Judith

Judith, a Jewish heroine, who saved her native town, Bethulia, by a deed of unexampled daring and devotion. She made her way into the hostile camp, and into the very tent of Holofernes, general of Nebuchadnezzar. The general was bewildered by her beauty, and she plied him with wine till he sank overpowered upon his couch. Then she cut off his head, and found her way out carrying it with her. Her townsmen were inspired with a sudden enthusiasm, rushed out upon the enemy, and completely defeated them. The tale is not mentioned by Josephus, and has from an early period been held to be an allegory. It forms the subject of the apocryphal book of Judith, the composition of which is put variously between the time of the Maccabees and the time of the second Jewish war under Hadrian. The exploit of Judith has given a frequent subject to art: here we may merely mention the bronze group of Donatello at Florence; the paintings by Botticelli, Cranach, Horace Vernet, and Etty; the poetic elaborations of the theme by Hans Sachs, Opitz, and Hebel.