall of the city.
One of the most interesting features of Dura-Europos’s Christian building was its public use before the legalization of Christianity. What was it about this city that allowed a marginalized religious movement to construct a place of assembly? “Dura’s status as a regional capital of sorts, with ties to Palmyra’s caravan trade and home to a Roman garrison town, created possibilities for diverse interactions and heightened competition between the city’s many religious communities,” said Angelo. “Another factor, however, is that the part of the city where the Christian building was located was sealed off for centuries. As such, Dura provides a snapshot of cultic life in one city in the mid-third century, a time of early Christian community formation and articulation.”
“My hunch,” Angelo continued, “is that Dura’s Christian community was not especially more visible to the local population than other Christian communities during this period but is merely unique in its preservation. I suspect that if any cities akin to Dura were similarly preserved, we would have additional examples in which Christian communities were visible.”
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