Erodiade Regina

An interesting detail from a 14th century fresco in Varese, a city located in Lombardy, northern Italy. It shows a crowned Erodiade (Herodiade), "as white as the moon," who is supposed to be the biblical wife of the Tetrarch of Galilee, Herod There are speculations--and allegedly tradition--among some Neo-Pagans and some Italian practitioners that the folklore surrounding Aradia is tied into legends of Erodiade who flew with the Roman Goddess Diana in the Night Flight, sometimes called by folklorists as "the Witch-ride." Charles Godfrey Leland in Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling, 1891 (p.37), refered briefly to the Italian legends involving Erodiade and Diana as Italian witch queens who presided over the night assembly: In reference to the name Herodias...it was a great puzzle to the writers on witchcraft why the Italian witches always said they had two queens whom they worshipped--Diana and Herodias. The latter seems to have specially presided at the witch-dance. In this we can see an evident connection with the Herodias of the New Testament. Leland specifically stated that Erodiade Regina (Herodiade/Herodias) presided over the witch-dance during the night assembly. Even more interestingly, these speculations are often tied--among some Neo-Pagans and some Italian practitioners--to possible historical events in Italy during the 14th century.

Erodiade Panting
Erodiade Regina
Daughter of Herodias
Dance of Herodias's Daughter
Aradia home page