DURA dōōr’ ə, PLAIN OF (Aram. בִקְעַ֣ת דּוּרָ֔א, plain of Dura). A plain somewhere in the province of ancient Babylon, in which King Nebuchadnezzar erected his golden image, referred to only in Daniel 3:1 in the OT.

The Akkad. name dûru (from which the Aram. comes) means “circuit,” “walled place” and was common in Mesopotamian geographical names. This meaning of the Akkad. evidently prompted the LXX to tr. dûwrā, “Dura,” by περίβολος meaning an enclosed, or walled, area.

Of the three most likely identifications for the place, the first, near Carchemish (Polybius v. 48) was not a part of provincial Babylon, and the second, located beyond the Tigris not far from Apollonia (Polybius v. 52) is too far from the capital Babylon. Rather, the place may more likely be identified with the mounds or tells of Dura, a few m. to the S of the city of Babylon.

Bibliography' J. A. Montgomery, The Book of Daniel, ICC (1927), 197; C. F. Keil, Daniel (1955), 119.