Intact archaeological evidences at Dura provide details of the Roman presence there, and the dramatic course of the siege.

Archaeological evidences suggest that the garrison at Dura-Europos was mixed, composed of Cohors XX Palmyrenorum (which is known more than the others), vexillations from Legio IV Scythica Valeriana Galliena, III Cyrenaica, XVI Flavia Firma, and other cohorts, including Cohors II Paphlagonum Galliana Volusiana and possibly Cohors II Equestris.

XX Palmyrenorum was certainly based in Dura-Europos, and may have been an "inferior" contingent of the garrison relative to the legionaries.

[2][3][4][5] The siege was notable for the early use of chemical weapons by the attacking Persian army.

[6][7][8] In 2020, a group of chemistry students in Foxborough, Massachusetts used chemical analysis of the samples in the tunnel compared with the composition of bitumen and deduced that methane was also likely a by-product of the attack.