Temple of the Gadde
It contained reliefs dedicated to the tutelary deities (in Aramaic, Gaddē) of Dura-Europos and the nearby city of Palmyra, after whom the temple was named by its excavators.
[2] The presence of Palmyrenes in Dura-Europos is attested from 33 BCE onwards, where they lived as merchants or soldiers hired by the Roman army for their expert archery.
A propylon leads into the southern courtyard, on the opposite side of which there is a pronaos and cella (Naos 3) with further rooms.
[7] The modern name of the temple derives from two dedicatory reliefs, which were found in fragments, in the main cella (Naos 3).
"[12] The relief, measuring 0.57 m x 0.47 m, depicts the female protective deity of Palmyra wearing a Greek himation.
"[12] Hairan, the dedicator of the relief and probably its commissioner, is believed to have been a Palmyrene aristocrat, based on the rarity of his name and the inscriptions marking his lineage.
[16] The Palmyrene term Gad refers to a figure who embodies luck or good fortune as well as the identity of a city.
[13][17] It is probable that the female Gad of Palmyra, along with much of her iconography, developed from the Greco-Roman tradition of depicting a city as a goddess.
[8] There may have been another lion at her right side, lost due to damage, judging by the double griffins of the relief to the Gad of Dura.
This feature, as well as the Gad's clothes, crown, and the rock as her seat, suggest that this relief was modeled in part after Eutychides' sculpture of the Tyche of Antioch.
[3] The accompanying relief found in the Temple of the Gadde measures 0.62 x 0.47 m and depicts the male protective deity of Dura-Europos.
[25] The years inscribed suggest that both reliefs are from 159 CE, which was during the Parthian era or arguably an early period of Roman occupation at Dura.
Both scenes are carved in the high relief, frontal style associated with Parthian art, with slight differences between the two in technique for hair and fabric.
The pair's similarity of style and matching borders, inscriptions, donor, and date suggest that they were made by different sculptors at the same Palmyrene workshop.
[9] Both figures, the Gadde of Dura and of Palmyra, are also depicted at the bottom left of a wall painting found in the Temple of the Palmyrene Gods.
[3] In this painting, the Gad Palmyra is again shown wearing a mural crown, seated on a rock, and supported by a figure rising out of a body of water.
