HERODIAS

died AD 39 the wife of Herod Antipas, who was tetrarch (ruler appointed by Rome) of Galilee, in northern Palestine, from 4 BC to AD 39. She conspired to arrange the execution of John the Baptist. Her marriage to Herod Antipas (himself divorced), after her divorce from his half-brother, was censured by John as a transgression of Mosaic Law. Herodias, according to Mark (6:19-20), would have had John killed but could not because Herod feared the man. Herod's birthday celebration offered an opportunity to revenge John's rebuke. Salome (Herodias' daughter by her first husband) performed a dance that so pleased Herod that he offered to grant any wish she expressed. Prompted by her mother, Salome asked for John's head on a platter, a wish the reluctant Herod was bound to fulfill. Herodias also urged her husband to attempt to discredit her brother Herod Agrippa I, who had recently received the tetrarchy of Batanaea and Trachonitis, to the east of the Sea of Galilee. Their efforts antagonized the emperor Caligula, however, and they were banished in AD 39.