King Herod’s Theater Box

February 1, 2011

On the upper parts of the walls are the room's highlights: a series of unique “windows” painted with out-folded shutters on either side, and various naturalistic landscapes within. Some of these windows have survived intact on the walls, whereas others were found in fragments on the floor.

Painted windows with shutters appear in the late Second Pompeian Style in Italy, and mainly depict unrealistic views like theater settings and still-life. The closest parallels for the windows at Herodium are known from the “Villa Imperiale” at Pompeii, dated to the early Third Style, 15 to 10 BC. Excavation data proves that the theater's lifetime was very short, less than ten years.

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