Israeli Archaeologist Ehud Netzer digging at Beit Sahour on the West Bank said Wednesday that he and his team believe they have unearthed the 2-millennia-old remains of two tombs belonging to a wife and daughter-in-law of King Herod.

Findings at the site by Netzer who belongs to Jerusalem’s Hebrew University hinted at the lavish lifestyle of the biblical figure and roman-appointed monarch who was named “King of the Jews.”

Herod was anointed by the Romans to rule Judea from 37 BC to his death in 4 BC. He has an important role in biblical history, and is of import to the Hebrew scientists as he rebuilt the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and is thus an interesting study subject of the Jewish state.

The Gospel of Matthew recounts how Herod ordered the “Massacre of the Innocents,” killing all infants of two years and younger in Bethlehem for fear that this new “king of the Jews,” as Jesus was heralded by the magi, would challenge his throne.

Netzer, who is an authority on Herodian excavations, showed reporters the remains of two limestone sarcophagi which he claims once contained the bodies of Malthace, one of Herod’s wives, and a daughter-in-law.

Netzer says these finds support his theory that another sarcophagus found by him at the same site in 2007 was Herod’s own tomb. Experts back then had been reluctant to accept his claims on grounds of insufficient evidence.

However Netzer was much more optimistic. "I would eat my hat if it were someone else's tomb," he said, supporting his claim based on these recent finds. There are however no other inscriptions or documentations (such as by first century A.D. Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, who is considered the ancient authority on that period’s history of the Levant.)

Netzer gave reporters a tour at the dig site in Herodium outside Jerusalem in the West Bank of the Jordan, where one of Herod’s palaces stood in antiquity. He showed reporters remains of a mausoleum in the area where the sarcophagi were found.

Some human remains were found in the area as well, but Netzer was unable to tell if they belonged to any Herod dynasty members. The archaeologist says the monarch’s remains, and those of his relatives disappeared when their tombs were destroyed, possibly by Jewish resistance members between 66 and 70 A.D.

Netzer says his team found, much to their surprise, very well preserved murals of gazelles decorating walls of a luxury 650-seat theater in Herod’s palace, further evidence of King Herod’s extravagant lifestyle. In Herod’s private box in this auditorium, archaeologists discovered delicate frescoes of windows opening to painted landscapes, one of which looked like a southern Italian farm. Other paintings depicted a dog, some bushes and a country villa. The paintings, which date from between 15 to 10 B.C., were done using techniques unknown in the holy land at the time, and must have been done by Roman artisans, says site surveyor Rachel Chachy-Laureys.