What did Salome ask for after she danced for Herod?

Answer 1

The gospels say that, incited by her mother, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter. The Bible states that Herod greeted this request with consternation. As a result of the prophet's overt critique of Herod's immoral life, the king had him imprisoned. John was such a popular public figure, however, that Herod refrained from taking his life. However, he had promised the girl anything she liked after she danced for him. Tradition--immortalized by Oscar Wilde in verse and by Richard Strauss in music--says that she danced the Dance of the Seven Veils. There is no biblical basis for this, although it is strongly implied, to say the least, that her dancing is erotic. See Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-30.

The historical account written by the first-century historian Josephus is rather different. Josephus agrees that John the Baptist was arrested and executed after having publicly criticised Herod Antipas for marrying his brother's former wife, but says that John was not imprisoned in Galilee, where Herodias' daughter danced at a birthday party, but in the faraway fortress of Macherus, where he was summarily executed. Far from being reluctant to have John killed, Herod feared that John could start an insurrection unless he was put away as quickly as possible. The relevant text from Book 18 of Antiquities of the Jews:

"Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."