The martyrdom of John the Baptist is a story often repeated over the centuries of a good person being eliminated because he exposes the venality and vice he or she sees around him. The afterward of the story also takes an interesting twist. He brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl… When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. The tomb of John the Baptist is traditionally believed to be located in Sebaste, Nablus, in the West Bank. This site is associated with the Nabi Yahya Mosque, which contains the tomb and is near the ruins of a Crusader church built above it in 1160 AD. As the gospel story narrates the head was separated from the body and its resting place is disputed. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, claims to house the head of John the Baptist built upon an ancient cathedral dedicated to him. (John is revered by Islam as well as Christianity.) A Church in Rome and one in France and Munich also claim to have the skull. Just as modern people want some memento of the rock star or actor, Medieval Christians sought some relic of a holy person.
