Herodias is based on the historical figure who was married to Herod Antipas during his reign over Judea. Prior to this marriage, Herodias was the wife of Herod's brother, whom Herod had imprisoned and slain, and who was the father of her daughter, Salome. For the duration of the play's narrative action, she is upset about her husband's explicit attraction to Salome and the prophet Iokanaan's claims that her marriage is incestuous and thus unholy. While the relation is not mentioned in Wilde's play, historical writings indicate that in addition to being Herodias's brother-in-law, Herod was also her half-uncle, and that this formed the basis for the prophet's disapproval.