Two kings named Herod are mentioned in the New Testament. The first of these was Herod the Great, king of Judea under the Romans. The second, Herod Antipas, had John the Baptist put to death.

In about 47 bc, Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was appointed governor of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee by Julius Caesar. Herod the Great, also called Herod I, became king in 37 bc and ruled until his death in 4 bc. He was about 73 years old at the time when Jesus was born, and it was Herod who ordered the massacre of the children of Bethlehem.

Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was tetrarch (governor) of Galilee. He questioned Jesus before the crucifixion. Earlier, Herod Antipas had divorced his wife and married his niece, Herodias. When John the Baptist denounced this marriage, Herod had him imprisoned. On Herod’s birthday his stepdaughter, Salome, danced before him and his guests. Herod was delighted and told her she might ask for anything she wished. At the urging of her mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist.

Herod had John executed, and the head was brought to Salome. Salome is not mentioned by name in the Bible. Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian born about ad 37, tells the story in his book The Jewish Antiquities. The story of Herod and John the Baptist was the subject of an opera by Richard Strauss and a play by Oscar Wilde.