User:Njacobs9/Dura-Europos church

Lead
It is believed to have been an ordinary house that was converted to a place of worship between 233 and 256, and appears to have been built following the Durene tradition, distinguished by the use of mud brick and a layout consisting of rooms encircling a courtyard, which was characteristic of most other homes built in the Dura-Europos region. Prior to the town being abandoned in 256 during the Persian siege, the Romans built a ramp extending from the city wall which buried the church building in a way that allowed for the preservation of its walls, enabling its eventual excavation by archaeologists in 1933.

Conversion to a church
The layout of the building's assembly room seems to suggest the emergence of the ritual Christian mass at this time, with a raised dais on one end elevating the speaker and making them visible and audible to a large assembly, and the orientation of the room towards the east as opposed to the western Jerusalem, which was already at this moment in history a documented Christian custom.

The building is notably smaller and sports less modifications than the nearby synagogue that was excavated during the same time period, which can generally be attributed to the Christian population in Dura-Europos being much smaller and less affluent than the Jewish population at the time of its construction. Another reason for this may have been restrictions placed on the practice of Christianity by the Roman Empire who had control over Dura-Europos at the time of its construction; the church was small so the believers could met in secret while the building looked the same as other houses of the block.

Discovery
The house-church was uncovered during an archaeological project that was first initiated at the end of World War I, and after stalling in 1923 due to civil unrest and revolts against French control in Syria, was reinvigorated in 1928 with the involvement of American researchers led by scientific director Michael Rostovtzeff of Yale University. Clark Hopkins, who was field director of the site from 1931 to 1935, oversaw the discovery of the house-church in 1931 working closely with Harry Pearson, who was able to construct a detailed floor plan of the church. The discovery was significant at the time due to it being the only ritual Christian building dated from before the Constantinian era. It also offered a unique glimpse into the layout and architecture of such early converted Christian buildings before they were transformed into larger churches, since many such house-churches are known to have existed but were either destroyed or never uncovered.

Religious significance
The finding of the church gives an important window into the early spread of Christianity throughout Syria, and lends truth to apostolic legends which claim that Jesus' first generation of followers originated Christianity in Syrian cities. There is ongoing scholarly debate about the greater significance of Christian presence in Dura-Europos specifically, and the reason for the church's construction. Some scholars have attempted to draw a connecting line between the existence of the church and the Jewish synagogue excavated nearby, claiming the church may have branched off from the synagogue or emerged as a counter to it, evidenced by a piece of Hebrew writing found within the church which "resembles not only a Jewish prayer, but also a mealtime blessing passed down in the Didache, an early Jewish-Christian liturgical manual likely from Syria." Others have associated the tradition of Christianity in Dura-Europos with the spread of Valentinianism; a school of thought originated by the mid-second century Christian theologian Valentinus whose ideas were preserved in texts and circulated throughout the eastern world. Due to the similarity in traditions documented in Dura-Europos specifically and by Valentinian teachings, some scholars believe Valentinian presence and influence in Dura-Europos is what led to the construction of the church. Another theory is that Christianity arrived in Dura-Europos with the Roman army who made up "as much as 50 percent" of the city's population during the time in which they occupied it. The church was excavated near the city wall, which was the frontier of the city's expansion during the time in which they were under Roman control. Considering many nearby houses were known to be occupied by members of the army, and graffiti was found inside the church containing Latin-originated names, Roman involvement in the church is more or less confirmed, though how much their presence directly led to its formation is still debated.

Paintings
The surviving frescoes are acknowledged to be "the earliest church wall painting[s] yet discovered," and probably the oldest-known Christian paintings.

Baptistry
Only the baptistery was decorated with wall paintings, which distinguished the church from the nearby Jewish synagogue that featured artwork on display throughout. Scholars hypothesize that this difference stems from Christianity's desire to promote conversion at the time, which would only happen within the baptistery and give the convert the singular experience of witnessing the artworks when they were anointed.

Representation of women
They are dressed in white veils and stand in front of a white, box-shaped object, believed in some interpretations to be Jesus' tomb. The representation was obviously important since it took up the main field of two walls, and its placement is significant in how the women are depicted as walking along the eastern wall such that they mimicked the procession of someone walking from the courtyard into the baptistry, which emphasized how one would walk into the baptistry and emerge reborn and purified, just as the women would as they walked towards the tomb of Christ.

David and Goliath
The depiction of David in a baptistery is unusual but to the Eastern Church, David was the prototype of an anointed man, having been anointed in the Bible by Samuel prior to his battle with Goliath, ensuring his victory.

Graffiti
Four names were also identified, two of which, Paulus and Proclus, come from Latin and are linked to members of the Roman garrison who occupied the city, lending to the theory that the Roman army are who helped introduce Christianity to Dura-Europos leading to the church's construction.

Summary of Contributions
The bulk of my contribution was to add two new sections under "History" titled "Discovery" and "Religious significance", which touch on grounding information I found in my sources that was not present in the article beforehand, and notable information on how the building was discovered and what its connection to the greater presence of Christianity in Dura-Europos was, all of which I viewed to be relevant and worthy of having its own sections. I also made some other changes and additions to various sections, including adding some details about the church's history and preservation to the lead section of the article, adding some information at the end of the "Conversion to a church" section which I noticed the article was previously lacking details and proper citations for, and adding some additional descriptions to the wall paintings which tell more about their greater significance and function beyond just what is pictured. I also added some links and minor copy-edits.

Future changes
While the new sections I added contain most of the information I could find, they could very well continue to be expanded with evidence from different sources, and I intentionally wrote them in a way that leaves room for changes and expansion in the future. I also could delve more into researching information about the specific paintings, a few of which I didn't really touch on much in my research, and I could add more to the final two sections of the article which are very brief and lacking in information. I would've liked to add some additional images, but could not find them on Wikipedia's database and would need to investigate getting the rights to use some of the ones I singled out in books and galleries.