RF Annual Report - 1935 - The Rockefeller Foundation

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THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
period beginning July 1, 1935. This project has
received Foundation support since 1931,first
through a special grant and later through the
general research fund for work in the humanities
at Yale,
The historical significance of the site of Dura-
Europos on the Euphrates had been surmised
because of its location on an eastern trade route
and by reason of the successive occupancy of the
town by Eastern and Western races up to the end
of the third century. From then to recent times
the site remained untouched, and little excavation
had been done when Professor Rostovtzeff
began his work there in 1928. The Foundation
grant of 1931 was designated for the completion
of work on only those parts of the site known
to be particularly important for an insight into
the economic and social life of Syria through the
Greco-Roman period.
During the campaigns of 1933 and 1934 the
Yale expeditions made unexpected discoveries
in thefieldof art, calling for more intensive work
before the abandonment of the site. The excavators
uncovered a Christian chapel, a sanctuary
of the Persian god Mithras, and a Jewish
synagogue containing unique mural paintings on
religious themes. The discovery of these places of
worship provided a new means for the study of
the influence of pagan cultures upon later devel-
© 2003 The Rockefeller Foundation