Judith seduced the Assyrian general Holofernes, who had laid siege on her people, the Israelites, then decapitated him. The gruesomeness of the act, conveyed through the arresting detail of Judith’s fingers hooking into Holofernes’ open mouth as she cuts through his neck with a sword, contrasts powerfully with her elegant and sensual appearance. While the historical accuracy of the Book of Judith is doubtful, the alluring Jewish heroine nevertheless continued to loom large in the artistic imagination ofthe pre-modern era.