Salome was the name of one of the women present at the tomb of Christ on Easter morning according to Saint Mark's Gospel. It is also traditionally given as the name of the girl who danced for Herod and then requested Saint John the Baptist's head on a platter. I have two questions: Where do we get this name for the dancer, as she is never named in scripture? Is this one and the same person or are they two different people with the same name merely by coincidence?

-- Sean M. Burns (114806@XAVIER.XU.EDU), May 01, 1998

Answers

1- name of the daughter of herodias and herod the great. she danced in presence of herod . recieved as a price the head of john de baptist.

2-mother of james and john the evangelist, present at the crcifixion and at the tomb on Easter morning. aunt of Jesus.

-- ENRIQUE ORTIZ (eaortiz@yahoo.com), February 10, 1999.

they are two different women. in the first case the gospels don't mention her name but the jewish historian josephus does.

-- ENRIQUE ORTIZ (eaortiz@yahoo.com), February 10, 1999.

Perhaps someone will direct me . . . I have yet to find anywhere in Scripture that names the mother James and John as Salome. However, and I believe the following hypothesis is a original proposition, I suggest that the Salome mentioned at the cross and the empty tomb is, indeed, the Princess of Galilee, who danced for the head of John the Baptist. First, no one can prove she was not there; a negative cannot be proven. Secondly, as far as I can tell, the mother of John and James is mentioned, in Scripture, only in relation to them (as "the mother of John and James") and never as Salome. Third, important and significant female disciples are named in the three Synoptic Gospels. Fourth, we know that a good many of Jesus' disciples were present afar off, watching the crucifixion. And if, as I have proposed elsewhere, the Gospel of Mark was written, not by John Mark of Jerusalem, but by the centurion who presided at the Crucifixion . . . then he might, perhaps, naturally mention Salome (the Princess) at the cross because, like her, he had been involved in the unjust murder of a Prophet. I think it is odd that Mark, of the four Evangelists, gives the story of the Baptist's death the most prominence---it occupies 17 verses out of 56, almost a third of the chapter---whereas Luke, who is far more historical, hardly mentions John's imprisonment and death. Salome's prominence in Mark, compared to so much less material in Matthew, and no mention of her, specifically, in either Luke or John, is certainly significant. In his play about Salome, Oscar Wilde has John the Baptist tell her, in one of their debates, to seek out the Messiah and ask Him for forgiveness. I think Wilde was suggesting something that he should have pursued but, because of his gay agenda in the play, was unable to do so. I think she did seek out the Messiah; became a disciple; and followed Him both to the cross and then to His empty tomb. Did she, perhaps, counsel Mark, Christ's executioner (in command if not in actual deed), and perhaps, because of her counsel, he too became a Christian and wrote the Gospel that bears his name (and not, if we may point out, the name of John Mark)?

-- Jere (oldfootnote@hotmail.com), March 06, 2004.

Here is what the old Catholic Encyclopedia says on the topic:

(1) The daughter of Herod Philip and Herodias (Matthew 14:6-8: Mark 6:22; cf. Josephus, "Antiq. Jud.", XVIII, v, 4), at whose request John the Baptist was beheaded.

(2) One of the holy women present at the Crucifixion, and who visited the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection (Mark 15:40; 16:1). In Mark 15:40, we read: "And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the Mother of James the Less and of Joseph, and Salome." The parallel passage of Matthew reads thus: "Among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee" (Matthew 27:56). Comparison of the two gives a well-grounded probability that the Salome of the former is identical with the mother of the sons of Zebedee in the latter, who is mentioned also in Matthew 20:20 sq., in connection with the petition in favour of her sons. Beyond these references in the Gospel narrative and what may be inferred from them nothing is known of Salome, though some writers conjecture more or less plausibly that she is the sister of the Blessed Virgin mentioned in John 19:25.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), March 07, 2004.

As I recall--(don't take just my word), the entire family of Herod was of Bedouin descent, not Hebrew. Salome, a daughter of Herodias wasn't much more than a pagan. Herod himself was no Jew.

Notice in Gibson's film, the accurate portrayals of Herod's court, And how Jesus refused to say one word to Herod, whom He had referred to before as ''that fox.'' --Fox in the Aramaic was more truly a word for jackal. Christ, God Incarnate; was repudiating in silence one of Jerusalem's sleaziest and most immoral criminals; who had allowed the Baptist to suffer and die just for a peep-show at his own niece's nakedness. Jesus must have been appalled at this evil man's licentiousness. Gibson captured it marvelously.

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), March 07, 2004.