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.