著者

斉藤 恵子

出版者

大妻女子大学

雑誌

大妻比較文化 (ISSN:13454307)

巻号頁・発行日

no.1, pp.48-71,図5〜6, 2000-03

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This paper is based upon university lectures I gave in 1998 as part of a joint series on Women's Studies. The principle aim that year was to find examples of women's ways of life within each lecturer's own specialized field. Salome was taken up. The story of Salome proved popular in Christian art from an early period, and has been portrayed in other fields such as literature, music, dance and cinema. The theme permits various approaches. Salome, best known as the heroine in Oscar Wilde's one-act play and Richard Strauss's opera, is remembered as the immediate agent in the execution of John the Baptist, but she is unnamed in the Gospels, Mark and Matthew. It is her mother Herodias that is a main agent in the beheading of John. Herodias was infuriated by John's stinging rebuke of her marriage to Herod Antipas as the marriage violated Mosaic Law. Herodias has been regarded as a cruel and wicked woman who prompted her daughter to ask for the holy prophet's head, but she would have sharply protested against Mosaic Law which was extremely unfair to women. Heredias's condemnation of Judeo-Christian laws and ethics as too favorably biased toward male supremacy is a voice worth listening to. Iconographically, Salome has often been confused with Judith of Bethulia, a beautiful Jewish widow who saved her country from the evil enemy by beheading the enemy's general with his sword. Two pictures of "Judith,alias Salome" by Gustav Klimt are adequate illustrations. Judith was sometimes regarded as the female counterpart of King David of Judea, and was admired by such woman painter as Artemisia Gentileschi. But both Salome and Judith have been portrayed by the nineteenth century "fin de siecle" artists as erotic symbols. In her Tale of Salome's Nurse, contemporary historian and writer, Shiono Nanami, interprets Salome as the courageous woman, fully aware of her responsibility as a monarch, with keen insight into the political and religious disturbances within Jewish society. Completely independent of her frail mother, she requested her step-father give her the head of John the Baptist as a reward for her dance of the seven veils. In this way, Shiono has interpreted, Salome as having brought momentary peace to her country, Judea. In conclusion, Salome is an exciting example from whom we can learn both positive and negative lessons.