Dura

Dura (Chal. Dura, דּוּרָא, the circle, i.e., Hebrew דּוּר so the Sept. renders, τὸ περίβολον, but v.r. Δεείρα; Vulg. Dura), the plain where Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden colossus to be adored (Da 3:1). Interpreters usually compare Dura to a city mentioned by Aminian. Marcell (25:6), situated near the Tigris (Mannert, 5:462); or another of the same name (Δεηρά) in Polybius (5:48, 16) and Ammian. Marcell (23:5), on the Euphrates, near the mouth of the Chaboras, 7 miles from Carchemish; or, finally, one of a similar name (Δεηρά) in Susiana (Ptol. 6:3, 3). But these quarters are all too distant from Babylon to have been historically possible, as it is clear from the context that "the plain of Drea" could be no other than that plain (or some part of it) in which Babylon itself was situated (Herod. 1:178), i.e., Shinar (Ge 11:2). Even against the first of these locations, the tract a little below Tekrit, on the left bank of the Tigris (Layard, Nin. and Bab. page 469), where the name Dur is still found, there are the following objections: (1) this tract probably never belonged to Babylon; (2) at any rate, it is too far from the capital to be the place where the image was set up, for the plain of Dura was in the province or district of Babylon (בַּמדַּינִתבָּבֶל), and therefore in the vicinity of the city; (3) the name Dur, in its modern use, is applicable to any plain. M. Oppert places the plain (or, as he calls it, the "valley") of Dura to the south-east of Babylon, in the vicinity of the mound of Dowair or Duair. He has discovered on this site the pedestal of a colossal statue, and regards the modern name as a corruption of the ancient appellation. The Talmudical notice (Sanhedr. fol. 92, 2: מנהר אשׁל עד רבה בקעת דורא) is olscure (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 520). See Lakemacher, Observ. philol. 7:28 sq. SEE BABYLON.