Salome (Gospel of James)

Salome appears in the apocryphal Gospel known as the Gospel of James as an associate of the unnamed midwife at the Nativity of Jesus, and is regularly depicted with the midwife in Eastern Orthodox icons of the Nativity of Jesus, though she has long vanished from most Western depictions.

And Salome said: As the Lord my God liveth, if I make not trial and prove her nature I will not believe that a virgin hath brought forth.

1) And the midwife went in and said unto Mary: Order thyself, for there is no small contention arisen concerning thee.

And she bowed her knees unto the Lord, saying: O God of my fathers, remember that I am the seed of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob: make me not a public example unto the children of Israel, but restore me unto the poor, for thou knowest, Lord, that in thy name did I perform my cures, and did receive my hire of thee.

3 And lo, an angel of the Lord appeared, saying unto her: Salome, Salome, the Lord hath hearkened to thee: bring thine hand near unto the young child and take him up, and there shall be unto thee salvation and joy.

Salome (right) and the midwife "Emea" (left), bathing the infant Jesus , is a common figure in Orthodox icons of the Nativity of Jesus ; here in a 12th-century fresco from Cappadocia .