Arsu Riding a Camel Relief in the Yale University Art Gallery, October 2013

Arsu Riding a Camel

ca. 2nd century A.D.

Limestone

133 x 44.5 x 7 cm (13 x 17 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)

Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos

1935.44

The worship of Arsu, an Arab god, was probably introduced at Dura-Europos during the Parthian era by caravans and nomads. In the earlier of the two Arsu reliefs in the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection (see also 1938.5311), the god rides a camel and approaches an altar. A crescent perhaps symbolizes his association with the evening star; the rose may signal divinity. After Dura became a Roman military garrison, worship of Arsu emphasized his military characteristics. The later relief above depicts a standing Arsu with weapons of the desert: a small round shield, a spear, and a sword.

Culture: Dura-Europos (Syria)

Period: Parthian or Roman, 2nd century A.D.

Classification: Sculpture


Bibliography:

Michael I. Rostovtzeff, Dura-Europos and Its Art, 1st (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1938), 65, pl. 12, ill.

Dorothy E. Miner, ed., Early Christian and Byzantine Art, exh. cat. (Baltimore: The Walters Art Museum, 1947), 35, no. 76, fig. Pl. X.

Ann Perkins, The Art of Dura-Europos, 1st ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 98100, pl. 40, ill.

Susan B. Downey, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report III (Los Angeles: Insititue of Archaeology, University of California Los Angeles, 1977), 556, 195199, no. 43, pl. 11, fig. 43.

Christa Bauchenss-Thüriedl, Erika Simon, and Ingrid Krauskopf, Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, 8 vols. (Zurich: Artemis, 198197), vol. 2, p. 615, no. 3, pl. 440.

Lisa R. Brody and Gail Hoffman, eds., Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity (Boston: McMullen Museum of Art, 2011), 353, no. 46, pl. 46.

Jennifer Chi and Sebastian Heath, eds., Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews, and Christians at Roman Dura-Europos, exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2011), 53, no. 39, fig. 223.


Text from: artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/6832