The Dance Floor Where Salome Performed for Herod
Herod Antipas was a son of Herod the Great – the king who, per the New Testament, ordered the execution of all male babies near Bethlehem when Jesus was born. Herod Antipas inherited part of his father’s kingdom, which he ruled as a client king of the Roman Empire. He set up shop atop a hilltop desert frontier fortress, Machaerus. It was there, in 29 AD, that Salome’s dance and John the Baptist’s execution reportedly took place. Nearly two thousand years later, a Hungarian excavation team announced a dramatic archaeological: they had found the pavilion and courtyard where Salome danced for Herod.
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The Bible and ancient accounts do not name the location of Salome’s dance. However, Machaerus was the only royal citadel and palace that Herod Antipas inherited from his father. It thus would have been the logical place for his birthday bash. The Hungarian archaeological dig’s director, Gyozo Voros, announced the discovery beside a courtyard at Machaerus of a semi-circular niche that would have housed a throne. There is archaeological evidence that stairs led to an elevated platform by that niche. It is likely that Herod would have sat there as he watched Salome dance for him.