Beheading of John the Baptist

The beheading of John the Baptist, also known as the decollation of Saint John the Baptist or the beheading of the Forerunner, is a biblical event commemorated as a holy day by various Christian churches. According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he had publicly reproved Herod for divorcing his first wife and unlawfully taking his sister-in-law (his brother's wife) Herodias as his second wife. He then ordered him to be killed by beheading, which occurred at the hilltop fortress of Machaerus overlooking the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan.

As a non-Biblical source, Jewish historian Josephus also recounts that Herod had John imprisoned and killed due to "the great influence John had over the people", which might persuade John "to raise a rebellion". Josephus also writes that many of the Jews believed that Herod's later military disaster was God's punishment for his treatment of John.

Traditional accounts

According to the synoptic Gospels, Herod Antipas, who was tetrarch of Galilee and Perea under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he had admonished Antipas for divorcing his wife (Phasaeli, daughter of King Aretas of Nabataea) and unlawfully taking Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod II. On Antipas's birthday, Herodias' daughter (whom Josephus identifies as Salome) danced before the king and his guests. Her dancing pleased Antipas so much that in his drunkenness he promised to give her anything she desired, up to half of his kingdom. When Salome asked her mother what she should request, she was told to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Although Herod Antipas was appalled by the request, he reluctantly agreed and had John executed by beheading in the prison. In art, the episode is known as The Feast of Herod.