Herodias
The wife of Herod Antipas, previously married to his brother — the marriage John the Baptist denounced as unlawful. She nursed a grudge and wanted John dead, but Antipas feared him as a righteous man and kept him in prison. Her opportunity came at the king's birthday feast, when her daughter danced and Antipas swore to give her anything up to half his kingdom. The girl asked her mother what to request, and was told: the head of John the Baptist, on a platter.
What we know — and how we know it
Scan by NYPL — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
ArchaeologyJosephus tells the same story of her marriage and of John's execution, and sets her within the Herodian house documented on Antipas's coins.
Where in scripture
MatthewMarkLukeFor Herod had laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
Matthew 14:3
But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod.
Matthew 14:6
For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her.
Mark 6:17
Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t,
Mark 6:19 — Nursed a grudge against John
When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”
Mark 6:22
but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done,
Luke 3:19
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
In their own words — 1 recorded saying
“And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.” — Mark 6:24
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
In art
