# Biblical Scholars - help me with a date for the beheading of John the Baptist... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852 "2009-03-09T17:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852/1 "2009-03-09T17:39:35Z")
An interesting discussion came up today - a friend is working on the role of Herod in Salome (Richard Strauß), and while it is biblically documented that John the Baptist is six months older than Jesus, we were stymied as to their relative deaths. John baptized Jesus and the disciples of John told Jesus of his death, but was there ever a mention of when John was beheaded? A year before Jesus was crucified? A week? I truly do not know, and so I seek your collective wisdom. Biblical or extra-biblical sources encouraged. Many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852/2 "2009-03-09T17:44:58Z")
There’s no mention of the exact date; also, take into account that often things are dated as “in those days,” old-greek for “I don’t have my calendar here.” Between the Baptism and the Crucifixion, and relatively early within the three years (Jesus “inherited” several of John’s disciples), but whether one month after the Baptism or twelve, I can’t tell. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852/3 "2009-03-09T18:03:41Z")
The Gospels don’t provide a date, but they seem to imply that he was arrested in the first year of Jesus’ ministry. The only non-Biblical historical source for John the Baptist comes from Josephus’ _Antiquities_, and Josephus appears to say that JBap was killed in 36 CE (several years _after_ the alleged crucifixion of Jesus). ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852/4 "2009-03-09T21:22:19Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The Gospels don’t provide a date, but they seem to imply that he was arrested in the first year of Jesus’ ministry. > > The only non-Biblical historical source for John the Baptist comes from Josephus’ _Antiquities_, and Josephus appears to say that JBap was killed in 36 CE (several years _after_ the alleged crucifixion of Jesus). Which implies that’s close to correct. There’s not a lot of reason to be confident about Jesus dying between 27 & 33 CE. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852/5 "2009-03-09T22:39:17Z")
My first thought was: Madame Defarge might be available, you could give her a call… Sorry, I got nothing, but I see wiser heads have been more helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biblical-scholars-help-me-with-a-date-for-the-beheading-of-john-the-baptist/488852/6 "2009-03-10T01:35:42Z")
St. Paul says that he converted to Christianity around 33 CE upon getting a visitation from Zombie Jesus.\* Luke 3 says that it was around the 15th year of Tiberius’ rule that Jesus turned 30 and John got knocked off. Tiberius began his rule in 14 CE, putting this at 29 CE. So best guess would be that Jesus had 3-4 years of time running his own church before he bit it. Practically speaking, this seems quite reasonable. It’s probably doubtful that it was less than 2 or more than 5. - Wikipedia references the Oxford dictionary of the Christian church for this. Note that Jesus was resurrected anywhere between 3 days and 550 days after his death.