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ARIAN ZWEGERS, CC-BY-2.0

MELTING POT ON THE EUPHRATES. Founded as a Seleucid fortress in 303 B.C., Dura-Europos in present-day Syria developed to host a multilingual community of Christians, Jews, and polytheists during the Roman period. Excavations there revealed multiple pagan shrines, a synagogue with extraordinary figural paintings, and possibly the earliest known Christian house-church.