In a watery Golan cave, Herod’s great-grandson entertained in the Roman imperial style

[Claira]

The latest excavations at Banias, an archaeological site and national park in the Golan Heights that abuts the border with Lebanon, have shown that a sacred cave long associated with the worship of nature deity Pan was likely repurposed during the late 1st century CE by Agrippa II, the great-grandson of King Herod, as an ancient event hall in the Roman style.

After the Jewish Revolt against Roman rule (66–73 CE), Agrippa II, who had been raised in Rome and supported the Romans in the revolt, converted the cave site and immediate surroundings in front of the grotto into a nymphaeum-triclinium, a venue for Roman-style banquets in which water flowed around a central dining area and out through an aqueduct, according to Dr. Adi Erlich and researcher Ron Lavi of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-a-watery-golan-cave-herods-great-grandson-entertained-in-the-roman-imperial-style/

[Antigonos]

49 minutes ago, Claira said:

The latest excavations at Banias, an archaeological site and national park in the Golan Heights that abuts the border with Lebanon, have shown that a sacred cave long associated with the worship of nature deity Pan was likely repurposed during the late 1st century CE by Agrippa II, the great-grandson of King Herod, as an ancient event hall in the Roman style.

After the Jewish Revolt against Roman rule (66–73 CE), Agrippa II, who had been raised in Rome and supported the Romans in the revolt, converted the cave site and immediate surroundings in front of the grotto into a nymphaeum-triclinium, a venue for Roman-style banquets in which water flowed around a central dining area and out through an aqueduct, according to Dr. Adi Erlich and researcher Ron Lavi of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-a-watery-golan-cave-herods-great-grandson-entertained-in-the-roman-imperial-style/

I will always picture Herod Agrippa looking like James Faulkner because of I, Claudius.

Thanks for posting this fascinating article.