Salome

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For other uses of Salome and Salomé, see Salome (disambiguation)

Salome or Salomé (Hebrew: שלומית Shlomit), the Daughter of Herodias (c AD 14 - between 62 and 71), like Dismas, or the various names of the Three Magi, is a name given to a character in the New Testament, one whose name is not given there itself. She is, however, an entirely historical person, whose name is preserved in non-biblical literature. In scholarly works, she tends to be referred to as the Daughter of Herodias.

Contents 1 Account by Flavius Josephus 2 Biblical character 3 Salome in the arts 3.1 Painting 3.1.1 Depictions of the Salome-Herod-St. John the Baptist Bible story 3.2 Oscar Wilde's play 3.3 Richard Strauss opera 3.4 Jules Massenet opera 3.5 Florent Schmitt ballet 3.6 Flemming Flindt ballet 3.7 Skinny Legs and All (novel) 3.8 Films 3.9 Songs 3.10 Poems 4 See also 5 References 6 External Links

[edit] Account by Flavius Josephus

The name "Salome" is preserved in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities (Book XVIII, Chapter 5, 4):

Herodias, [...], was married to Herod, the son of Herod the Great, who was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, who had a daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from her husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod, her husband's brother by the father's side, he was tetrarch of Galilee; but her daughter Salome was married to Philip, the son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and as he died childless, Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus;^[1]

[edit] Biblical character

According to Mark 6:21-29, Salome was the step-daughter of Herod Antipas, and danced before Herod and her mother Herodias at the occasion of Herod's birthday, and by doing so caused the death of John the Baptist. The New Testament suggests that Salome caused John to be executed because of his complaints that Herod's marriage to Herodias was adulterous; and that Herodias put her up to the demand that John be executed, something the king was initially reluctant to do.

And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6:21-29, KJV)

This Salome is not the same Salome who is said to be a witness to the Crucifixion of Jesus in Mark 15:40. (see Salome (disciple)).

[edit] Salome in the arts

[edit] Painting

This Biblical story has long been a favourite of painters, since it offers a chance to depict oriental splendour, semi-nude women, and exotic scenery under the auspices of being a Biblical subject. Painters who have done notable representations of Salome include Titian and Gustave Moreau.

[edit] Depictions of the Salome-Herod-St. John the Baptist Bible story

In chronological order (to see each work, follow the link through the footnote):^[2]

• Herod's Feast, Daurade Monastery, c 1100, Musée des Augustins, Toulouse.
• Death of John the Baptist, Gilabertus, Saint-Etienne Cathedral, 1120-1140, Musee des Augustins, Toulouse
• Feast of Herod, Giotto di Bondone, 1320
• Entombment of the Baptist, Andrea Pisano, 1330
• St. John the Evangelist and Stories from His Life, Giovanni del Biondo, 1360-70
• Feast of Herod, Aretino Spinello, 1385
• The Banquet of Herod, Lorenzo Monaco, c. 1400
• The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, Masaccio, 1426
• Herod's Banquet, Donatello, 1427
• Banquet of Herod, Masolino da Panicale, 1435
• Herod's Banquet, Fra Filippo Lippi, 1452-65
• The Head of John the Baptist Brought to Herod, Giovanni di Paolo, 1454, National Gallery, London
• The Feast of Herod and the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Benozzo Gozzoli, 1461-62, National Gallery of Art
• Head of the Baptist, Giovanni Bellini, 1464-68
• The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, Lieven van Lathem, 1469, The J. Paul Getty Museum
• Herod's Feast, Heydon, Norfolk, c. 1470, wall painting in an English parish church
• St. John Altarpiece, Hans Memling, 1474-79
• Beheading of John the Baptist, Andrea del Verrocchio, 1477-80
• Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, Cornelis Engelbrechtsz, c. 1490, J. Paul Getty Museum
• The Head of St. John the Baptist, with Mourning Angels and Putti, Jan Mostaert, early 16th century, National Gallery, London
• St. John Altarpiece (left wing), Quentin Massys, 1507-08
• The Beheading of St. John, Albrecht Dürer, 1510, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis
• The Daughter of Herodias, Sebastiano del Piombo, 1510, National Gallery, London
• Salome, Tilman Riemenschneider, 1500-1510
• Salome, Casare da Sesta, 1510-20, National Gallery, London
• Salome, Giampietrino, c. 1510-30, National Gallery, London
• The Head of St. John the Baptist Brought to Herod, Albrecht Dürer, 1511
• Salome, Titian, c. 1515
• Head of John the Baptist, Hans Baldung Grien, 1516, National Gallery of Art
• Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
• Herodias, Bernardino Luini, 1527-31
• Salome with the head of St John the Baptist, Tiziano Vecellio (Titian), c. 1530, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
• Salome, Lucas Cranach the Elder, c. 1530
• Beheading of John the Baptist, Vincenzo Danti, 1569-70
• Salome with the Head of the Baptist, Caravaggio, 1605
• The Beheading of the Baptist, Caravaggio, 1605
• Salome, Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, 1615-20
• The Feast of Herod, Franz Francken II, c. 1620, State Hermitage Museum
• Herodias with the Head of St. John the Baptist, Francesco del Cairo, c. 1625-30
• The Beheading of John the Baptist, Matthaeus Merrian the Elder, 1625-30
• Decapitation of St. John, Unknown British, 17th century, Tate Gallery
• Salome Dancing before Herod, Jacob Hogers, c. 1630-55, Rijksmuseum
• Salome Presented with the Head of St. John the Baptist, Leonaert Bramer, 1630s
• The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, Massimo Stanzione, c. 1634
• Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, Guido Reni, 1639-40
• The Beheading of John the Baptist, Rembrandt, 1640, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• The Beheading of John the Baptist, Rombout van Troyen, 1650s, State Hermitage Museum
• St John Reproaching Herod, Mattia Preti, 1662-66
• St John the Baptist Before Herod, Mattia Preti, 1665
• Decapitation of St John, British School, 17th century. Tate Gallery
• John the Baptist Beheaded, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1851-60, World Mission Collection
• The Daughter of Herodias Receiving the Head of John the Baptist, Gustave Doré, 1865
• Head of St. John the Baptist, Jean-Baptiste Chatigny, 1869, The J. Paul Getty Museum
• The Beheading of John the Baptist, Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, c. 1869 National Gallery, London
• Salome, Henri Regnault, 1870, Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Gustave Moreau:
  • Salome Dancing before Herod, 1874-76
  • The Apparition, 1874-76
  • Salome, 1876
• James Tissot, 1886-96:
  • The Daughter of Herodias Dancing
  • King Herod
  • The Head of John the Baptist on a Platter
• Salome, Franz von Stuck, 1906

[edit] Oscar Wilde's play

Main article: Salome (play)

This story was made the subject of a play by Oscar Wilde that premiered in Paris in 1896, under the French name Salomé. In Wilde's play, Salome takes a perverse fancy for John the Baptist, and causes him to be executed when John spurns her affections. In the finale, Salome takes up John's severed head and kisses it. Because British law forbade the depiction of Biblical characters on stage, Wilde wrote the play originally in French, and then produced an English translation (titled Salome). Wilde's French was as close to perfect as is possible for a nonnative French speaker; nevertheless, he showed it to at least two esteemed French writers who were his acquaintances, one of whom said to correct the idiom would be to destroy the unique harmonies of the Wildean French. The play was also proofread by Marcel Schwob. In the English version Alfred Bruce Douglas (Bosie) is indicated as translator.

[edit] Richard Strauss opera

Main article: Salome (opera)

The Wilde play (in the German translation of Hedwig Lachmann) was edited down to a one-act opera by Richard Strauss. It is part of the standard operatic repertoire, and is now better known than the Wilde play itself. The opera Salome, which premiered in Dresden in 1905, is famous for the Dance of the seven veils. As with the Wilde play, it turns the action on to Salome herself, reducing her mother to a bit-player, though the Wilde play centers mostly upon Herod's motivations.

[edit] Jules Massenet opera

Main article: Hérodiade

The 1881 opera Hérodiade by Jules Massenet tells a slightly different story of the relationship between Salome, John the Baptist and Herod. The rather sub-standard libretto by Paul Milliet, Gremont and Zamadini based upon the novella Herodias by Gustave Flaubert (published in Three Tales, 1877) gives full responsibility for John's death to Salome's mother Herodias and the priests who fear his religious power. Salome herself is shown as a loving disciple of John who commits suicide when he is executed.

[edit] Florent Schmitt ballet

Massenet's pupil Florent Schmitt composed a ballet La tragédie de Salomé in 1907 as a commission from Jacques Rouché for Loie Fuller and the Théâtre des Arts. From the original ballet score, scored for twenty instruments and lasting about an hour, Schmitt prepared a symphonic poem of the same name, half as long as the ballet score, for a much expanded orchestra. The symphonic poem version is much better-known (with recordings conducted by Paul Paray, Jean Martinon, Antonio de Almeida, Marek Janowski and others), but there is also an excellent recording of the 1907 ballet score under Patrick Davin on the Marco Polo label. The rhythmic syncopations, polyrhythms, percussively treated chords, bitonality, and scoring of Schmitt's work anticipate Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. While composing The Rite of Spring Stravinsky acknowledged that Schmitt's ballet gave him greater joy than any work he heard in a long time, but they fell out with each other in later years, and Stravinsky reversed his opinion of Schmitt's works.

[edit] Flemming Flindt ballet

Danish choreographer Flemming Flindt's ballet Salome premiered on November 10, 1978, at Copenhagen's Cirkusbygningen [the circus building]. It featured music composed by Peter Maxwell Davies, performed by the Danish Radio Concert Orchestra and conducted by Janos Fürst. The principal dancers were Vivi Flindt (Salome), Jonny Ellisason (John the Baptist), Flemming Flindt (Herod) and Lizzie Rhode (Herodias). Vivi Flindt, the wife of Flemming Flindt, danced her final scene completely nude, which caused less of a sensation than the couple's previous nude ballet Dødens triumf [the triumph of death], which had premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in 1972. Salome was filmed on tape and shown on national television.

[edit] Skinny Legs and All (novel)

A modern youth named Salome plays essentially the title role in the fifth novel by eccentric American writer Tom Robbins. One of the book's plot lines is premised upon a Jew and an Arab opening a restaurant across the street from the United Nations building in Manhattan. Salome, a doe-eyed, lithe nubile is enlisted to dance in the attached club.

[edit] Films

Wilde's Salome has at least twice been made into a film: a 1923 silent film starring Alla Nazimova in the title role (see Salomé (1923 film)) and a 1988 Ken Russell play-within-a-film treatment, Salome's Last Dance, which also includes Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie) as characters.

IMDB lists at least 25 Salome/Salomé films, and numerous resettings of the Salome story to modern times. Among the former are

• a 1918 Salomé film, starring Theda Bara, for which Flavius Josephus was credited for the story;
• a 1953 Salomé film, starring Rita Hayworth;
• a 2002 film by Carlos Saura using flamenco dance.
• a 2006 Salomé in Low Land animated short film by Christian Zagler using low-tech videogame style combined with opera music.

In Billy Wilder's 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond's script she plans to make her comeback in is a horrible, bloated retelling of the Salome story.

The mockumentary Forgotten Silver presents a supposed previously-lost silent film of Salome by New Zealand film pioneer Colin McKenzie.

Salome, a fictional West Texas town, is the setting for the 1996 Kevin Costner film Tin Cup.

[edit] Songs

'Salome' is the title of a song by the alternative country group the Old 97s. It is featured on their album Too Far to Care and is sung live in the 2006 movie The Break Up.

'Salome' is also the title of a song by the Czech singer-songwriter Karel Kryl.

'Salomé (Zooromancer edit)' is also the title of a song by U2 and is found as the 3rd track on the cd single of 'Who's gonna ride your wild horses' issued in 1992. It is listed as lasting for 8.02 minutes and has words by Bono and music by U2.

'Salome' is mentioned in "Pills" by Gary Jules, a song that is on his 2002 album "Trading snakeoil for wolftickets" as well as featured on the "Catch and Release" motion picture soundtrack (2007).

'Salome' is mentioned twice in Vigilantes of Love songs- "Locust Years" on the 1997 album "Slow Dark Train" and "Welcome to Struggleville" on the 1994 album of the same title.

[edit] Poems

'Salome is also a modern poem by Carol Ann Duffy, featured in 'The World's Wife'. The poem gives the Biblical story a modern twist.

'Salome' is referenced in the Paul Muldoon epic, Immram.

[edit] See also

• Dance of the seven veils
• List of names for the Biblical nameless.

[edit] References

Gillman, Florence Morgan. Herodias: At Home in the Fox's Den. Interfaces. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2003.

[edit] External Links

Salome II entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

1. ^ W. Whiston translation at Project Gutenberg
2. ^ [1]Web page titled "Links to images of Salome/Herod/the Death of John the Baptist" at The Text This Week Web site, accessed February 11, 2007