Mark 6:14-29 and Matthew 14:1-12 recount the death of John the
Baptist. Herod had him imprisoned for denouncing as incestuous his
marriage to Herodias, the former wife of his brother. During a banquet,
Herodias’ daughter dances before Herod, who is so enchanted that
he promises her a favor. At her mother’s behest, she asks for the head
of John the Baptist. The king honors her request and has the head
delivered to her on a plate (in disco), which she gives to her
mother. When the disciples of John discover about his death, they
bury his headless body. In this essay I revisit the iconographic motif
of the dancing girl from an interdisciplinary perspective
involving exegesis, gender, anthropology, ritual performance,
psycho-energetics, Pathosformeln and paragone.