The Ruination of Dura-Europos

Abstract

has asked what happens when we shift our scrutiny from the picturesque ruins of empire to the ongoing process of ruination. Examining some of the many and continuing ruinations of the site Dura-Europos on the Syrian Euphrates, this paper compares ancient and modern destructions by the Roman army, Sasanian forces, Yale archaeologists and 'Islamic State', and questions the different way these are understood. Through these stories of ruination I interrogate the relationship between archaeologists and processes of site destruction, examining archaeologists not only as those who evaluate loss but as agents of destruction themselves.