In several notable works of Western culture, the Dance of the Seven Veils (usually described as danced by Salomé) is one of the elaborations on the historical and biblical tale of the execution of John the Baptist.
According to ten verses of Matthew 14, John was imprisoned for criticizing King Herod Antipas' marriage to Herodias, the former wife of Antipas' "brother" Herod Philip I. Herod offered his niece a reward of her choice for performing a dance on his birthday. Herodias persuaded her daughter to ask for John the Baptist's head on a platter. Against his better judgment, Antipas reluctantly acceded to her request.
The historian Josephus lists the stepdaughter's name as Salomé and provides other details enriching the story in later Christian legend. He provides a name for the dance and states that the purpose of the dance was to inflame Herod with incestuous desire, thereby inducing him to grant her wish for John's death.
The Dance of the Seven Veils is also thought to have originated with the myth of the goddess Ishtar and the god Tammuz of Assyrian and Babylonian lore. In this myth, Ishtar's lover, Tammuz dies, and the goddess approaches the gates of the underworld and demands that the gatekeeper open them. The gatekeeper lets Ishtar into the underworld, opening one gate at a time. At each gate, Ishtar has to shed one article of clothing. When she finally passes the seventh gate, she is naked. In rage, Ishtar throws herself at Ereshkigal, but Ereshkigal orders her servant Namtar to imprison Ishtar and unleash sixty diseases against her. After Ishtar descends to the underworld, all sexual activity ceases on earth. The god Papsukal reports the situation to Ea, the king of the gods. Ea creates a eunuch called Asu-shu-namir and sends him to Ereshkigal, telling him to invoke "the name of the great gods" against her and to ask for the bag containing the waters of life. Ereshkigal is enraged when she hears Asu-shu-namir's demand, but she has to give him the water of life. Asu-shu-namir sprinkles Ishtar with this water, reviving her. Then Ishtar passes back through the seven gates, (though without Tammuz) getting one article of clothing back at each gate, and is fully clothed as she exits the last gate.
