Salome’s Dance and the Question of Historical Plausibility

Abstract The Markan account of Salome’s dance before the Herodian court is historically plausible. There is a logical gap, however, between what is historically plausible and what is historically probable. Roman (i.e., pagan) and Jewish individuals that were high born and low born – both men and women – could occasionally dance. Sometimes those dances were seen as transgressive according to Roman mores . Sometimes they occurred in the context of festivals. Mark describes Salome’s dance in such a context. The narrative explains Herod’s puzzlement about Jesus’ identity and his view that Jesus is Iohannes redivivus and is significant for historical Jesus research because Mark uses it to foreshadow Jesus’ own death for seditio .