Archaeologists find dance floor where John the Baptist was condemned
Josephus said that the assassination was carried out at Machaerus, a fort near the Dead Sea in what is now part of Jordan.
By HANNAH BROWNHead of Saint John the Baptist on a Charger, painted by Dutch Reneissance painter Albrecht Bouts.(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
In an article in Live Science, Owen Jarus reports that archaeologists believe they have figured out the location of the dance floor where John the Baptist, the preacher who predicted the coming of Jesus, was sentenced to death in around 29 CE, after a sensuous dance was performed by Salome, which sealed his unhappy fate.According to the biblical story and the account by the ancient historian Flavius Josephus (37-100 CE), King Herod Antipas, one of the sons of King Herod, ordered the execution of John the Baptist. Josephus said that the assassination was carried out at Machaerus, a fort near the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan.Herod Antipas wanted to curb the influence of John the Baptist and had him killed, according to Josephus. The Bible tells a more sensational tale, saying that Herod Antipas was going to marry a woman named Herodias, and that both members of the couple were divorced, which John the Baptist thought was immoral. During Herod Antipas’s birthday party, in the biblical account, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, danced for Herod Antipas, which pleased the king, who promised her anything she wanted. At her mother’s urging, Salome requested John the Baptist’s head, which she eventually received on a platter.Both Salome’s dance, often referred to as the Dance of the Seven Veils, and the moment when she was presented with John the Baptist’s head on a platter have often been portrayed in paintings, operas, fiction and theater.According to Gyozo Voros, director of a project called Machaerus Excavations and Surveys at the Dead Sea, in the recently published book Holy Land Archaeology on Either Side: Archaeological Essays in Honour of Eugenio Alliata (Fondazione Terra Santa, 2020), a courtyard uncovered at Machaerus is likely the place where Salome danced and where Herod Antipas decided to have John the Baptist beheaded.Voros said that the courtyard has a niche that likely housed the remains of the throne where Herod Antipas sat.In 1980, archaeologists discovered the courtyard, but according to Voros they only recently recognized the remains of the throne, which crystallized theories about the dance floor. The archaeological team is working to reconstruct the courtyard and the book features several images of what the courtyard may have looked like at the time of Salome’s dance and John the Baptist’s execution.Scholars who spoke to Live Science disagreed about the likelihood that this is the true location of Herod Antipas’s throne and the floor where Salome danced, Live Science reported. Voros’s team will be conducting further research on the site.
