Yale University Art Gallery, Dura-Europos Collection

SLAVES TO THE TEMPLE. Only steps from the main synagogue of the important trading town of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates was a temple dedicated to Adonis and the Aramaic goddess of love, Atargatis. Fronting the entrance to the temple were small rooms (highlighted on plan), many with low benches lining their walls and wine amphorae and jar-stands sunk into the floors. The rooms were used primarily for sacred meals and ritual drinking but may also have been reserved for the sexual services of women jailed in the temple for adultery.