The beheading of John the Baptist, also known as the decollation of Saint John the Baptist or the beheading of the Forerunner, is a biblical event commemorated as a holy day by various Christian churches. According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee under the Roman Empire, had imprisoned John the Baptist because he had publicly reproved Herod for divorcing his first wife and unlawfully taking his sister-in-law Herodias as his second wife. He then ordered him to be killed by beheading, which occurred at the hilltop fortress of Machaerus overlooking the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan.
