According the Matthew 14:1-12:

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.

6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

John was railing against Herod because Herod had married his brother’s wife, but there was nothing in Jewish law that forbade that. Quite the contrary. But I’ll save that for another day.

The Herod in question is Herod Antipas, one of the surviving sons of Herod the Great. In other words, one that he didn’t have killed, as I explained in a previous post.

After the death of Herod the Great, Antipas was given the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea, which is why he’s mentioned in the gospels.

The daughter of Herod’s wife Herodias is never named in the gospels, but the legend grew that her name was Salome and that she performed the Dance of the Seven Veils to charm Herod.

Many tales were told of her over the years and eventually Oscar Wilde wrote a one act play (in French!) depicting Salome’s growing infatuation with John the Baptist (named Jochanaan in the play) and her eventual demise, although Wilde was not the first person to suggest that Salome’s motive was infatuation with John and anger that he didn’t return her advances.

Wilde’s play was translated into German by Hedwig Lachmann (fun fact: she was the grandmother of Mike Nichols), and after seeing it performed, Richard Strauss set it to music.

Here is a short excerpt from Strauss’s opera Salome with Richland’s own Kenneth Riegel in the part of Herod, Catherine Malfitano as Salome, and Anja Silja as Herodias. Christoph von Dohnányi conducts. Salome has just performed the Dance of the Seven Veils and is now asking for the reward that Herod had promised her.