A Visual Depiction of Jewish Circumcision at Dura-Europos

Abstract

This short note argues that the Ezekiel cycle on the frescoes of the Dura-Europos synagogue displays the only known ancient image of circumcision on a Jewish body. The cycle, modelled after the vision of dry bones episode in Ezek 37, depicts a body that is circumcised. Although there is only one body that displays circumcision, it is intelligible in the wider visual context of bodily reconfiguration, as separate limbs and heads form full bodies, and as human genitalia develop from small ambiguous appendages to larger distinct features. The presence of circumcision on a resurrected body is coherent with ancient Jewish literature that conceives of circumcision as present on angelic and perfected bodies, even in resurrection (Gen. Rab. 48:8). This visual depiction of a resurrected circumcised man at Dura affirms circumcision as a part of ancient Jewish notions of bodily perfection.