Salome

Salome is an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde about a princess whose passions are legendary. The actual story is from the book of Matthew, about the stepdaughter of Herod. Salome dances the Dance of the Seven Veils for Herod's birthday feast, and he enjoys it so much that he offers to give her whatever she desires. At the suggestion of her mother, Salome requests the head of John the Baptist (Jokanaan) on a silver platter. Salome was originally published in French and wasn't staged for several years, and only when Wilde was in prison. It was originally banned in England for its focus on sexual passions, so Wilde threatened to move to France where he would have had more artistic freedom, which might have kept him alive. Alas, it wasn't put up on an English stage until five years after his death. Salome is one of Wilde's better known plays, and it's spawned several other artistic works.