constant skirmishes with Arabians, killing and capturing many. He took his own life in 175 BC, following the ascent to power in Syria of the strongly anti-JewishSeleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes, fearing the latter's revenge for his fights with the Arabians. The villa was unfinished at the time of his death (as indicated by several incomplete carvings and columns on site), and was seized by Antiochus Epiphanes. Josephus mentions the "beasts of gigantic size carved on it" (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, 230), and carved tigers or lions are still perfectly preserved on the remains visible today.
The palace was badly damaged by a great earthquake that hit the region in 362 AD
