The wall paintings of the monotheistic religious communities in the ancient city of Dura-Europos offer a deep insight into everyday culture. The focus of the bachelor thesis is on the wall paintings of the Christian domus ecclesiae and the Jewish synagogue. The aim of the thesis is to gain an insight into the reality of life in the religious communities through the wall paintings. This raises the question of what significance the murals played and how Jews and Christians differentiated themselves from one another through them. These questions are discussed on the basis of the murals as a source. The focus is on the wall paintings, whereby the domus ecclesiae and the synagogue itself are first described in order to then carry out a comprehensive description of the wall paintings in the domus ecclesiae and to analyse these in a further step with regard to the research question. This will be done with reference to the biblical texts and the Old Syriac church liturgy. Similarly, selected wall paintings of the synagogue will be described and analysed. These are again placed in relation to the Old Testament.

While both monotheistic communities represent a minority between the pagan sacrificial cults, it becomes clear that the murals are clearly related to the reality of life and in this way create a sense of community. Identity and alterity are an integral part of everyday life in Dura-Europos, so that the murals with their metaphorical stories create a sense of community and at the same time set themselves apart from the other religious communities.