Roman-period column with inscribed base found during renovation of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs, Syria. Courtesy Maamoun Saleh Abdulkarim.

Archaeology at Emesa (modern Homs, Syria) does not give a single dramatic moment of religious revolution. Instead, it offers something more historically valuable: layers. Coins, tombs, mosaics, and reused sacred spaces—including recently uncovered inscriptions on column bases—reveal the slow transformation of a powerful pagan city into a Christian and then Muslim one. For Bible readers, the site allows a glimpse into the long arc of Christianity’s development within the Roman world.

The earliest well-attested stratum at Emesa shows the dominance of pagan culture. A mosaic of Hercules reveals the city’s syncretistic religious culture, where local Syrian worship blended with broader Greco-Roman traditions. A richly furnished mausoleum—yielding a gold funerary mask and other elite grave goods—points to a powerful ruling priestly family, one of whose members, Elagabalus, would later become the Roman emperor.

Roman-period coins depict the grand Temple of the Sun housing the sacred black stone embodying the Emesan sun god Elagabal (later linked to Emperor Elagabalus), while column-base inscriptions praise divine cosmic power and royal authority linked to this deity. These Greek inscriptions, uncovered during restoration of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, survived centuries of redevelopment. Professor Maamoun Abdulkarim of the University of Sharjah (UAE), who published the finds, explained in personal correspondence: “In my view, the Temple of the Sun should not be understood as a lost structure, but as a dynamic sacred space that was religiously redefined across successive periods.”

Roman coin minted in Homs depicting a sacred stone inside the Temple of the Sun. Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The strong pagan character of Emesa began changing in the third century CE. Burial practices shifted. Catacombs in the al-Shorfa area contain corridors, niches, lamps, and symbolic decoration associated with early Byzantine Christianity. Grave inscriptions emphasize themes resonant with Christian theology, like resurrection and eternal life. The evidence from Emesa is not explosive or revolutionary, but subtle. Christianity first appeared at the margins—in burial customs, naming patterns, and small communal spaces.

This layered material record mirrors what unfolds in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts describes Christianity beginning as a small, socially vulnerable movement operating within cities dominated by temples and civic cults. Paganism coexists alongside emerging Christian practices, gradually giving way to transformation.

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Geography reinforces this textual connection. Emesa lay a little more than 100 miles from Antioch, the early Christian hub where disciples were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26). Situated on trade routes linking Antioch and Damascus, Emesa was well within the communication network of Roman Syria. Antioch served as a launching point for missionary activity. For example, Saul (Paul) departed from there on his first journey. Cities like Emesa would have made natural destinations of early Christian missions.

The archaeological silence of monumental churches at third-century Emesa suggests that Christianity had not yet reshaped public space. This was a time when Christians faced persecution under emperors like Decius, Valerian, and later Diocletian. Public Christian expression was risky and often suppressed. The decisive transformation of Emesa likely came in the fourth or fifth century. After legalization under Constantine the Great and later imperial decrees under Theodosius I, many pagan temples were repurposed for Christian worship in that time.

The Book of Acts ends with Paul preaching in Rome, leaving the future unwritten. In a sense, Emesa shows what that future looked like on the ground. Christianity did not immediately erase paganism; it infiltrated, adapted, endured persecution, and over time took root.

Lauren K. McCormick is an assistant editor at Biblical Archaeology Review and a specialist in ancient Near Eastern religions, visual culture, and the Bible. She holds degrees in religion from Syracuse University, Duke University, New York University, and Rutgers University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship on religion and the public conversation at Princeton University.

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The house church of Dura Europos? The Christian building, looking west, 1932-1933. Dura-Europos Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, neg. dura-fIV31-01. Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery.

Once an impressive stronghold of the Roman Empire, the city of Dura-Europos, located along the banks of the Euphrates River in eastern Syria, is a treasure trove of archaeological discoveries. However, one of its most famous features—the oldest house church ever discovered—may not be what it first appears. Publishing in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, two scholars have suggested that while the building is certainly the oldest place of Christian assembly ever discovered, the term “house church” is likely a misnomer.

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When Is a “House Church” Not a House…or a Church?

Since its discovery in the 1930s, the famed house church of Dura-Europos has been viewed as a key stage in the development of Christian spaces, from the private homes mentioned in the New Testament to the magnificent basilicas of the Byzantine period. More importantly, with the abandonment of Dura-Europos in 257 CE, the so-called house church, which dates to the third century, is the only known structure that was definitively used for Christian assembly before the reign of Emperor Constantine (306–337 CE) when Christianity was legalized under the Roman Empire.

Aerial View of Dura-Europos from the North, March 29, 1939. Dura-Europos Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, neg. Z2. Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery.

However, while the building was originally constructed as a home, any domestic use ended when it was converted for Christian worship and assembly. To prove this, Camille Leon Angelo of Yale University and Joshua Silver of the University of Manchester set out to reanalyze the building, asking not just how it was used but also how it was not. Comparing their findings to other excavated houses at Dura revealed many important differences. These include the conversion of its triclinium (dining room) into an assembly room with a built-in dais, the complete removal of the building’s water cistern and food preparation area, and the splitting of a room to create a separate baptistery.

Additionally, utilizing daylight simulations, they discovered that the lighting in the remodeled building was intentionally shifted from what would have been standard for a typical home. This change added more natural light in several rooms and focused the light in ways that would draw a visitor’s gaze to particular places, such as the dais, which would have had a pseudo-spotlight on it after the renovations.

Point-in-time illuminance simulation of the Christian Building (M8-A) before and after adaptation. Courtesy Camille Leon Angelo.

Between removing features necessary for domestic use and adding in features that were not needed in a house, the team concluded that there is little reason to view the Dura-Europos “house church” as a house. So, does that make it the earliest church? According to Angelo, in communication with Bible History Daily, “Certainly, Dura’s Christian building was used for Christian assembly. But the designation of a building as a church often conjures certain patterns of use and architectural forms not evident at Dura’s Christian building.”

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The Evolution of the “House Church” at Dura-Europos

Painting of Christ and Peter walking on water from the baptistry of the Christian building. Yale University Art Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Christian building of Dura-Europos may be unique in the archaeological record, but it is not unique inside the city itself, as two other religious spaces were also excavated that began their lives as homes: the mithraeum and synagogue. Both were converted in the late second century. All three buildings also shared similar design features, which set them apart from ordinary houses and marked them as distinctly cultic buildings within the city.

These similarities include the way that each building was decorated, with areas painted dark blue with white dots to frame important spaces inside the building. In the synagogue, this aesthetic framed the Torah shrine, whereas in the Christian building it surrounded the baptismal font where there was also a painting of the Good Shepherd. All three buildings also included paintings with important religious imagery, such as biblical scenes or the cosmogony of Mithras. While the renovators of the Christian building may have intentionally copied the style of the mithraeum and synagogue, it is also possible that the same workshop was involved in the renovation of all three buildings, which were located on the same street along the western wall of the city.

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Public Christianity Before Legalization

One of the most interesting features of Dura-Europos’s Christian building was its public use before the legalization of Christianity. What was it about this city that allowed a marginalized religious movement to construct a place of assembly? “Dura’s status as a regional capital of sorts, with ties to Palmyra’s caravan trade and home to a Roman garrison town, created possibilities for diverse interactions and heightened competition between the city’s many religious communities,” said Angelo. “Another factor, however, is that the part of the city where the Christian building was located was sealed off for centuries. As such, Dura provides a snapshot of cultic life in one city in the mid-third century, a time of early Christian community formation and articulation.”

“My hunch,” Angelo continued, “is that Dura’s Christian community was not especially more visible to the local population than other Christian communities during this period but is merely unique in its preservation. I suspect that if any cities akin to Dura were similarly preserved, we would have additional examples in which Christian communities were visible.”

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on August 16, 2024.

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