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Israeli archaeologists have excavated a lavish, private theater box in a 400-seat facility at King Herod’s winter palace in the Judean desert, the team’s head said Tuesday.

Ehud Netzer of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University said the room provides further evidence of King Herod’s famed taste for extravagance.

Herod commissioned Roman artists to decorate the theater walls with elaborate paintings and plaster moldings around 15 B.C., Netzer said. Its upper portions feature paintings of windows overlooking a river and a seascape with a large sailboat.

Read the more about this archaeological discovery here (photos included)..

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Archaeology, King Herod, Ehud Netzer, Herodium