Page "John the Baptist" Paragraph 29

What became of the head of John the Baptist is difficult to determine.

Nicephorus and Symeon Metaphrastes say that Herodias had it buried in the fortress of Machaerus ( in accordance with Josephus ).

Other writers say that it was interred in Herod's palace at Jerusalem ; there it was found during the reign of Constantine I, and thence secretly taken to Emesa, in Phoenicia, where it was concealed, the place remaining unknown for years, until it was manifested by revelation in 453.

However, the decapitation cloth of St. John is kept at the Aachen Cathedral.

The Coptic Christian Orthodox Church also claim to hold the relics of St. John the Baptist.

These are to be found in a monastery in Lower Egypt between Cairo and Alexandria.

It is possible, with permission from the monks, to see the original tomb where the remains were found.

An obscure and surprising claim relates to the town of Halifax in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, where the Baptist's head appears on the official coat-of-arms.

A legend first recorded in the late 16th century and reported in William Camden's Britannia accounts for the town's place-name, as ' halig ' ( holy ) and ' fax ' ( face ), by stating that the first religious settlers of the district brought the ' face ' of John the Baptist with them.