Salome

Salome (fl. 1st century A.D.), daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas (governor of Galilee), described in the New Testament (Matthew 14:6–12, Mark 6:22–28). She is said to have danced for Herod, for which she was granted a wish. At the urging of her mother, Herodias, she requested the head of the imprisoned John the Baptist. Oscar Wilde's play Salome (1893), which gives an erotic interpretation of these events, formed the basis for Richard Strauss's opera (1905). Another biblical Salome, possibly mother of the apostles James and John, appears in Mark 15:41 and 16:1.

See also: Bible; New Testament.