Deaths by decapitation

Japanese author (1925–1970)

thumb|David and Goliath (1888) by Osmar Schindler Goliath ( ) is a Philistine warrior of giant stature who plays a pivotal role in the origin myth of King David in the Book of Samuel. According to 1 Samuel, Goliath challenges the Israelites to best him in single combat. David, then a young shepherd, takes up the challenge and kills Goliath with a stone slung from a sling. The narrative signifies King Saul's unfitness to rule for not taking up the giant's challenge himself.

Majorian (; 7 August 461) was Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent commander in the Western military, Majorian deposed Avitus in 457 with the aid of his ally Ricimer at the Battle of Placentia. Possessing little more than Italy and Dalmatia, as well as some territory in Hispania and northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned vigorously for three years against the Empire's enemies. In 461, he was murdered at Dertona in a conspiracy, and his successors until the fall of the Empire in 476 were puppets either of barbarian generals or the Eastern Roman court.

Roman emperor (135-194)

British army officer and administrator

French nobleman and admiral and Huguenot leader (1519–1572)

French crusader

King of Denmark (1216-1250)

disputed wife of Peter I of Portugal

American actor (1929–1982)

2nd-century Christian martyr and saint

pretender to the Russian throne

Austrian Formula One driver (1948–1974)

right|thumb|Artemisia Gentileschi's painting Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1614–1620thumb|Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Cristofano Allori, 1613Holofernes (; ) was an invading Assyrian general in the Book of Judith, who was beheaded by Judith, who entered his camp and decapitated him while he was intoxicated.

Augusta of the Eastern Roman Empire (266–315)

Iraqi Mukhabarat leader (1951-2007)

saint

racecar driver

United States Air Force test pilot and astronaut (1931–1966)

Tabin-shwë-hti ( ; , ; 16 April 1516 – 30 April 1550), also called Black Tongue (လျှာနက်မင်း), was King of Burma from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the First Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created the largest kingdom in Burma since the fall of the Pagan Empire in 1287. His administratively fragile kingdom proved to be the impetus for the eventual reunification of the entire country by his successor and brother-in-law Bayinnaung.

Southern Ming Emperor from 1644 to 1645

Roman consul 234 BC

American director, television producer (1923–1981)

Chinese official and warlord (died 189)

Dominican bishop and martyr saint (1680-1747)

Albanian grand Vizier

Swedish politician

French military leader

Bulgarian revolutionary (1843–1876)

prophet murdered by Jehoiakim in the Book of Jeremiah

Regent of Scotland

bishop

Indian actress (1984-2012)

Roman Catholic saint

Ruler of Wallachia

Prince of Moldavia

former Qin emperor

condottiero

Emperor of the Chinese state of Ran Wei from 350 to 352

Emperor of Xianbei state Southern Yan

Ottoman Albanian governor

1649 beheading of Charles I of England

voivode of Wallachia

madagascan member of the Third order of Saint Francis

crash of a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter

Dutch pirate

King of Min

bog body

singer, musician (1958–1997)

Governor of Macau (1803-1849)

Later Qin Emperor

Turkic general

senator in the West Roman Empire

Artsakh/Armenian Soldier & beheading victim (1996-2016)

Russian beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war

Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (1867-1913)

Iranian child victim of honor killing

Biblical character, son of Bichri (Second Book of Samuel)

Japanese murder victim (1979–2004)

South Korean terrorism victim (1970-2004)