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Person · one of several with this name

Mary Magdalene

Also called Magdalene

An imagined, stylized portrait. No one knows what Mary Magdalene looked like. AI-generated

WomanMAG-duh-leen

A follower of Jesus from whom, Luke says, seven demons had gone out; the Gospels place her at the crucifixion and at the empty tomb.

See Luke 8:2, Mark 15:40, John 20:1, John 20:18.

The empty tomb marks Mary Magdalene in the reading view: she came to the tomb early and saw the stone taken away (John 20:1).

Mentioned in 14 verses across 4 books, first in Matthew 27:56. The verses below are the ones linked to this person (the Theographic dataset, with our sourced corrections).

How artists have pictured her

3 works from different centuries and traditions. Each shows how its time and place imagined Mary Magdalene, not how she looked.

Rogier van der Weyden, Mary Magdalene (Braque Triptych, right wing), Oil on panel, Louvre, Paris — **c. 1450–1452** · Rogier van der Weyden, *Mary Magdalene (Braque Triptych, right wing)*. Oil on panel, Louvre, ParisPublic domain · Wikimedia Commons

Frederick Sandys, Mary Magdalene, Oil on panel, Delaware Art Museum — **c. 1859** · Frederick Sandys, *Mary Magdalene*. Oil on panel, Delaware Art MuseumPublic domain · Wikimedia Commons

Viktor Vasnetsov, Mary Magdalene, Design/wall painting for St Volodymyr's Cathedral, Kyiv — **c. 1885–1896** · Viktor Vasnetsov, *Mary Magdalene*. Design/wall painting for St Volodymyr's Cathedral, KyivPublic domain · Wikimedia Commons

In these stories

In the Bible

The first 10 of 14 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.

Matthew

Matthew 27:56
Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Matthew 27:61
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
Matthew 28:1
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

Mark

Mark 15:40
And there were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.
Mark 15:47
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where His body was placed.
Mark 16:1
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus.
Mark 16:9
Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons.

Luke

Luke 8:2
as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Luke 24:10
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.

John

John 19:25
Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.

Show all 14 verses

Events

Events the dataset lists Mary Magdalene as taking part in. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.

c. AD 28
Jesus' 2nd Tour of GalileeLuke 8:1–3 · at Galilee
no date
Resurrection and AscensionMatthew 28:1 – John 20:31 · at Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, Sea of Galilee
no date
Crucifixion and BurialMatthew 27:35 – John 19:42 · at Golgotha

Dictionary

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. The entry is for the name and can describe more than one person who bore it. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.

Read Easton’s entry

A surname derived from Magdala, the place of her nativity, given to one of the Marys of the Gospels to distinguish her from the other Marys (Matt. 27:56, 61; 28:1, etc.). A mistaken notion has prevailed that this Mary was a woman of bad character, that she was the woman who is emphatically called “a sinner” (Luke 7:36-50).