Italian Folklore
The Italian form of the name Herodias is Erodiade. It appears that Herodias, the wife of Herod Antipas, in Christian mythology of the early medieval period came to be seen as a spirit condemned to wander the sky forever, permitted only to rest in treetops between midnight and dawn. By the High Middle Ages, this figure seems to have become attached to the train of nymphs of Diana, now also seen as a host of spirits flying through the night across the Italian countryside. Other names attached to the night flight of Herodias included Minerva and Noctiluca. The canon Episcopi is a passage from the work De ecclesiasticis disciplinis by Regino of Prüm (written ca. 906). It became notable as a paragraph of canon law dealing with witchcraft by the 12th century. Regino reports that there were groups of women who believed that they could go on night journeys where they would fly across the sky to meet Diana and her train. The name of Herodias is not present in the text as attributed to Regino, but in the version by Burchard of Worms, written ca. 1012, the reference to Diana (cum Diana paganorum dea) was augmented by "or with Herodias" (vel cum Herodiade).
Magliocco (2002) suggests that the legends surrounding this figure, known as Aradia, Arada or Araja, spread throughout various areas of Italy, and she traced records that showed that two being known as s'Araja dimoniu (Araja the demon) and s'Araja justa (Araja the just) were found in Sardinia. Magliocco believed that the latter of these two figures, s'Araja justa, was the antecedent of a supernatural witch-like figure known as sa Rejusta in Sardinian folklore.
The Romanian historian of religion Mircea Eliade also noted that Arada, along with Irodiada, was a name used for a Romanian folkloric Queen of the Fairies (Doamna Zinelor), whom he believed was a "metamorphosis of Diana". She was viewed as the patroness of a secretive group of dancers known as the calusari who operated up until at least the 19th century.
Judika Illes, in her Encyclopedia of Spirits, noted: "Although venerated elsewhere in Europe, Herodias was especially beloved in Italy. She and Diana are the goddesses most frequently mentioned in witch-trial transcripts and were apparently worshiped together."
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