50 Fun Facts About John the Baptist

According to the Gospel of Luke, who were John the Baptist's parents?

Both were of priestly descent from Aaron, and both were far too old to expect a child.

Which angel announced John's birth to Zechariah while he was serving in the Temple?

The same angel later told Mary that her relative Elizabeth was already six months pregnant.

What happened to Zechariah because he doubted the angel's message?

His voice returned when he wrote 'His name is John' at the naming ceremony, and he burst into the prophecy known as the Benedictus.

The Nativity of John the Baptist is celebrated on 24 June, how long before Christmas?

The date follows Luke's note that Elizabeth was six months along at the Annunciation, and it lands on the old Roman summer solstice.

Christian tradition places John's birthplace at Ein Karem, a village on the outskirts of which city?

The Church of Saint John the Baptist there is built around the cave identified as the spot, and the village is also linked to the Visitation.

The Gospels describe John's clothing as made from the hair of which animal?

The leather belt and hair garment echo the description of Elijah in 2 Kings, which is part of why the Gospels cast John as Elijah returned.

What did John the Baptist famously eat in the wilderness?

The vegetarian Ebionites reportedly amended their gospel so that he ate honey cakes or manna instead.

In Matthew's Gospel, John calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a 'brood of' what?

Matthew also has him preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and warning of coming judgement.

When priests asked who he was, John denied being the Christ and described himself as what?

The phrase fulfils a passage from Isaiah that Mark quotes to introduce him.

In which river did John baptise Jesus?

The site is generally identified as Al-Maghtas, Bethany beyond the Jordan, on the river's eastern bank near Jericho.

Al-Maghtas, the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus, lies in which modern country?

The gospel also mentions further baptisms at Aenon near Salim, 'because there was much water there'.

At the baptism of Jesus, the Spirit is described as descending in the form of which bird?

Luke insists it came in bodily form as a dove, not merely descending like one, and a voice from heaven spoke.

In Eastern Christianity, the baptism of Jesus is commemorated on 6 January under which feast name?

The Orthodox keep John's main feast the very next day, 7 January.

According to Matthew, Jesus explicitly identified John as the return of which Old Testament prophet?

The link goes back to Malachi's promise that the prophet would come before the great day of the Lord.

In Eastern Orthodoxy, John is most commonly given which title?

Baptists prefer Saint John the Immerser, and in Islam he is the prophet Yahya ibn Zakariya.

Which ruler ordered John's execution after John condemned his marriage?

The tetrarch of Galilee and Perea had divorced a Nabatean princess to marry his brother's wife, and the Gospels say he feared John but liked listening to him.

What was the name of the woman whose marriage to Herod John denounced, and who demanded his death?

She had been married to Herod's half-brother; the Gospels call him Philip, though Josephus names him Herod.

Which historian supplies the name Salome for the unnamed girl who danced for Herod?

The idea that mother and daughter were both called Herodias circulated in early modern Europe because the Bible leaves her unnamed.

On what was John's severed head delivered to the dancing girl, at her request?

The girl had asked her mother what to request and was told to demand the Baptist's head.

John was executed at which hilltop fortress east of the Dead Sea?

The site, in modern Jordan, was rebuilt by Herod the Great in 30 BC and stands about 1,100 metres above the level of the Dead Sea.

In the Antiquities of the Jews, why does the tetrarch really have the Baptist killed?

Josephus adds that many Jews saw the later destruction of Herod's army by King Aretas as divine punishment for the killing.

The tetrarch who killed John was exiled to Gaul after being accused of conspiracy against which emperor?

The accuser was his own nephew Agrippa I; Antipas had built his capital, Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee.

Salome later became queen of Armenia Minor by marrying which cousin?

Her first husband had been her uncle Philip the Tetrarch, who died in AD 34.

The Catholic Church marks the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist on which date?

The Orthodox keep six separate feasts for John, including three findings of his head.

Which building in Damascus is one of three places claiming to hold John the Baptist's head?

Pope John Paul II visited it in 2001 mainly to see the relic; Amiens Cathedral and San Silvestro in Capite in Rome make rival claims.

Which Picardy cathedral claims to hold John the Baptist's head, brought after the Fourth Crusade?

The Orthodox story is different: followers dug the head up on the Mount of Olives, where it was buried and rediscovered twice more.

The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul claims to hold which part of John the Baptist?

A monastery in Cetinje, Montenegro, and Siena Cathedral both claim the whole right hand that baptised Jesus.

In Islam, John the Baptist is known by what name?

The Quran says God sent peace on him the day he was born and the day he died, and tradition says Muhammad met him in the second heaven.

Which ancient religious group in Iraq and Iran regards John the Baptist as its final prophet?

They speak an Eastern Aramaic language and are known to their neighbours as Sabians or Subba, from a root meaning baptism.

The Knights Hospitaller grew from a Holy Land hospital founded by merchants from which Italian town?

Pope Paschal II recognised the order in 1113; it later ruled Rhodes and Malta.

John the Baptist is the patron saint of which Italian city, whose baptistery is dedicated to him?

Dante was baptised in that octagonal building, and Michelangelo said its east doors could stand at the gates of Paradise.

Which English town puts John the Baptist's severed head on its coat of arms?

The West Yorkshire town claims him as patron; the connection is one of the more obscure Baptist traditions.

St John's Eve on 23 June is traditionally marked across Europe with what?

The date sits on the old Roman summer solstice, and John's feast counterbalances Christmas at midwinter.

Besides John the Baptist's, whose is the only other saint's feast marking an earthly birth?

All other saints' days mark their deaths, their birth into heaven.

'He must increase, but I must decrease' is read as matching what event around John's June feast?

The sun's height begins to diminish after the summer solstice and to grow again after the midwinter feast of Christ's birth.

In Western art, John is often shown with a scroll or dish bearing which animal?

The scroll reads Ecce Agnus Dei; Netherlandish painters needed the animal because they showed him in ordinary clothes.

Which artist's Saint John the Baptist, now in the Louvre, is believed to be his final painting?

Painted around 1513-1516 with his model Salai, it shows sfumato at its peak and a smile many find unsettling.

Which Baroque painter made at least five paintings of the young John and a great Execution of the Baptist in Malta?

He also painted two sombre Salomes with the head, one now in Madrid and one in London.

Which sculptor made the baptistery's south doors in John's patron city, before Ghiberti did the north and east?

The building also holds the first Renaissance funerary monument, by Donatello and Michelozzo.

Oscar Wilde's one-act tragedy Salome was originally written in which language?

It was banned in Britain for depicting biblical characters and not staged publicly there until 1931.

Which composer turned Wilde's Salome into a one-act opera in 1905?

He saw Max Reinhardt's Berlin production in 1902 and set to work; the opera's Dance of the Seven Veils was infamous at its premiere.

The Salome opera is famous for which infamous set piece?

Strauss cut Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of the play by nearly half to make the libretto.

The Baha'i Faith reveres John the Baptist but holds that which figure was a greater Prophet than him?

The faith honours John as a prophet of God alongside Christianity, Islam, the Druze and the Mandaeans.

In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said no one greater than John the Baptist had risen among those born of whom?

The scholar John Dominic Crossan sums up their movements as: John had a monopoly, but Jesus had a franchise.

In the Serbian Orthodox Church, John's feast day Jovanjdan is often celebrated as a family what?

A slava is a patron-saint day kept by a whole family with a special feast.

Bones found in 2010 on which Bulgarian Black Sea island were dated to a first-century Middle Eastern man?

The remains, from the ruins of a St. John the Forerunner monastery, are now kept in a cathedral in Sozopol.

Which pope donated a relic identified as John the Baptist's right arm to Siena Cathedral in 1464?

A monastery in Cetinje, Montenegro, makes a rival claim to the arm that baptised Jesus.

In which German city do the Wittelsbachs' Residenz hold a fourth claimed head of John the Baptist?

The other three claims belong to Damascus, Rome's San Silvestro in Capite and Amiens.

John's 24 June feast is celebrated officially as the national holiday of which Canadian province?

He is a patron of French Canada and Newfoundland, where the day was once Discovery Day.

In 1521, which island was formally named 'San Juan Bautista' in John's honour?

He remains patron saint of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its capital, San Juan.