Dura Lube | Machatas of Europos | Europos | Dura Parchment 24 | Dura-Europos church | Dura-Europos |
What may be the earliest known representation of three women visiting the tomb of Jesus is a fairly large fresco in the Dura-Europos church in the ancient city of Dura Europos on the Euphrates.
On March 5, 1933, during the excavations conducted by Clark Hopkins amongst the ruins of a Roman border-town, Dura-Europos, on the lower Euphrates, under the embankment which filled in the street inside the wall and also covered the Christian church and the Jewish synagogue, the parchment fragment now known as Dura Parchment 24 was found.
It was rediscovered by the American Wolfe Expedition in 1885, when the Palmyrene Gate was photographed by John Henry Haynes.
Later, renewed campaigns directed by Michael Rostovtzeff continued until 1937, when funds ran out with only part of the excavations published.
The best examples of this is now purely Parthian art but not from the capital, but from locations on the edge of the Parthian empire, such as Dura Europos, Hatra or belonging to the kingdom of Palmyra.