The story of John the Baptist’s martyrdom was rich with allusions to stories from the Hebrew Scriptures.
Character Profile: A New Portrait of Salome
The recent discovery of an ancient coin with a crisp imprint of Salome make this a fitting time to set the record straight—to rectify the public perception of this ancient Jewish aristocrat. Her image has been fictionalized to the point of grotesque caricature by writers of the past 150 years. Famous for her role in the execution of John the Baptist, Salome has been depicted repeatedly as morally depraved. Dilligent historical research, however, reveals a different story.