Toxic gas at the siege of Dura-Europos
Gases tóxicos en el asedio de Dura-Europos
- Date
- c. 256 · confidence medium
- Place
- Dura-Europos, Deir ez-Zor, Syria
- Credited to
- Sasanians (hypothesis)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
In the countermine tunnels of Dura-Europos' wall some twenty bodies of Roman soldiers and one Sasanian were found. Simon James proposed they died of sulphur and bitumen smoke burned by the Sasanians: if so, it would be the first documented use of chemical warfare.
The hypothesis (James, 2011) remains controversial: other causes (collapse, combat) have been proposed and the sulphur and bitumen combustion is not conclusive. It is published with a caveat; the siege is dated to around 256-257.
What it led to
- the history of ancient chemical warfare and of sieges with mines and countermines
- debate over the forensic interpretation of archaeological finds
- application of military archaeology to the Dura excavation