Salome, the daughter of Herodias (c CE 14 - between 62 and 71), is known from the New Testament (Mark 6:17-29 and Matt 14:3-11, where, however, her name is not given).
Another source from Antiquity, Flavius Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, gives her name and some detail about her family relations.
Her name in Hebrew is Shlomiẗ and is derived from the root word ŠLM, meaning "peace".
Christian traditions depict her as an icon of dangerous female seductiveness, for instance depicting as erotic her dance mentioned in the New Testament (in some later transformations further iconized to the dance of the seven veils), or concentrate on her lighthearted and cold foolishness that, according to the gospels, led to John the Baptist's death.
A new ramification was added by Oscar Wilde, who in his play Salome portrayed her as something of a femme fatale.
This last interpretation, made even more memorable by Richard Strauss's opera based on Wilde, is not consistent with Josephus's account; according to the Romanized Jewish historian, she lived long enough to marry twice and raise several children.
Few literary accounts elaborate the biographical data given by Josephus.
