Herod Antipas Timeline and Summary

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• Herod comes on stage, followed by his court. He is looking for Salomé.
• Herod finds her, then calls for his servants to make things comfortable for him and his guests.
• He slips in the blood of the young Syrian, and then notices his dead body lying nearby.
• He is confused, because he didn't ask for the Syrian to be killed.
• The soldiers explain that the Syrian killed himself.
• Herod is confused by the idea of suicide. He tells the guards to take away the body.
• He feels a cold wind blowing and hears the beating of wings. Herodias tells him he's imagining things.
• Herod calls for Salomé to come over, so that she can eat and drink with him. She refuses.
• Herod criticizes Herodias for bringing up her daughter so poorly. They argue.
• Jokanaan cries out, and Herod and the Jews discuss the prophet's relationship with God and the nature of God himself.
• A couple of Nazarenes tell Herod that the Messiah, which Jokanaan talked about, has come—and he is performing miracles.
• Herod is weirded when they tell him that their Messiah has resurrected the dead; he decrees that the man has to stop raising the dead immediately.
• Jokanaan cries out again, annoying Herodias—she and Herod begin to argue again as a result.
• Herod checks out Salomé.
• After another interruption from Jokanaan, Herod begins asking Salomé to dance. She refuses. He begins to talk about how happy he's feeling, and about how much Caesar loves him.
• After Jokanaan makes a remark about a man on a throne being "eaten by worms," Herodias mocks Herod, telling him that he's the man Jokanaan's talking about.
• Herod brushes the comment off. He and Herodias argue again.
• Herod begs Salomé to dance again; he tells her he is sad. He promises to give her anything she wants, even half his kingdom, in return.
• After he swears to keep his promise, he is overcome by an icy wind; he hears the beating of wings; the crown of flowers on his head burns him. He tosses it off.
• Still, he wants Salomé to dance.
• Just as Salomé takes off her sandals and prepares to dance, he stops her—he doesn't want her to dance in blood; he thinks it is a bad omen.
• Suddenly, he sees the sun turn black and the moon turn blood red, just as Jokanaan said it would. Herodias tells him that he's crazy.
• Salomé dances. Herod asks her what she'd like in return.
• She stuns him by asking for Jokanaan's head on a silver platter.
• He tells her that he will not give her that. He promises to give her all sorts of things—jewels, peacocks—if only she'll change her mind.
• Nope. Salomé stands firm. Reluctantly, Herod calls for the execution of Jokanaan.
• When Salomé begins to address Jokanaan's head, Herod turns away in horror. He calls her monstrous, and tells his servants to pack up.
• After Salomé kisses Jokanaan, Herod tells his soldiers to kill her.