Several different locations claim to possess or have possessed the severed head of John the Baptist. The final resting place of John the Baptist's head varies widely depending on the religious and historic traditions. Muslims believe his head lies inside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, while Christians believe that a head on display at Rome's Church of San Silvestro in Capite is that of John the Baptist.

Still others believe it is buried in Türkiye or even southern France. In addition, museums and monasteries in Istanbul, Egypt and Montenegro, among other locations, claim to have other body parts belonging to John the Baptist, including his right arm and right hand (with which he baptized Jesus).

circa 28-36 CE

Machaerus
Nicephorus and Symeon Metaphrastes say that Herodias had it buried in the fortress of Machaerus (a Herodian fortress east of the Dead Sea). It is identified by Josephus as the site of John the Baptist's imprisonment and execution, with tradition, including early church historians, suggesting the initial burial of his head occurred within the citadel to prevent veneration. In The Antiquities of the Jews (Book 18:116-19), Josephus also confirmed that Herod Antipas “slew” John the Baptist after imprisoning him at Machaerus, because he feared John’s influence might enable him to start a rebellion.

Recent archaeological excavations have identified the royal courtyard and throne niche associated (theoratically) with this event, establishing the site's historical link to the narrative, though later traditions often shifted focus to Sebaste, in modern day Nablus, for the burial of the remains.

circa 28-36 CE

Sebaste
The identification of Sebaste as the burial place of John the Baptist is primarily rooted in early Christian tradition and literary accounts dating to the 4th century CE, rather than conclusive archaeological evidence. While Eusebius and Jerome place the tomb at Sebaste, this conflicts with Josephus's account locating the execution at Machaerus, prompting hypotheses that disciples translated the remains to a safer location. Matthew 14:12 notes that after the beheading, John's disciples took the body and buried it, a tradition generally recognized as occurring in Sebaste. Verses 6-12 describe the events immediately before and after the beheading; but are silent on if the head of John was also buried along the body or not;

6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

circa 28-36 CE

Maqam Yahya
The account provided by the 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani in his Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan posits that during the 8th-century CE expansion of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus under Caliph al-Walid I, laborers discovered a subterranean cave-chapel containing a casket. According to the tradition, the casket held the cranium of Yahya ibn Zakariya (John the Baptist), identified by an accompanying inscription. Upon verifying the relic’s purported identity, al-Walid I directed its reinterment beneath a specific marble pillar—later identified as the "Pillar of Zechariah"—to integrate the sacred site into the mosque's architectural program.

While the mosque remains a primary site of Islamic veneration for John the Baptist, the specific relic within the monumental shrine (maqaam) is also formally recognized through ecclesiastical tradition. The Catholic Church acknowledges the Great Mosque of Damascus as the repository of this relic, a status highlighted by the 2001 CE pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II, marking the first papal visit to a mosque. This dual recognition establishes the site as a rare locus of shared sacred topography between Islamic and Christian traditions, grounded in the historiography of early medieval Muslim chroniclers.

circa 28-36 CE

The Kishle
Some writers say that it was interred in Herod's palace (site, today known as the Kishle) at Jerusalem; there it was found during the reign of Constantine I, and thence secretly taken to Emesa (present day Homs) where it was concealed, the place remaining unknown for years, until it was manifested by revelation in 453.

circa 28-36 CE

Russian Orthodox Convent of the Ascension
A small chapel near the Russian Orthodox Convent of the Ascension, situated on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem purportedly marks the spot where a hidden jar containing the head of the Baptist was found in the 4th century CE.

circa 28-36 CE

Basilica of San Silvestro
The basilica of San Silvestro in Capite, in present day Rome, is also famous for a relic, a fragment of a head purported to be that of Saint John the Baptist, kept in a chapel to the left of the entrance. A skull identified as the head of John the Baptist is on display at the Church of San Silvestro in Capite in Rome, built to house artifacts from the Roman catacombs.

circa 28-36 CE

Haram as-Sharif
Edgeller, Johnathan argues that the Templars were accused of idolatry and were suspected of worshiping either a figure known as Baphomet or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artifacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount that many scholars theorize might have been that of John the Baptist, among other things.

circa 28-36 CE

Amiens Cathedral
The 13th-century cathedral in Amiens, France was built specifically to house the head of John the Baptist, which a Crusader supposedly brought back from Constantinople in 1206 CE. The head was part of the loot of the Fourth Crusade, which had been diverted from campaigning against the Turks to sacking of Constantinople, the great capital of the Byzantine Empire. A sumptuous reliquary was made to house the skull. Although it was later lost, a 19th-century replica still provides a focus for prayer and meditation in the north aisle.

circa 28-36 CE

Residenz Museum
In Munich, Germany, the Residenz Museum includes John’s skull among a number of relics collected by Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria with the Pope’s permission in the mid-16th century. Tucked away inside this palace is a magnificent collection of relics, which includes one of the several alleged heads of John the Baptist. The exhibit is a heavily decorated cranium said to belong to John the Baptist.