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Torah Shrine

Dura-Europos archival photograph,YUAG Negative Number: dura-fI10~01

The decoration of the Torah Shrine consists of two elements. The first one includes, "the uppermost step of the niche-block, the columns of the facade, and the intrados of the archivolt. " The second one involves important religious scenes, objects and pictures of Jewish worships.

The interior of the niche consists of three parts: the conch had a light-blue color that faded all at once after the excavation. The outer surface of the shell is a rich green color. The column and the bottom of the niche are made of marbles. The bottom of the niche consists of five rectangular panels that are framed on top and bottom by pink bands, and there are red vertical bands to separate them from each other. Out of the five panels, one and five are a pair and two and four are another pair: they are all designed by the same fashion. For the first and the fifth panel, the artists used black diagonal lines to divide triangular patterned designs. Opposing triangles on the top and the bottom of the panel has red stripes and are inscribed with peltae. Opposing triangles on the sides of the panels are decorates with brown-lined irregular concentric shapes, with a green dot in the middle of each. On the second and the fourth panels, the outer frame is decorated with red and pink bands, and alternating red dots and strokes against the white background, with bead-and-reel designs on the corners. On the corners of the strips, there are three-petal like strokes. Inside the frame, there are wavy green and dark green curvy lines of different thickness drawn from the top left and right corners of the panel towards the middle. The central panel of the niche consists of a veined black diamond with a yellow circle in the middle. The diamond is framed with the same bead-and-reel design that surrounded the second and the fourth panels. The four triangles that are on the side of the diamond are decorated in brown colors.

There are three other things to be concerned about when discussing the decoration of the niche.

The most important design of the Torah shrine is the front face of the arch. The spandrels formed a rectangle that is 1.47m wide and 1.06m high, which framed by a pink border that is 0.04m-0.05m wide. Inside the pink border there is a black line framing the arch. The rectangular panel is painted with a light blue color. On the arch, there are multiple objects portrayed about the important objects of the Jewish life at this time. In the middle of the arch, there is an unidentified rectangular architectural object. On the right, there is the image of the Scarification of Issac, and on the left is the great Menorah, an ethrog(citron) and a lulab(a palm-branch).

The man on the right is Abraham, he is dressed in a white himation, and a long-sleeved white chiton decorated with two pink clavi. He's in a pair of brown short boots up to his ankle, that covered his reddish legs. His right hand sticks out and holds a white, large, sharp knife. For his head, we can only see his black hair, which indicated that he is portrayed from the back. The reason why Abraham is portrayed from the back still remained questionable, but it is a choice of the artist to associate Abraham from certain things and disassociated him from other factors. On the left of Abraham, there is a large white altar outlined in black, which is the first object that he is associated with. The altar consists of several rectangular blocks that are on top of each other, some cylindrical blocks and projecting fillets. The shape of the altar is different from all the other altars in the synagogue. On top of the altar, there is a pink mass that draped over the altar that represents the fagots.

Another thing that Abraham is associated with is the Hand of God that's above the altar. This hand appear the first time in the usage of the synagogue. It is a representation of the conventional Jewish art in the third century, and it represents god's influence in worldly affairs. The appearance of hand is not the divine's command on Abraham, but the miraculous appearance of the ram in the shrub. The difference between the Hand of God and the other decoration of the synagogue is that at the wrist of the red Hand there is a white mass that has a black and red border, which could represent either a "light of the divine presence, a sleeve, or a cloud."

Under the altar, the artist is disassociating Abraham with the details of the scene presented at the bottom of the plate. These details include the ram, which the supply of divine intervention that is unknown to him, and the tree with its trunk outlined in red and brown. The trunk curves to the left, with the black and green crown placed below the altar. The body of the ram is outlined in brown.

On the top right corner of the plate, there is an object that the artist drew that would lead to many discussions. The probable interpretation of this object is a conical, light green tent.There is a curve on the side showing the interior of the tent, which is painted in pink. On top of the tent there is also a piece of pink, which shows that the tent has a flap that can be rolled back. Inside the tent stood a little human figure that dressed in white chiton and pink clavi. The figure is also drawn from the rear. In recent discussions, there is also another view that the tent is a temple, and the little figure is either Abraham or Issac. This drawing could also be interpreted as the tent is the one that Abraham took when he was on his three-day journey to Moriah. The small figure in the picture is one of the two men that were left behind the sacrifice.

On the left side of the plate, to balance with the sacrifice of Issac, there are three other iconic Jewish symbols. The most predominant one is the golden Menorah, its shape drastically different than the ones on the narrative panels of the synagogue. The menorah has 7 arms that are supported on a narrow waist base that were supported by three two-balls legs. On the narrow waist, a eight-pointed rosette or star is drawn. The seven arms of the lamp stand represent the "knops" of the biblical description. On top of each arm holds a lamp in which the shape is similar to the earthenware that were commonly use in Roman Orient, which has a curved handle and a projecting nozzle on separate ends. A flame appear on the right of each nozzle, and the direction is to the north.