Dura-Europos church

=== Representation of women ===
[[File:Baptistery wall painting Procession of women.jpg|thumb|left|Procession of women]]

The main part of the east and north wall is taken up in the lower half by a single scene, which is only partially preserved. When the paintings were found on the east wall, the feet of five women walking to the left could still be seen. The scene continues on the north wall, where the remains of a painted, half-closed door are located, which was exactly opposite the room's main door and was the first to be seen when entering the room. The following part of the depiction, to the left of the door, has been completely destroyed but the depiction of two women is well preserved. The women hold torches in one hand and a vessel in the other. They are dressed in white veils and stand in front of a white, box-shaped object, believed in some interpretations to be Jesus' tomb. The representation was obviously important since it took up the main field of two walls, and its placement is significant in how the women are depicted as walking along the eastern wall such that they mimicked the procession of someone walking from the courtyard into the baptistry, which emphasized how one would walk into the baptistry and emerge reborn and purified, just as the women would as they walked towards the tomb of Christ.{{sfn|Peppard|2016|p=11}}{{sfn|Kraeling|Welles|1967|pp=190-197}}{{sfn|Brody|Hoffman|2011|p=160}}

Other investigations concluded the [[Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins]] is presented here, whose story is transmitted in the Gospel according to Matthew 24:1–13.<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|25:1-13}}</ref><ref name=Klaver/>{{sfn|Peppard|2016|p=119}} Ten virgins go to their bridegroom, carrying lamps. Five of the women take enough oil. In the middle of the night, the bridegroom arrives and the virgins set up their lamps, the foolish virgins ask the others for more oil because the lights threatened to go out. The wise virgins say they should buy oil, they then go into the wedding hall, the door of which is closed behind them so virgins arriving later could not enter. The white object represents a wedding hall or a wedding tent.<ref name=Klaver/> The door to the wedding hall is on the far right on the wall, while the five foolish virgins were in front of the door on the east wall. Baptism was viewed in the Eastern Church as a kind of marriage between the baptized and Jesus, which explains the importance of the scenes. In the Eastern Church, the ten virgins were the brides of Jesus.<ref name=Klaver/> The scene told initiates they were beginning a new spiritual relationship with God.<ref>{{cite web |title=Baptistery wall painting: Procession of women |url=https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/34496 |website=artgallery.yale.edu |publisher=Yale University Ar Gallery |access-date=20 December 2021}}</ref>