Archaeologists in the seaside town of Caesarea have unearthed a building they suspect is the jail in which Saint Paul was imprisoned for two years almost 2,000 years ago.

The site, called the praetorium, encompasses an expansive palace, administrative offices, a bathhouse and sprawling courtyards. It lies between the Roman amphitheater and hippodrome and was originally part of a magnificent palace built by King Herod along the water’s edge.^a

The 161,000-square-foot complex functioned as the seat of Roman government in Judea from the first century A.D. until the middle of the third century, when Caesarea was the capital of Judea.