Dear Tai-won (and whoever else is interested), about your question if Herod's swearing by "Mahound" in the mystery plays is an instance of medieval "orientalism": in the mystery plays, it's quite normal for all sorts of bad characters to swear by "Mahowne" or "Mahound". Especially Herod and Pilate do it. This is of course a reference to Mahomet, who was, in the eyes of the medieval playwrights, _the_ typical "heathen god", not especially oriental, but also the god of heathen peoples in the Old Testament. There is no connection with the Islamic prophet or even the orient in general. At the same time, they saw him as identical with the devil. For more information, see vol. 2 of the new Early English Text Society - edition of the Towneley Plays, notes concerning Play 9, l. 9; 16/1; 24/69. Heike Holenweg