Dura-Europos is the name of a Greek colony on the Euphrates
River near the modern town of Salhiyé in Syria, and the site of
the earliest known Jewish diaspora synagogue. First occupied by
the Babylonians, Dura-Europos was built as a military outpost by
the Seleucids about 300 BC. About 100 BC it was captured by the
Parthians, and then in AD 165, it was annexed by Rome. It was
destroyed by the Sassanids in 256 AD. The site was recorded by
James Henry Breasted during World War I and excavated in the
1930s by Franz Cumont and Michael Rostovtzeff. Since the
mid-1980s, excavations at the site have been conducted under the
aegis of CNRS, led by Pierre Leriche.