RECEPTION ROOM, WESTERN PALACE 

Comparatively well-preserved remains of a large room in the Western Palace

The temperature at Masada could be brutally hot in summer, but the dry air preserved the architecture from deterioration. Archaeologists found columns, capitals, friezes and cornices, as well as mosaic floor decoration and wall paintings.

This large, ornate room in the Western Palace (above) may have been the main reception area at Masada, and therefore heavily decorated. 

Two different styles of wall paintings were used in Herod's palaces:

• masonry-style, which imitates in white plaster a three dimensional horizontal order - something like the Pompeian First Style
• simulated stone, in suitable colors - something like the Pompeian Second Style.

The columns in the Western Palace are Corinthian, the most popular style at that time. They are backed by wall paintings of simulated marble. 

 A reconstruction of the wall above