Banquet Scene

Artist: Unknown

A.D. 194

Ancient Art

Found in a private house near the Palmyrene Gate, in a room with a raised plaster border that probably supported dining couches, this wall painting illustrates the kind of banqueting activity that likely took place in the room. Several men are shown reclining and holding drinking cups, with a woman seated separately on the far right. The men are depicted with the short, bushy hairstyles typical of male civilians of Dura-Europos, and the woman wears long, sheer garments that cover her hair and body. Painted Greek inscriptions name some of the figures; the names themselves are Semitic ones that also occur in Palmyrene Aramaic, reflecting the multicultural environment in ancient Dura.

Medium

Paint on plaster

Dimensions

58 1/2 × 72 1/4 × 5 in. (148.6 × 183.5 × 12.7 cm)

Credit Line

Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos

Accession Number

1938.5999.1147

Period

Roman

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Excavated by the Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos (block M7 W6, south wall), present-day Syria, 1928–37; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Lisa R. Brody and Gail Hoffman, eds., Roman in the Provinces: Art on the Periphery of Empire (Chestnut Hill, Mass.: McMullen Museum of Art, 2014), 18, 341, no. 178, pl. 178, fig. 2.2., 2.3
  • Lucinda Dirven, The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos: A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria (Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1999), 291–92, pl. 11
  • Ann Perkins, The Art of Dura-Europos, 1st ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 65–68, fig. 26
  • Michael I. Rostovtzeff, Professor Paul V. C. Baur, and Professor Alfred R. Bellinger, The Excavations at Dura-Europos: Preliminary Reports of the Excavations, 9 vols. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1929–44), vol. 6. pp. 146–63; pl. XLII.1
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

figures (representations)

Technical metadata and APIs

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