The Near East followed the developments in Hellenistic architecture and art introduced during the era of the Diadochs and the archaeological record shows many examples of the implementation of Greek-inspired forms and fashions. As to our topic, our knowledge has increased in the last decades thanks to explorations of monumental complexes like the royal palaces in Jericho, houses in Jerusalem and the famous fortress of Masada. A lavish monograph on Jericho by Silvia Rozenberg contains an excellent overview of the corpus of mural decorations between the late second century BC and the beginning of our era in Israel and Jordan.

From Rozenberg's study it becomes clear that the koine f Hellenistic forms and techniques in painting spread all across this region in the second century BC. The main features of this koine are suggestions of marble slabs and reliefs by means of stucco and, in the first century BC, the introduction of painted imitations of the same precious building materials, columns and cornices that we know so well from Second Style paintings in Italy. Influences may have come from Roman occupants like the succession of governors and, in the late first century, the many visits Herod the Great paid to Rome. The main examples of the introduction of Roman decoration are those in the residences of the king in Jericho, Masada and the Herodion. The imitation of marble slabs in a more or less realistic form continues far beyond the Second Style in Italy and so seems to perpetuate traditions of the previous periods beloved by the king and his entourage. A reason for this expression of lavishness might be a dislike of figural motifs, let alone scenes, that made urgent a rich array of architectural and material suggestions. This aniconic character cannot be explained by the dearth of artistic quality among the painters. As a matter of fact, the decorations known from royal and other contexts are of excellent quality. Instead, such decisions are grounded in the traditional religious prohibition of figural scenes on the basis of the Second Commandment in the Hebrew Bible. Nevertheless, as we will see in Chapter 8, there are some notable exceptions to this rule in later periods.

Among the complexes worth noting are fragments of paintings found under the Augustan layers of a temple in Sebaste, named after the first Roman emperor but following the Hellenistic tradition.