King Herod, made famous in a runaway bestseller by King James and in the movie adaptation "Jesus Christ Superstar," has archaeologists talking. The extent of his extravagance has been further revealed.
Dancing girls, palaces, pleasure gardens, pyramids, underground temples, secret inner chambers, kings (particularly rapacious emperors) lived in unimaginable luxury. While we may think that we live at the historical height of hedonism and sensual craving, in fact, rulers in ancient times often spent all they could to re-create the heavens on Earth. They likely had visitors explaining what these celestial worlds were like; they may have even been taken to them.
Emperor Asoka became a great Buddhist
The Buddha often spoke of past republics and kingdoms. Their fate was always the same. But the diversity of the pleasures they indulged in is still mind boggling to us today. We hardly know the extent of what is going on now, but what happened thousands of years ago is coming to light:
Archaeologists find theater box at Herod's palace
Aisha Mohammed (AP)
Frescos discovered in King Herod's Herodium complex, West Bank, south of Jerusalem, Sept. 21, 2010. Israeli archaeologists have excavated a lavish private box in a 400-seat theater located at his winter palace in the Judean desert. Herod commissioned Roman artists to decorate the theater around 15 B.C. (AP/Bernat Armangue).
JERUSALEM – 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.
2,000 years of change (1000 BC-1000 AD)
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