A Reception

Miriam was handed a cup like one of these in THE DEADLIEST HATE, when she attended a reception at the Upper Palace in Caesarea. Herod built the Lower Palace on a promontory jutting into the Mediterranean so that it would occupy the entire peninsula and command a panoramic view of both the city and the sea. The Upper Palace, positioned above and along the eastern wall of the Lower Palace, was added later to accommodate large-scale public receptions.

Let Miriam tell you all about her visit:

A servant led me into a bustling anteroom, murals of the Battle of Actium decorating its soaring, gilt-edged walls and a geometric mosaic in onyx and sardonyx tessellating its polished floor. As soon as the servant took my wrap, a steward led us to the immense Peristyle Courtyard, where guests were being greeted with a cup of Faustian Falernian wine. Before taking a sip, they poured a few drops onto the floor as a libation to their gods.

These ornate silver cups, on display in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, are decorated with frolicking cupids dancing and playing musical instruments. Such motifs of this early first-century period depict images associated with Dionysos, the Greek god of wine, intoxication, and revelry.

You won’t get to drink that fabulous wine in those ornate cups--nor will Judean terrorists attempt to assassinate you--but you’ll get the whole story in THE DEADLIEST HATE. Just click here.