John the Baptist was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions, Saint John by certain Catholic churches, and Prophet Yahya in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptiser.
Saint John the Baptist, a 1540 painting by Titian
The Preaching of St. John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566
Salome is given the severed head of John the Baptist, Onorio Marinari, 1670s
Beheading of St John the Baptist by Massimo Stanzione, 1635
The Jordan River or River Jordan, also known as Nahr Al-Sharieat, is a 251-kilometre-long (156 mi) river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the freshwater Sea of Galilee and on to the salt water Dead Sea. The river passes by Jordan, Syria, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.
Jordan River
Aerial view, 1938
Coloured postcard of the Jordan River, by Karimeh Abbud, circa 1925
Rafting on Jordan River, northern Galilee