DURA

(Duʹra).

The plain where Nebuchadnezzar set up a gold image.​—Da 3:1.

It is Biblically described as being “in the jurisdictional district of Babylon,” and so apparently was relatively near that city. For this reason, some scholars today accept Tulul Dura, 10 km (6 mi) SE of Babylon, as the most likely of the many proposed sites. The ruins of a dried-brick mound measuring 14 m (46 ft) square were discovered here and have been conjectured by some to be the base of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. Nevertheless, the Akkadian term duru, meaning “circuit,” “wall,” or “walled place,” appears frequently in Mesopotamian place-names, making any positive identification impossible at this time.