Lower Terrace 2

View looking south at the partially reconstructed Lower Terrace (of three) of the Northern Palace.   Note the columns built into the cliff face (=pilasters).  They are made of multiple circular stones that were coated with plaster that was fluted to imitate solid capitals.  Josephus writes (Wars vii.280-303/8.3-4) that there were ". . . apartments, colonnades, and baths . . . [that] were of manifold variety and sumptuous; columns, each formed of a single block[!] . . . ."

Note also the interior individual columns made of multiple circular stones and the frescoed lower plinths that were painted so as to imitate marble paneling!