Tomb of John the Baptist
While the Gospels detail the grisly end of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod Antipas, they leave us with a lingering question: what happened to his body? The Gospel of Mark simply tells us that "when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb" (Mark 6:29). But where is that tomb, and what has archaeology actually revealed about it? The answer takes us away from the Galilee and deep into the ancient region of Samaria, to a multi-layered archaeological marvel known as Sebastia. Let's dig in. Where Did He Die vs. Where Was He Buried? According to the ancient historian Josephus, John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed at Machaerus, a fortified hilltop palace overlooking the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan. However, ancient tradition places his burial site roughly 70 miles away, in the city of Sebaste (modern Sebastia in the West Bank). Why Sebastia? It wasn't just a random village. It was a major regional capital rebu...