Herodias's daughter (named Salome by the historian Josephus, though unnamed in the Gospels), whose dance so pleased her stepfather Herod Antipas at a banquet that he swore to grant any request, and who, prompted by her mother, asked for John the Baptist's head on a platter.
For younger readers
Herodias's daughter -- known from historical sources outside the Bible as Salome, though the Gospels don't actually give her name -- danced at a birthday banquet for her stepfather, Herod Antipas, and pleased him so much that he promised, in front of all his guests, to give her anything she wanted, up to half his kingdom. She went and asked her mother Herodias what to request, and her mother told her to ask for John the Baptist's head. She returned and made that exact request, and Herod, though troubled, gave the order. Her story is a sober reminder of how easily a young person can become caught up in carrying out someone else's harmful plan.
Interpretive note: The Gospels do not name Herodias's dancing daughter; the name Salome comes from the first-century historian Josephus, and is widely though not universally accepted by scholars as referring to the same young woman. This site follows that common identification while noting it rests on a source outside Scripture.
Life Story
Herodias's daughter, unnamed in the Gospels but identified as Salome by the first-century historian Josephus, danced before Herod Antipas and his dinner guests at his birthday banquet, pleasing him so thoroughly that he swore an oath in front of everyone present to give her whatever she asked, up to half his kingdom (Mark 6:21-23). Rather than answering immediately, she went out to consult her mother Herodias, who had long wanted John the Baptist dead for publicly condemning her marriage to Herod: 'What shall I ask for?' (6:24). Instructed by her mother, she hurried back in and made the request specific and immediate: 'I want you to give me right away the head of John the Baptist on a platter' (6:25). Herod, though 'deeply grieved,' felt bound by his public oath and the presence of his guests, and had John beheaded in prison, delivering the head to the girl, who in turn gave it to her mother (6:26-28). Scripture records no independent motive of her own beyond her mother's instruction, and no further account of her afterward. Her role in the account -- a young woman whose skill pleased a powerful man enough to draw a reckless, binding promise, then used as the direct instrument to carry out someone else's vengeance -- illustrates how being caught up in another's agenda, even without originating the evil, still carries real and sobering consequences.
First named in Matthew 14:6-11
References: Matthew 14:6-11; Mark 6:22-28
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