Description
The Beheading of John the Baptist – According to the Christian Gospels, Phasaelis, was the daughter of King Aretas IV, who was rejected by Herod in favor of his brother’s ex-wife. It was the daughter of this new wife who asked Herod for the head of John the Baptist, a request he reluctantly met. The Jewish writer Josephus, states that Aretas, insulted by Herod’s treatment of his daughter invaded Israel and defeated Herod. He also adds that the Herod’s Jewish subjects believed the defeat by Aretas to be a divine judgment on Herod for this beheading of John the Baptist.
