Iosephi Antiquitates Iudaicae XVIII, V, 2.
Flavii Iosephi iudaei opera omnia. Lipsiae, 1850
http://books.google.bg/books?id=ojCu8eXzEY0C&printsec=frontcover&hl=bg&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
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G.S. Assemani. Kalendaria Ecclesiae universae t. VI. Romae, 1755
http://books.google.bg/books?id=Uc5mKB6pKZoC&printsec=frontcover&hl=bg&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
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His burial-place has been fixed by an old tradition at Sebaste (Samaria). But if there be any truth in Josephus's assertion, that John was put to death at Machaerus, it is hard to understand why he was buried so far from the Herodian fortress. Still, it is quite possible that, at a later date unknown to us, his sacred remains were carried to Sebaste. At any rate, about the middle of the fourth century, his tomb was there honoured, as we are informed on the testimony of Rufinus and Theodoretus. These authors add that the shrine was desecrated under Julian the Apostate (c. A.D. 362), the bones being partly burned. A portion of the rescued relics were carried to Jerusalem, then to Alexandria; and there, on 27 May, 395, these relics were laid in the gorgeous basilica just dedicated to the Precursor on the site of the once famous temple of Serapis. The tomb at Sebaste continued, nevertheless, to be visited by pious pilgrims, and St. Jerome bears witness to the miracles there wrought. Perhaps some of the relics had been brought back to Sebaste. Other portions at different times found their way to many sanctuaries of the Christian world, and long is the list of the churches claiming possession of some part of the precious treasure. What became of the head of the Precursor is difficult to determine. Nicephorus (I, ix) and Metaphrastes say Herodias had it buried in the fortress of Machaerus; others insist that it was interred in Herod's palace at Jerusalem; there it was found during the reign of Constantine, and thence secretly taken to Emesa, in Phoenicia, where it was concealed, the place remaining unknown for years, until it was manifested by revelation in 453. In the many and discordant relations concerning this relic, unfortunately much uncertainty prevails; their discrepancies in almost every point render the problem so intricate as to baffle solution. This signal relic, in whole or in part, is claimed by several churches, among them Amiens, Nemours, St-Jean d'Angeli (France), S. Silvestro in Capite (Rome).
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08486b.htm
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Rufinus of Aquileia (c. 345-411 C.E.) was born to noble and wealthy parents and received his education in Rome where he became close friends with Jerome. Around the year 402 C.E., Aquileia came under threat of the Goths, and Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia during that time, asked Rufinus to translate Eusebius' (c. 265-340 C.E.) Church History (c. 325 C.E.) to help divert the people's mind from their danger. Rufinus agreed and published an abridged translation of the original in 402 C.E. adding his own continuation bringing the history up to the year 395 C.E. In book 11, chapter 28, we find a reference to the despoiled tomb of John the Baptist:
Rufinus of Aquileia, Historia Ecclesiastica, II.28
PL XXI. Parisiis, 1849
http://books.google.bg/books?id=onnYAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=bg&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Interestingly, members of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey claim to have John the Baptist's arm relic encased in gold within a 12th century relic box inside the Palace.
Like Rufinus, Sozomen (c. 375-447 C.E.), a Byzantine church historian, uses the earlier work of Eusebius as a basis for his own. In 443 C.E., Sozomen published an abridgment of Ecclesiastical History covering the period from 323 to 439 C.E. In chapter twenty-one of his work, he relates that in 392 C.E. the head of John the Baptist was discovered:
Hermeiou Sōzomenou Ekklēsiastikē historia. Oxonii, 1860
http://books.google.bg/books?id=b3EbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=bg&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Marcellinus (c. ?-534 C.E.) was one of the lessor literary figures of late antiquity and little is known about his life. It appears from our sources that under Justin I (c. 518-527 C.E.) Marcellinus was chancellor to Justinian. The only surviving work of Marcellinus is his chronicle (Annales) that continues the work of Jerome from 379 to 518 C.E., later updated to 534 C.E. He composed it in Constantinople and closely follows the language and style utilized by Jerome. Marcellinus' entry for 1 September 452 to 31 August 453 records:
John, the herald of the Lord and his baptizer, revealed his head, which at an unspeakably horrible demand, Herodias had once accepted after it had been cut from his shoulders and placed on a dish, and buried far from his headless body; he revealed his head to two eastern monks entering Jerusalem to celebrate the resurrection of Christ the Lord, so that when they reached the place where the former king Herod lived they were advised to search around and dig the ground up faithfully. So while they were journeying back to their own places, carrying in their rough saddle-bag the head they had discovered by faith, a certain potter from the city of Emesa, fleeing from the poverty which threatened him daily, showed himself to them as a companion. While, in ignorance, he was carrying the sack entrusted to him with the sacred head, he was admonished in the night by him whose head he was carrying, and fleeing both his companions he made off. He entered the city of Emesa immediately with his holy and light burden, and as long as he lived there he venerated the head of Christ's herald. At his death, he handed it over in a jar to his sister, put away and sealed just as it was. Next a certain Eustochius, who was secretly a priest of the Arian faith, unworthily obtained this great treasure and dispensed to the rabble, as if it were purely his own, the grace of which Christ the Lord bestows on his inconstant people through John the Baptist. When his wickedness was detected he was driven out of the city of Emesa. Afterwards this cave, in which the head of the most blessed John was set in an urn and reburied underground, became the abode of certain monks. Finally, while the priest and head of the monastery, Marcellus, was living a faultless life in that cave, blessed John, the herald of Christ, revealed himself and his head to Marcellus and showed that it was buried here, conspicuous by its many miracles. It is agreed therefore that this venerable head was found by the foresaid priest Marcellus while Uranius was bishop of the city mentioned. This was on the twenty-forth day of February in the consulship of Vincomalus and Opilio, in the middle of Lent, and the ruling emperors were in fact Valentinian and Marcian.
http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/post-biblicaljohn.html
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