The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70
Salome the Myrrh-bearer
fl. c. AD 30–33 (death unrecorded) · Disciple of Galilee · Witness of the crucifixion · Bearer of spices to the tomb · Galilee → Jerusalem
The Apostolic Age
Who Salome the Myrrh-bearer was
Mark names her twice and nobody else names her at all. She is among the women who watched the crucifixion from a distance — women who, Mark adds, had followed Jesus in Galilee and ministered to him — and among the three who bought spices when the sabbath was past and came to the tomb at sunrise.
**She is commonly identified with the mother of the sons of Zebedee**, and the reasoning is straightforward: Matthew's list at the cross has “the mother of Zebedee's children” where Mark's has Salome, in the same position among the same women. The identification is old and reasonable. It is not stated by either evangelist, and this archive records it without adopting it.
**Three other Salomes should not be confused with her**, and the name was common enough that they regularly are.
The *daughter of Herodias* who danced before Herod Antipas is unnamed in the Gospels; the name Salome for her comes from Josephus, and she is a Herodian princess, not a disciple.
The *midwife of the Protoevangelium of James* is an apocryphal figure of the Nativity narrative, belonging to a text of about AD 145–160.
And the *fellow-traveller into Egypt* of the History of Joseph the Carpenter — “Salome also was their fellow-traveller” — is a fourth, in an Egyptian compilation centuries later, where the name has been carried over from the infancy tradition.
Also listed in women.
Common questions
When was Salome active?
Salome the Myrrh-bearer is dated fl. c. AD 30–33 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Salome in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Salome?
Salome the Myrrh-bearer is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Mark. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Salome from?
The archive associates Salome the Myrrh-bearer with Galilee, Jerusalem. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Salome’s contemporaries?
The archive links Salome the Myrrh-bearer to 5 other figures, including Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James and Joses, Joanna, wife of Chuza and Martha of Bethany. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Mark 15:40–41
c. AD 33There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; (who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.Mark · read ↗
Mark 16:1–2
c. AD 33And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.Mark · read ↗
Names proposed by later tradition
Salome = the mother of the sons of Zebedee
Matthew’s list of the women at the cross has “the mother of Zebedee’s children” in the position Mark’s has Salome, among the same women. An old and reasonable identification, stated by neither evangelist; recorded, not adopted.
Connected in the archive
People
- Mary Magdalene
- Mary, mother of James and Joses
- Joanna, wife of Chuza
- Martha of Bethany
- Salome, daughter of Herodias
Events in this lifetime
Place
Places served
The 3 places the sources put Salome, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.