John the Baptist

John the Baptist (c. 5 BCE – c. 30 CE), born Yôḥānān (Hebraic name), was an itinerant preacher, and a major religious figure who baptized Jesus of Nazareth. The son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, he led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River, and held leadership over many disciples.

Biography[edit | edit source]

John was in the possession of one of the Staves of Eden, which he used to start his ministry.^[1] John would also baptize his second cousin Jesus in the Jordan River around 27 CE.^[2] After him, Saint Peter would take the Staff and use it to spread the religion of Christianity.^[1]

Legacy and influence[edit | edit source]

During the Middle Ages, John's name was known to sometimes be used by as an exclamation of surprise.^[3] In 1261, Theodora Palaiologina, consort of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, erected a church and dedicated it to John; the building was later repurposed and renamed as Fenari Isa Mosque.^[4]

Circa 1330, the Italian painter Jacopo del Casentino painted a portrait of the saint along with an assistant.^[1]

John was also the patron saint of the Italian city of Florence, which named its San Giovanni District after him.^[5] In the 1400s, the Venetian church the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione was rededicated to Mary's visit to John's mother Elizabeth, after previously being dedicated to the patron saint Jerome.^[6]

During the Renaissance, the famed polymath Leonardo da Vinci painted a portrait of John the Baptist, with his apprentice Salaì as the model.^[7] A few other paintings of John were displayed in Ezio Auditore's painting galleries, often depicting him with Jesus.^[8]

In 2012, the Assassin Clay Kaczmarek collected details on John's life while Abstergo Industries held him captive at their Animus Project laboratory in Rome. He then hid the information within the Animus 1.28 in Glyph puzzles for his successor, Desmond Miles, to find.^[1] Sometime in early September,^[9] Desmond solved the puzzle set titled "Instruments of Power", in which John was included in a list of historic individuals revealed to have wielded a Staff of Eden.^[1]