Daughter of Herodias, Salome is from the New Testament. Her name is derived from "peace". Because John the Baptist proclaimed that the marriage between Herod Antipas and Herodias was unlawful, she encouraged her daughter Salome to get John executed. She would later dance seductively for both her adoptive father Herod and his fellows with such splendor that he would vow to offer Salome whatever she wanted. So she asked for the head of John the Baptist, resulting in his death. Oscar Wilde would later write a play based on these events with different motivations for why Salome wanted his demise.
"A young Jewish girl who appears in the New Testament. She is the daughter of Herodias, and is depicted as being very beautiful. According to the Bible, after performing a dance in which she removed each of her seven veils one by one, Salome demanded from King Herod the head of the prophet John the Baptist. This episode has been passed down to present day in the form of Aubrey Beardsley's painting "The Dancer's Reward", and Oscar Wilde's opera, "Salome.""
