Herodias

This name derives from the Ancient Greek “Hērōidiás (Ἡρῳδιάς)”, composed of two elements: “hḗrōs (ἥρως)” (watch over, protect, A hero of the Trojan War) plus “aoidḗ (οιδή) ōidḗ (ᾠδή)” (song, ode, legend, tale, story). In turn, the name means “protector of the legend.” 1) Herodias was a princess of the Herodian dynasty of Judaea during the time of the Roman Empire. Daughter of Aristobulus IV and his wife, Berenice. Full sister to Herod V (king of Chalkis), Herod Agrippa (king of Judea), Aristobulus Minor, and Mariamne III (wife of Crown Prince Antipater and, after his execution by Herod the Great, she was possibly the first wife of Herod Archelaus, principal heir of Herod the Great and ethnarch of Judea). 2) Aradia is one of the principal figures in the American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland’s 1899 work Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, which he believed to be a genuine religious text used by a group of pagan witches in Tuscany. Other folklorists and historians have subsequently disputed this claim.