[after Mark 15:40; 16:1;
and contra Flavius Josephus and Oscar Wilde]
Some gossip comes from Galilee: they say
that Herod's niece, the slender Salome
(who danced seductively some years ago)
is not the older woman whom we know,
whom Tetrarch Philip married, late, today.
Whispers suggest his wife is an imposter
employed by Herod Antipas to play
his niece's part after she ran away
to join the followers of Crucified
Jesus; looking (from far off) when he died,
and two days later visiting his tomb
which had been robbed (so sense ought to assume;
what other fair conclusion can be drawn?)---
despite the posted guards---before the dawn.
Thus Herod, who could not bear that he lost her
replaced her with another, and has lied
since then. These local kinglets have such pride.
Starward
[jlc]
Author's Notes/Comments:
In Oscar Wilde's play of the same name, the character of John the Baptist advises Salome to seek Christ on Lake Galilee; and, I suugest, this is the only accurate statement in the play (other than what he drew from Mark's Gospel).
Historically, scholars have claimed that the Salome present at both the Crucifixion and the empty tomb at dawn is the mother of the Apostles, Saints James and John. Yet John's own Gospel does not mention her; and none of the other three specifically assign that name to their mother.
Flavius Josephus asserts that Salome later married another Herodian relative, the Tetrarch Philip. I suggest, however, that Salome sought Jesus after being involved in the murder of John the Baptist; and that, while anonymous in Mark 6, the account of her sin, she is named in the last two chapters as one of the early believers. Acts 9 mentions an active church in Galilee, and I think she was a member of that early congregation. Having danced to effectuate her mother's scheme to murder the Forerunner, she sought and received forgiveness, and became a witness to both the Lord's salvific death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the tomb.
