📖 Biblical Definition
Salome was the daughter of Herodias by her first husband Philip (Herod Antipas’s brother). At Antipas’s birthday banquet she danced before the king and his guests, pleased him, and at her mother’s prompting requested the head of John the Baptist on a charger (Mark 6:21-29; Matthew 14:6-12). Antipas, ashamed before his guests by the rash oath he had sworn, sent the executioner. John was beheaded in prison; the head was brought to Salome on a platter; she brought it to her mother. The gospels do not name her — only "the daughter of the said Herodias" — but Josephus names her Salome. She later married first Philip the tetrarch (Antipas’s half-brother) and then her cousin Aristobulus. The forerunner of Christ was murdered for a dance.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
SALOME (the dancer) — a Herodian princess whose dance is the archetype of beauty weaponized against the prophetic word.
expand to see more
Webster 1828 does not enter the proper name. The Gospel record names her only by relationship — “the daughter of Herodias” — and Josephus supplies Salome. She is distinguished from Salome the disciple (the Galilean follower of Jesus, mother of James and John) who is a separate woman entirely. The dancer is the mother's instrument; the disciple is the Lord's.
📖 Key Scripture
Mark 6:22 — "And when Herodias's daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”"
Mark 6:24 — "So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!”"
Mark 6:25 — "Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”"
Mark 6:28 — "Brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern culture celebrates the dance as art; Scripture preserves it as a murder weapon.
expand to see more
The dance pleased the king. The mother's grudge weaponized the daughter's body. The prophet lost his head. The world has spent two thousand years aestheticizing this scene — ballets, paintings, operas — rather than reading what Mark wrote: a child was used to kill a man of God.
The corruption is the romanticization of the dance and the disappearance of the murder. Salome the dancer is the model of every young woman whose beauty is borrowed by an older woman's vengeance. The contrast with Salome the disciple — who stood at the cross and came to the tomb — could not be sharper.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
From Hebrew shalom (peace, wholeness) feminized; the irony is that her dance produced violent death.
expand to see more
H7965 — shalom — peace, wholeness — the irony of her name
G2877 — korasion — little girl — how Mark calls her
G4094 — pinax — platter, dish — what carried the prophet's head
Usage
"Herodias's daughter herself came in and danced (Mark 6:22)."
"I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter (Mark 6:25)."
"Distinct from Salome the disciple, the mother of James and John."