{{Short description|Historical figure in the Abrahamic religions}} {{Other uses}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Infobox religious biography | religion = Unattested (possibly [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia#South Arabia|Arabian polytheism]]) | image = Queen of Sheba (1907), by Edward Slocombe.jpg | caption = ''Queen of Sheba'' by [[Edward Slocombe]], 1907 | native_name = {{nobold|{{Langx|he|מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא|label=none|rtl=yes}} ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]])<br />{{Langx|ar|ملكة سبأ|label=none|rtl=yes}} ([[Arabic]])<br />{{Langx|gez|ንግሥተ ሳባ|label=none}} ([[Geʽez]])}} | nationality = [[South Arabia]]n | other_name = Bilqis ({{Langx|ar|بلقيس|label=none|rtl=yes}})<br />Makeda ({{Langx|gez|ማክዳ|label=none}}) | name = Queen of Sheba | background = | region = [[Kingdom of Sheba]] }} {{Contains special characters | special = uncommon [[Unicode]] characters | fix = Help:Multilingual support#Ancient Tigray | image = Replacement character.svg | link = Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character | alt = <?> | compact = yes }}
The '''Queen of Sheba''',{{Efn|{{langx|he|מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא|Malkaṯ Səḇāʾ}}; {{langx|ar|ملكة سبأ|Malikat Sabaʾ}}; {{langx|gez|ንግሥተ ሳባ|Nəgśətä Saba}}}} [[List of names for the biblical nameless|named]] '''Bilqis'''{{Efn|{{Langx|ar|بلقيس|translit=Balqīs}}}} in [[Arabic]] and '''Makeda'''{{Efn|{{Langx|gez|ማክዳ|translit=Makəda}}}} in [[Geʽez]], is a figure first mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. In the original story, she brings a caravan of valuable gifts for [[Solomon]], the fourth [[Kings of Israel and Judah|King of Israel and Judah]]. This account has undergone extensive elaborations in [[Judaism]], [[Ethiopian Christianity]], and [[Islam]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Echoes of a Legendary Queen |url=https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/echoes-of-a-legendary-queen/ |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=Harvard Divinity Bulletin |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-05-25 |title=Queen of Sheba - Treasures from Ancient Yemen |url=http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/may/26/features.review7 |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> It has consequently become the subject of one of the most widespread and fertile cycles of legends in [[West Asia]] and [[Northeast Africa]], as well as in other regions where the [[Abrahamic religions]] have had a significant impact.<ref name="ei2-bilkis">{{citation|author=E. Ullendorff|contribution=BILḲĪS|title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam|edition=2nd|volume=2|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|year=1991|pages=1219–1220|author-link=Edward Ullendorff|title-link=The Encyclopaedia of Islam}}</ref>
Modern historians and archaeologists identify [[Sheba]] as one of the [[South Arabian kingdoms in pre-Islamic Arabia|South Arabian kingdoms]], which existed in modern-day [[Yemen (region)|Yemen]]. However, because no trace of her has ever been found,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection {{!}} British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=www.britishmuseum.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>Israel Finkelstein,''David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots' of the Western Tradition'' p. 167</ref> the Queen of Sheba's existence is [[Historicity of the Bible|disputed among historians]].<ref>National Geographic, issue mysteries of history, September 2018, p. 45.</ref>
== Narrative == === Hebrew === {{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width= |image1=Köln Dom Jüngeres Bibelfenster85.JPG |caption1=Queen of Sheba and Solomon, around 1280, window now in [[Cologne Cathedral]], Germany |image2=Visita de la reina de Saba a Salomón, por Tintoretto.jpg |caption2=''The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon'' by [[Tintoretto]], [[Wiktionary:circa|around]] 1555 }} The Queen of Sheba ({{langx|he|מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא|Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ}},<ref>{{citation | editor=Francis Brown | editor-link=Francis Brown (theologian) | entry=שְׁבָא | title=Hebrew and English Lexicon | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1906 | page=985a | url=https://archive.org/details/hebrewenglishlex00browuoft}}</ref> in the [[Hebrew Bible]]; {{langx|grc-x-koine|βασίλισσα Σαβά|basílissa Sabá}}, in the [[Septuagint]];<ref>{{citation | editor=Alan England Brooke | editor2=Norman McLean | editor3=Henry John Thackeray | title=The Old Testament in Greek | year=1930 | volume=II.2 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | page=243 | url=https://archive.org/download/OldTestamentGreeklxxTextCodexVaticanus/06.OTGreek.Vat.v2.LHB.p2.Kings.I.II.Brooke.McLean.1930..pdf}}</ref> {{langx|syr|ܡܠܟܬ ܫܒܐ}};<ref>{{citation | editor=J. Payne Smith | editor-link=Jessie Payne Margoliouth | entry=ܡܠܟܬܐ | title=A compendious Syriac dictionary | volume=1 | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1903 | page=278a | url=https://archive.org/details/CompendiousSyriacDictionarysmithVol1}}{{dead link|date=January 2024}}</ref>{{romanization needed}} {{langx|gez|ንግሥተ ሳባ|Nəgśətä Saba}}<ref>{{citation | first=August | last=Dillmann | author-link=August Dillmann | entry=ንግሥት | title=Lexicon linguae Aethiopicae | page=687a | year=1865 | publisher=Weigel | url=https://archive.org/details/lexiconlinguaeae00dilluoft}}</ref>), whose name is not stated, came to [[Jerusalem]] "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones" ([[1 Kings 10]]:2). "Never again came such an abundance of spices" (10:10; [[2 Chronicles 9]]:1–9) as those she gave to Solomon.<ref name="ej2-solomon">{{citation | author=Samuel Abramsky | author2=S. David Sperling | author3=Aaron Rothkoff | author4=Haïm Zʾew Hirschberg | author5=Bathja Bayer | contribution=SOLOMON | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=18 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | pages=755–763| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref><ref name="ej2-queen" />
The use of the term {{Transliteration|he|ḥiddot}} or 'riddles' ([[1 Kings 10]]:1), an [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] [[loanword]], indicates a late origin for the text.<ref name="ej2-solomon" />
Sheba was quite well known in the classical world.<ref name="ej2-queen">{{citation | author=Yosef Tobi | contribution=QUEEN OF SHEBA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=16 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=765| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}{{Source-attribution}}</ref> Sheba and Seba are differentiated at some points in the Bible, but not in indigenous inscriptions.<ref name="ei2-saba">{{citation |author=A. F. L. Beeston |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |title-link=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |volume=8 |pages=663–665 |year=1995 |contribution=SABAʾ |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill |author-link=Alfred Felix Landon Beeston}}</ref>
=== Arabic === Although there are still no inscriptions found from [[South Arabia]] that furnish evidence for the Queen of Sheba herself, South Arabian inscriptions do mention a South Arabian queen (''mlkt'', [[Ancient South Arabian script|Ancient South Arabian]]: {{script|Sarb|𐩣𐩡𐩫𐩩}}).<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Maraqten|first=Mohammed|date=2008|title=Women's inscriptions recently discovered by the AFSM at the Awām temple/Maḥram Bilqīs in Marib, Yemen|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223951|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|volume=38|pages=231–249|jstor=41223951|issn=0308-8421}}</ref> And in the north of Arabia, [[Assyria]]n inscriptions repeatedly mention Arab queens.<ref name="ej2-sabea">{{citation | author=John Gray | contribution=SABEA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=17 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=631| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref>
The queen's visit could have been a [[trade mission]].<ref name="ej2-queen" /><ref name="ei2-saba" /> A recent theory suggests that the [[Ophel inscription]] in Jerusalem was written in the [[Sabaic language]] and that the text provides evidence for trade connections between ancient South Arabia and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] during the 10th century BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Incense from Sheba for the Jerusalem Temple |journal=Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology |last=Vainstub |first=Daniel |volume=4 |pages=42–68 |doi=10.52486/01.00004.2 |year=2023 |s2cid=257845221 |issn=2788-8819|doi-access=free }}</ref>
The ancient Sabaic [[Awwam|Awwām Temple]], known in folklore as ''Maḥram'' ("the Sanctuary of") ''Bilqīs'', was excavated by archaeologists; no evidence was found relating to the Queen of Sheba.<ref name="ej2-queen" /> Another Sabean temple, the Barran Temple ({{langx|ar|معبد بران}}), is also known as the '' 'Arash Bilqis' '' ("Throne of Bilqis"), which like the nearby Awwam Temple was also dedicated to the god [[Almaqah]], but the connection between the [[Barran Temple]] and Sheba has not been established archaeologically either.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barran Temple |url=https://madainproject.com/barran_temple |website=Madain Project |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref>
Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of [[Ophir]] served as a basis for legends about the Israelites traveling in the Queen of Sheba's entourage when she returned to her country to bring up her child by Solomon.<ref>{{citation | author=Haïm Zʿew Hirschberg | author2=Hayyim J. Cohen | contribution=ARABIA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=3 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=295| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref>
== Religious interpretations ==
=== In Judaism === [[File:Dura Europos Synagogue Mural Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba Color.jpg|thumb|245–246 CE Jewish mural depicting Solomon's court and one labeled "co-chair" receiving the Queen of Sheba and her maidservant from the [[Dura-Europos synagogue|Dura Europos Synagogue]]]] According to [[Josephus]] ([[Jewish Antiquities|Ant.]] 8:165–173), the queen of Sheba was the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and brought to Israel the first specimens of the [[Balm of Gilead|balsam]], which grew in the [[Holy Land]] in the historian's time.<ref name="ej2-queen" /><ref name="je-queen">{{citation |first=Ludwig |last=Blau |author-link=Ludwig Blau |contribution=SHEBA, QUEEN OF |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |volume=11 |pages=235‒236 |year=1905 |publisher=Funk and Wagnall |contribution-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13515-sheba-queen-of|title-link=Jewish Encyclopedia}}</ref> Josephus (''Antiquities'' 2.5‒10) represents [[Cambyses II|Cambyses]] as conquering the capital of Aethiopia, and changing its name from Seba to [[Meroe]].<ref>{{citation |editor=William Smith |editor-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |author=William Bodham Donne |entry=AETHIOPIA |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |volume=1 |publisher=Little, Brown & Co. |year=1854 |page=60b|author-link=William Bodham Donne |title-link=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography}}</ref> Josephus affirms that the Queen of Sheba or Saba came from this region, and that it bore the name of Saba before it was known by that of Meroe. There seems also some affinity between the word Saba and the name or title of the kings of the Aethiopians, [[Sabaco]].<ref>{{citation |editor=William Smith |editor-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |author=William Bodham Donne |entry=SABA |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |volume=2 |publisher=Murray |year=1857 |page=863a‒863b|author-link=William Bodham Donne |title-link=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography}}{{Source-attribution}}</ref>{{Obsolete source|reason=That word has since come to be known as the name, not title, of a Pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty, King of Kush and Egypt.|date=April 2024}}
The Talmud ([[Bava Batra]] 15b) says: "Whoever says ''malkath Sheba'' (I Kings X, 1) means a woman is mistaken; ... it means the kingdom (מַלְכֻת) of Sheba".<ref>{{citation |first=Marcus |last=Jastrow |author-link=Marcus Jastrow |entry=מַלְכׇּה |title=A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature |publisher=Luzac |year=1903 |volume=2 |page=791b |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoftarg02jastuoft}}</ref>
A Yemenite manuscript entitled "Midrash ha-Hefez" (published by [[Solomon Schechter|S. Schechter]] in ''Folk-Lore'', 1890, pp. 353 et seq.) gives nineteen riddles, most of which are found scattered through the Talmud and the Midrash, which the author of the "Midrash ha-Hefez" attributes to the Queen of Sheba.<ref name="je1-solomon">{{citation |editor=Isidore Singer |editor-link=Isidore Singer |author1=Max Seligsohn |author2=Mary W. Montgomery |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |entry=SOLOMON |volume=11 |year=1906 |page=436a–448a|display-editors=etal|author1-link=Max Seligsohn |title-link=Jewish Encyclopedia}}{{Source-attribution}}</ref> Most of these riddles are simply Bible questions, some not of a very edifying character. The two that are genuine riddles are: "Without movement while living, it moves when its head is cut off", and "Produced from the ground, man produces it, while its food is the fruit of the ground". The answer to the former is, "a tree, which, when its top is removed, can be made into a moving ship"; the answer to the latter is, "a wick".<ref name="je1-riddle">{{citation |editor=Isidore Singer |editor-link=Isidore Singer |author1=Joseph Jacobs |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |entry=RIDDLE |volume=10 |year=1906 |page=408b–409a|display-editors=etal|author1-link=Joseph Jacobs |title-link=Jewish Encyclopedia}}{{Source-attribution}}</ref>
The rabbis who denounce Solomon interpret [[1 Kings 10]]:13 as meaning that Solomon had criminal intercourse with the Queen of Sheba, the offspring of which was [[Nebuchadnezzar]], who destroyed the Temple (comp. [[Rashi]] ad loc.). According to others, the sin ascribed to Solomon in [[1 Kings 11]]:7 et seq. is only figurative: it is not meant that Solomon fell into [[idolatry]], but that he was guilty of failing to restrain his wives from idolatrous practises ([[Shabbat (Talmud)|Shab.]] 56b).<ref name="je1-solomon" />
=== Christianity === {{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width= |image1=Piero della Francesca- Legend of the True Cross - the Queen of Sheba Meeting with Solomon; detail.JPG |caption1=King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, from ''[[The History of the True Cross]]'' by [[Piero della Francesca]] |image2=Claude Lorrain 008.jpg |caption2=''[[The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba]]'', [[Claude Lorrain]] (1600‒1682), oil on canvas |image3=Sheba demin.jpg |caption3=''Solomon and The Queen of Sheba'', [[Giovanni De Min (painter)|Giovanni De Min]] }}
The [[New Testament]] mentions a "queen of the South" ({{Langx|el|βασίλισσα νότου}}, {{Langx|la|Regina austri}}), who "came from the uttermost parts of the earth", i.e. from the extremities of the then known world, to hear the wisdom of Solomon ([[Gospel of Matthew|Mt.]] 12:42; [[Gospel of Luke|Lk.]] 11:31).<ref>{{citation | editor=John McClintock | editor-link=John McClintock (theologian) | editor2=James Strong | editor2-link=James Strong (theologian) | entry=Sheba | title=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature | volume=9 | publisher=Harper & Brothers | year=1891 | pages=626–628| title-link=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature }}{{Source-attribution}}</ref>
The mystical interpretation of the [[Song of Songs]], which was felt as supplying a literal basis for the speculations of the allegorists, makes its first appearance in [[Origen]], who wrote a voluminous commentary on the Song of Songs. Others have proposed either the marriage of Solomon with the [[Pharaoh's daughter (wife of Solomon)|Pharaoh's daughter]], or his marriage with an Israelite woman, the [[Shulamite]]. The former was the favorite opinion of the mystical interpreters to the end of the 18th century; the latter has obtained since its introduction by [[John Mason Good|Good]] (1803).<ref name="cbtel-canticles">{{citation |title=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature |title-link=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature |volume=2 |pages=92–98 |year=1891 |editor=John McClintock |editor-link=John McClintock (theologian) |entry=Canticles |chapter-url=https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/C/canticles-or-solomons-song.html |publisher=Harper & Brothers |editor2=James Strong |editor2-link=James Strong (theologian)}}{{Source-attribution}}</ref>
The bride of the Canticles is assumed to have been black due to a passage in [[Song of Songs]] 1:5, which the [[Revised Standard Version]] (1952) translates as "I am very dark, but comely", as does [[Jerome]] ([[Latin language|Latin]]: ''Nigra sum, sed formosa''), while the [[New Revised Standard Version]] (1989) has "I am black and beautiful", as the [[Septuagint]] ({{langx|grc|μέλαινα εἰμί καί καλή}}).<ref>{{citation | author=Raphael Loewe | contribution=BIBLE | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=3 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=615|display-authors=etal| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref>
One legend has it that the Queen of Sheba brought Solomon the same gifts that the [[Biblical Magi|Magi]] later gave to [[Jesus]].<ref>{{citation | editor=John McClintock | editor-link=John McClintock (theologian) | editor2=James Strong | editor2-link=James Strong (theologian) | entry=Solomon | title=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature | volume=9 | publisher=Harper & Brothers | year=1891 | pages=861–872| title-link=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature }}</ref> During the [[Middle Ages]], Christians sometimes identified the queen of Sheba with the [[sibyl]] ''Sabba''.<ref>{{citation | author=Arnaldo Momigliano | author2=Emilio Suarez de la Torre | entry=SIBYLLINE ORACLES | title=Encyclopedia of Religion | volume=12 | edition=2nd | publisher=Gale | year=2005 | pages=8382–8386}}</ref>
==== Ethiopian ==== [[File:Ethiopian Chapel IMG 0574.JPG|thumb|Solomon receiving the Queen of Sheba (detail), Chapel of the Four Living Creatures (disputed between the [[Coptic Orthodox Church|Copts]] and [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopians]]) in the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]]]] [[File:Cluny - Tête de la reine de Saba - Portail central Abbaye St Denis - XIIe siècle.jpg|thumb|Part of the head of the Queen of Sheba from the [[Basilica of Saint-Denis|Abbey of Saint Denis]] - XIIth century]]
The most extensive version of the legend appears in the ''[[Kebra Nagast]]'' (Glory of the Kings), the Ethiopian national saga,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hubbard |first=David Allen |title=The Literary Sources of the "Kebra Nagast" |publisher=St Andrews |year=1956 |page=358}}</ref> translated from Arabic in 1322.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Belcher |first=Wendy Laura |date=2010-01-01 |title=From Sheba They Come: Medieval Ethiopian Myth, US Newspapers, and a Modern American Narrative |journal=Callaloo |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=239–257 |doi=10.1353/cal.0.0607 |jstor=40732813 |s2cid=161432588}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Munro-Hay |first=Stuart |title=The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses |date=2006-10-31 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=9781845112486 |edition=New |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Munro-Hay |first=Stuart |year=2004 |title=Abu al-Faraj and Abu al-ʽIzz |journal=Annales d'Ethiopie |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=23–28 |doi=10.3406/ethio.2004.1067}}</ref> Here [[Menelik I]] is the child of Solomon and ''Makeda'' (the Ethiopic name for the queen of Sheba; she is the child of the man who destroys the legendary snake-king [[Arwe]]<ref name="manzo2">{{cite journal |last=Manzo |first=Andrea |year=2014 |title=Snakes and Sacrifices: Tentative Insights into the Pre-Christian Ethiopian Religion |url=https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/article/view/737/823 |journal=Aethiopica |volume=17 |pages=7–24 |doi=10.15460/aethiopica.17.1.737 |issn=2194-4024 |doi-access=free}}</ref>) from whom the Ethiopian dynasty claims descent to the present day.<ref name="ei2-bilkis2">{{citation |author=E. Ullendorff |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |volume=2 |pages=1219–1220 |year=1991 |contribution=BILḲĪS |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |author-link=Edward Ullendorff |title-link=The Encyclopaedia of Islam}}</ref><ref name="eahc-solomonic2">{{citation |title=Encyclopedia of African History and Culture |volume=2 |page=206 |year=2005 |editor=Willie F. Page |edition=revised |publisher=Facts on File |editor2=R. Hunt Davis, Jr. |entry=Solomonic dynasty}}</ref><ref>{{citation | first=Enno | last=Littmann | author-link=Enno Littmann | contribution=Geschichte der äthiopischen Litteratur | editor1=Carl Brockelmann | editor-link=Carl Brockelmann | editor2=Franz Nikolaus Finck | editor2-link=Franz Nikolaus Finck | editor3=Johannes Leipoldt | editor3-link=Johannes Leipoldt | editor4=Enno Littmann | editor4-link=Enno Littmann | title=Geschichte der christlichen Litteraturen des Orients | edition=2nd | publisher=Amelang | year=1909 | pages=246–249 | url=https://archive.org/details/geschichtederchr00brocuoft}}</ref><ref>{{citation | author=E. A. Wallis Budge | title=The Queen of Sheba & Her Only Son Menyelek | publisher=The Medici Society | year=1922 | url=https://archive.org/details/queenofshebahero00budgrich| author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Based on the Gospels of Matthew (12:42) and Luke (11:31), the "queen of the South" is claimed to be the queen of Ethiopia. In those times, King Solomon sought merchants from all over the world, in order to buy materials for the building of the Temple. Among them was Tamrin, great merchant of Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. Having returned to Ethiopia, Tamrin told the queen of the wonderful things he had seen in Jerusalem, and of Solomon's wisdom and generosity, whereupon she decided to visit Solomon. She was warmly welcomed, given a palace for dwelling, and received great gifts every day. Solomon and Makeda spoke with great wisdom, and instructed by him, she converted to Judaism. Before she left, there was a great feast in the king's palace. Makeda stayed in the palace overnight, after Salomon had sworn that he would not do her any harm, while she swore in return that she would not steal from him. As the meals had been spicy, Makeda awoke thirsty at night, and went to drink some water, when Solomon appeared, reminding her of her oath. She answered: "Ignore your oath, just let me drink water." That same night, Solomon had a dream about the sun rising over Israel, but being mistreated and despised by the Jews, the sun moved to shine over Ethiopia and Rome (i. e. the Byzantine empire). Solomon gave Makeda a ring as a token of faith, and then she left. On her way home, she gave birth to a son, whom she named Baina-leḥkem (i. e. bin al-ḥakīm, "Son of the Wise", later called Menilek). After the boy had grown up in Ethiopia, he went to Jerusalem carrying the ring, and was received with great honors. The king and the people tried in vain to persuade him to stay. Solomon gathered his nobles and announced that he would send his first-born son to Ethiopia together with their first-borns. He added that he was expecting a third son, who would marry the king of Rome's daughter and reign over Rome, so that the entire world would be ruled by David's descendants. Then Baina-leḥkem was anointed king by Zadok the high priest, and he took the name David. The first-born nobles who followed him are named, and even today some Ethiopian families claim their ancestry from them. Prior to leaving, the priests' sons had stolen the Ark of the Covenant, after their leader Azaryas had offered a sacrifice as commanded by one God's angel. With much wailing, the procession left Jerusalem on a wind cart led and carried by the archangel Michael. Having arrived at the Red Sea, Azaryas revealed to the people that the Ark is with them. David prayed to the Ark and the people rejoiced, singing, dancing, blowing horns and flutes, and beating drums. The Ark showed its miraculous powers during the crossing of the stormy Sea, and all arrived unscathed. When Solomon learned that the Ark had been stolen, he sent a horseman after the thieves, and even gave chase himself, but neither could catch them. Solomon returned to Jerusalem, and gave orders to the priests to remain silent about the theft and to place a copy of the Ark in the Temple, so that the foreign nations could not say that Israel had lost its fame.}}
The [[1922 regnal list of Ethiopia]] claims that Makeda reigned from 1013 to 982 BC, with dates following the [[Ethiopian calendar]].<ref name="Rey266">{{cite book|first=C. F. |last=Rey |title=In the Country of the Blue Nile |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.54591|year=1927|publisher=Camelot Press |location=London |pages=266}}</ref>
In the Ethiopian [[Book of Aksum]], Makeda is described as establishing a new capital city at [[Azeba]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43617128 | jstor=43617128 | title='The Cultural Unity of Negro Africa...': A Reappraisal Cheikh Anta Diop Opens Another Door to African History | last1=Clarke | first1=John Henrik | journal=Présence Africaine | date=2002 | issue=165/166 | pages=53–64 | doi=10.3917/presa.165.0053 }}</ref>
[[Edward Ullendorff]] holds that ''Makeda'' is a corruption of [[Kandake|Candace]], the name or title of several Ethiopian queens from [[Meroe]] or [[Sabaeans|Seba]]. Candace was the name of that queen of the Ethiopians whose chamberlain was converted to Christianity under the preaching of [[Philip the Evangelist]] ([[Acts 8]]:27) in 30 AD. In the 14th-century (?) [[Ethiopic language|Ethiopic]] version of the [[Alexander romance]], [[Alexander the Great]] of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]] (Ethiopic ''Meqédon'') is said to have met a queen ''Kandake'' of [[Nubi]]a.<ref>{{citation |author=Vincent DiMarco |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vCM7CEzwDnIC&pg=PA57 |chapter=Travels in Medieval ''Femenye'': Alexander the Great and the Amazon Queen |editor1=Theodor Berchem |editor2=Volker Kapp |editor3=Franz Link |title=Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch |publisher=Duncker & Humblot |year=1973 |pages=47–66, 56–57|isbn = 9783428487424}}</ref> The tradition that the biblical Queen of Sheba was an ingenuous ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem is repeated in a 1st-century account by [[Josephus]]. He identified Solomon's visitor as a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia.
According to one tradition, the Ethiopian Jews ([[Beta Israel]], "Falashas") also trace their ancestry to Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.<ref>{{citation | author=K. Hruby | author2=T. W. Fesuh | contribution=FALASHAS | title=New Catholic Encyclopedia | edition=2nd | volume=5 | publisher=Gale | year=2003 | pages=609–610| title-link=New Catholic Encyclopedia }}</ref> An opinion that appears more historical is that the Falashas descend from those Jews who settled in Egypt after the [[Assyrian Exile|first exile]], and who, upon the fall of the Persian domination (539–333 BC), on the borders of the Nile, penetrated into the Sudan, whence they went into the western parts of Abyssinia.<ref>{{citation | first=Jacques | last=Faitlovitch | author-link=Jacques Faitlovitch | title=The Falashas | journal=[[American Jewish Year Book]] | volume=22 | year=1920 | pages=80–100 | url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1920_1921_3_SpecialArticles.pdf | access-date=2014-11-18 | archive-date=2016-03-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201617/http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1920_1921_3_SpecialArticles.pdf | url-status=dead }}{{Source-attribution}}</ref>
Several emperors have stressed the importance of the ''Kebra Negast''. One of the first instances of this can be traced in a letter from Prince Kasa (King John IV) to Queen Victoria in 1872.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/sheba_01.shtml|title=BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: The Queen Of Sheba|language=en-GB|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=2018-10-05}}</ref> Kasa states, "There is a book called ''Kebra Nagast'' which contains the law of the whole of Ethiopia, and the names of the shums (governors), churches and provinces are in this book. I pray you will find out who has got this book and send it to me, for in my country my people will not obey my orders without it."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Ancient History in depth: The Queen Of Sheba |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/sheba_01.shtml |access-date=2018-10-05 |publisher=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> Despite the historic importance given to the ''Kebra Negast'', there is still doubt to whether or not the Queen sat on the throne.
=== Islam === [[File:Bilqis, Queen of Sheba, painting, album, Safavid dynasty, Iran.jpg|thumb|Bilqis (the queen of Sheba) reclining in a garden, facing the hoopoe, Solomon's messenger. [[Persian miniature]] (c. 1595), tinted drawing on paper]] [[File:Bilqis Queen of Sheba Enthroned (CBL T 406.2).jpg|thumb|Bilqis Queen of Sheba Enthroned. From the Book of Solomon (Suleymannama) by [[Firdausi of Bursa]] made for [[Bayezid II]] (1481–1512). [[Chester Beatty Library]]]] [[File:Hafiz - Left Side of a Double-page Illustrated Frontispiece Depicting Queen Sheba (Bilqis) Enthroned - Walters W6313A - Full Page.jpg|thumb|Illustration in a [[Hafez]] frontispiece depicting Queen Sheba, Walters manuscript W.631, around 1539]]
The [[Temple of Awwam]] or "Mahram Bilqis" ("Sanctuary of the Queen of Sheba") is a Sabaean temple dedicated to the principal deity of Saba, Almaqah (frequently called "Lord of ʾAwwām"), near [[Marib|Ma'rib]] in what is now [[Yemen]].
{{blockquote|text=I found [there] a woman ruling them, and she has been given of all things, and she has a great throne. I found that she and her people bow to the sun instead of God. Satan has made their deeds seem right to them and has turned them away from the right path, so they cannot find their way.|source=[[Quran 27:23–24]]<ref>[[Safi Kaskas]] [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/27/24/ Q27:24], islamawakened.com</ref>}}
In the above verse (''[[ayah]]''), after scouting nearby lands, a bird known as the ''hud-hud'' ([[hoopoe]]) returns to [[Solomon in Islam|King Solomon]] relating that the land of Sheba is ruled by a queen. In a letter, Solomon invites the Queen of Sheba, who like her followers had [[Solar deity|worshipped the sun]], to submit to [[God in Islam|God]]. She expresses that the letter is noble and asks her chief advisers what action should be taken. They respond by mentioning that her kingdom is known for its might and inclination towards war, however that the command rests solely with her. In an act suggesting the diplomatic qualities of her leadership,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Qur'an and woman: rereading the sacred text from a woman's perspective|last=Amina|first=Wadud|year=1999|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-1980-2943-4|edition=2|location=New York|oclc=252662926}}</ref> she responds not with brute force, but by sending her ambassadors to present a gift to King Solomon. He refuses the gift, declaring that God gives far superior gifts and that the ambassadors are the ones only delighted by the gift. King Solomon instructs the ambassadors to return to the Queen with a stern message that if he travels to her, he will bring a contingent that she cannot defeat. The Queen then makes plans to visit him at his palace. Before she arrives, King Solomon asks several of his chiefs who will bring him the Queen of Sheba's throne before they come to him in complete submission.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quran.com/27/38|title=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|website=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|language=en-US|access-date=2020-10-17}}</ref> An ''[[Ifrit]]'' first offers to move her throne before King Solomon would rise from his seat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quran.com/27/39|title=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|website=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-01}}</ref> However, a man with knowledge of the Scripture instead has her throne moved to King Solomon's palace in the blink of an eye, at which King Solomon exclaims his gratitude towards God as King Solomon assumes this is God's test to see if King Solomon is grateful or ungrateful.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quran.com/27/40|title=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|website=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|language=en-US|access-date=2020-10-17}}</ref> King Solomon disguises her throne to test her awareness of her own throne, asking her if it seems familiar. She answers that during her journey to him, her court had informed her of King Solomon's prophethood, and since then she and her subjects had made the intention to submit to God. King Solomon then explains that God is the only god that she should worship, not to be included alongside other false gods that she used to worship. Later the Queen of Sheba is requested to enter a palatial hall. Upon first view she mistakes the hall for a lake and raises her skirt to not wet her clothes. King Solomon informs her that is not water rather it is smooth slabs of glass. Recognizing that it was a marvel of construction which she had not seen the likes of before, she declares that in the past she had harmed her own soul but now submits, with King Solomon, to God (27:22–44).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://quran.com/|title=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|website=Al-Qur'an al-Kareem - القرآن الكريم|language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-01}}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=She was told, "Enter the palace." But when she saw it, she thought it was a body of water and uncovered her shins [to wade through]. He said, "Indeed, it is a palace [whose floor is] made smooth with glass." She said, "My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Solomon to God, Lord of the worlds."|source=[[Quran]] 27:44<ref>[https://quran.com/27/44 Surat an-Naml 27:44]</ref>}}
The story of the Queen of Sheba in the [[Quran]] shares some similarities with the Bible and other Jewish sources.<ref name="ej2-queen" /> Some Muslim commentators such as [[Al-Tabari]], [[Al-Zamakhshari]] and [[Al-Baydawi]] supplement the story. Here they claim that the Queen's name is ''Bilqīs'' ({{Langx|ar|بِلْقِيْس}}), probably derived from {{langx|el|παλλακίς|pallakis}} or the Hebraised ''pilegesh'' ("[[concubine]]"). The Quran does not name the Queen, referring to her as "a woman ruling them" ({{Langx|ar| امْرَأَةً تَمْلِكُهُمْ }}),<ref>[https://quran.com/27/23 Surat an-Naml 27:23]</ref> the nation of Sheba.<ref>[https://quran.com/27/22 Surat an-Naml 27:22]</ref>
According to some, he then married the Queen, while other traditions say that he gave her in marriage to a King of [[Banu Hamdan|Hamdan]].<ref name="ei2-bilkis" /> According to the scholar [[Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani|Al-Hamdani]], the Queen of Sheba was the daughter of [[Ilasaros|Ilsharah Yahdib]], the [[Sabaeans|Sabaean]] king of South Arabia.<ref name="nce-saba">{{citation |author=A. Jamme |title=New Catholic Encyclopedia |title-link=New Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=12 |pages=450–451 |year=2003 |contribution=SABA (SHEBA) |edition=2nd |publisher=Gale}}</ref> In another tale, she is said to be the daughter of a [[jinni]] (or peri)<ref>Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall Rosenöl. Erstes und zweytes Fläschchen: Sagen und Kunden des Morgenlandes aus arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen gesammelt BoD – Books on Demand 9783861994862 p. 103 (German)</ref> and a human.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcOuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2|title=Rosenöl. Erstes und zweytes Fläschchen: Sagen und Kunden des Morgenlandes aus arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen gesammelt|last=Hammer-Purgstall|first=Joseph Freiherr von|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|date=2016-03-05|isbn=9783861994862|pages=103|language=de|orig-year=1813}}</ref> According to E. Ullendorff, the Quran and its commentators have preserved the earliest literary reflection of her complete legend, which among scholars complements the narrative that is derived from a Jewish tradition,<ref name="ei2-bilkis" /> this assuming to be the [[Targum Sheni]]. However, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica Targum Sheni is dated to around 700<ref>{{Cite book|title="Targum Sheni", Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1997|quote=It seems that the most acceptable view is that which places its composition at the end of the seventh or the beginning of the eighth century, a view that is strengthened by its relationship to the Pirkei de-R. Eliezer}}</ref> similarly the general consensus is to date Targum Sheni to late 7th- or early 8th century,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Alinda Damsma|title=DIE TARGUME ZU ESTHER|journal=Das Buch Esther. August 2013 Internationale Jüdisch-Christliche Bibelwoche|pages=6|quote=Targum Scheni :Jetzt können wir unsere Aufmerksamkeit kurz der zweiten Haupttradition der Esther Targume zuwenden, die als Targum Scheni bekannt ist. Dieses Werk stammt vom Ende des 7. oder Anfang des 8. Jahrhunderts. /// Translation: This work (Targum Sheni) dates to the end of the 7th or beginning of the 8th century}}</ref> which post-dates the advent of Islam by almost 200 years. Furthermore, M. J. Berdichevsky<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mimekor Yisrael: Selected Classical Jewish Folktales|last=Berdichevsky|first=Micah J.|pages=24–27|quote=The present text, a translation of a story that occurs in Targum Sheni of the Book Esther, dates from the seventh to early eighth century and is the earliest narrative articulation of the Queen of Sheba in Jewish tradition}}</ref> explains that this Targum is the earliest narrative articulation of Queen of Sheba in Jewish tradition.
== Scholarly interpretations == [[File:Stele Iglum Louvre AO1029.jpg|thumb|Sabaean stele: a feast and a camel driver, with an inscription in Sabaean on top]]
=== Folding of the Hebrew Bible's story === The dating of the story of the Queen of Sheba is not well established. A significant number of biblical philologists{{Which|date=October 2024}} believe that an early version of the story of the Queen of Sheba existed before the composition of the Deuteronomistic history ({{Circa|640–609 BCE}}) and was revised and placed therein by an anonymous redactor labelled the [[Deuteronomist]] (Dtr) by textual scholars. However, many scholars{{Which|date=October 2024}} believe that the account from the Third Book of Kings in its present form was compiled during the so-called Second Deuteronomic Revision (''Dtr2''), produced during the [[Babylonian Captivity]] (c. 550 BCE). The purpose of the story seems to be to glorify the figure of King Solomon, who is portrayed as a ruler who enjoyed authority and captured the imagination of other rulers. Such an exaltation is dissonant with the general critical tone of the Deuteronomic history towards King Solomon. Later, this account was also placed in [[II Chronicles]], written in the [[Babylonian Captivity|Settlement]] era.<ref name="retso">Jan Retsö. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pUepRuQO8ZkC&hl=ru ''The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads.''] - [[London]]: [[Routledge]], 2003. - Pages 134-135, 171-175.</ref><ref>Lowell K. Handy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gam10TAOZusC&hl=ru ''The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium.''] - [[Leiden]]: [[Koninklijke Brill|Brill]], 1997. - Pp. 72-74.</ref>
=== Hypotheses and archaeological evidence === Researchers have noted that the Queen of Sheba's visit to Jerusalem could conceivably have been a trade mission related to the Israelite king's efforts to settle on the shores of the [[Red Sea]] and thereby undermine the monopoly of Saba and other South Arabian kingdoms on caravan trade with [[Syria]] and [[Mesopotamia]].<!-- ref>{{EEE|13635|Saba}}</ref --><ref>Men A., Archpriest [http://www.biblicalstudies.ru/Books/Men3-5.html ''Isagogy''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101202621/http://www.biblicalstudies.ru/Books/Men3-5.html |date=2008-01-01 }} // (§ 30. Solomon. The temple of Jerusalem (3 Kings 1-11; 2 Chr 1-9). Book of Paralipomenon. book of Proverbs).</ref> Assyrian sources confirm that South Arabia was engaged in [[international trade]] as early as 890 BC, so the arrival in Jerusalem in Solomon's time of a trading mission from a South Arabian kingdom is plausible.<ref>Andre Lemaire, ''The United Monarchy: Saul, David and Solomon'' // ''Ancient Israel'', Washington, 1988, p. 105</ref>
There is, however, debate about the chronological plausibility of this event: Solomon lived from approximately [[965 BC|965]] to [[926 BC]], while it has been argued that the first traces of the Sabean monarchy appear some 150 years later.<ref name="taini">[http://www.zagadki.claw.ru/shared/013.htm Secrets of the Queen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127122616/http://www.zagadki.claw.ru/shared/013.htm |date=2018-01-27 }} // zagadki.claw.ru.</ref> On the other hand, [[:de:Peter Stein (Semitist)|Peter Stein]] argues that archaeological and epigraphic evidence indicates that the Sabean kingdom had already emerged by the [[10th century BC]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Sprachen in Palästina im 2. und 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. |last=Stein |first=Peter |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-447-10780-8 |page=113 n. 71|language=de |editor-last=Hübner |editor-first=Ulrich |series=Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins |volume=43 |chapter=Sabäer in Juda, Juden in Saba. Sprach- und Kulturkontakt zwischen Südarabien und Palästina in der Antike |editor-last2=Niehr |editor-first2=Herbert}}</ref> [[File:Bar'an temple 1986-3.jpg|thumb|200px|The ruins of the Temple of the Sun in [[Marib]]e. Built in the [[8th century BC]], it existed for 1,000 years]] In the 19th century, explorers I. Halevi and Glaser found in the [[Arabian Desert]] the ruins of the huge city of [[Marib]].<ref>[https://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/events/unicomm/NewsReleases/queen.htm Arabian desert surrenders Queen of Sheba's secrets] ({{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120605042706/http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/events/unicomm/NewsReleases/queen.htm|date=2012-06-05}}). ucalgary.ca.</ref> Among the inscriptions found, scientists read the name of four South Arabian states: [[Minaeans|Minea]], [[Kingdom of Hadhramaut|Hadramawt]], [[Qataban]], and [[Sheba|Sawa]]. As it turned out, the residence of the kings of Sheba was the city of Marib (modern [[Yemen]]), which confirms the traditional version of the queen's origin from the south of the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. Inscriptions found in southern Arabia do not mention female rulers, but from [[Assyria]]n documents of the [[8th century BC|8th]]-[[7th century BC]], Arabian queens in the more northern regions of Arabia are known. In the 1950s Wendell Philips excavated the temple of the goddess Balqis at Marib.<ref name="arch">Oparin, A. А. [http://nauka.bible.com.ua/new/zater_kor1.htmlLost Kingdoms. Archaeological study of the Third Book of Kings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080324114304/http://nauka.bible.com.ua/new/zater_kor1.html |date=2008-03-24 }} // nauka.bible.com.ua.</ref> In 2005, American archaeologists discovered in Sana'a the ruins of a temple near the palace of the biblical Queen of Sheba in Marib (north of Sana'a). According to the American researcher Madeleine Phillips, they found columns, numerous drawings and objects dating back three millennia.<ref>[http://www.rian.ru/science/discovery/20051106/42001999.html US archaeologists say they have found a 'wonder of the world' in Yemen] // RIA Novosti.</ref>
[[File:LocationYemen.png|thumb|left|[[Yemen]] - Territory where the queen probably came from]] [[File:Ethiopia in its region.svg|thumb|left|[[Ethiopia]] - The country where her son may have ruled]]
Researchers attribute the origin of the legend about the son of the Queen of Sheba in Ethiopia to the fact that apparently in the [[6th century BC]] the Sabaeans, having crossed the [[Bab el-Mandeb Strait]], settled near the [[Red Sea]] and occupied part of Ethiopia,<ref>Beyer R. King Solomon. Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1998, p. 201. Cited in Oparin A. А. [http://nauka.bible.com.ua/new/zater_kor1.htmlЗатерянные kingdoms. Archaeological study of the Third Book of Kings]{{Dead link|date=October 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} // nauka.bible.com.ua.</ref> 'capturing' the memory of its ruler with her and transplanting it to new soil. One of the provinces of Ethiopia bears the name Shewa (Shawa, modern. [[Shoa (province)|Shoa]]).
The viewpoint according to which the birthplace of the Queen of Sheba or her prototype was not South Arabia but North Arabia is also quite widespread. Among other North Arabian tribes, the Sabaeans are mentioned on the [[stela]] of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]]. These northern Sabeans can be associated in a number of ways with the Sabeans (Sabeans) mentioned in the book of Job ({{Bibleverse|Job|1:15}}), the Sheba of the book of the prophet Ezekiel ({{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|27:22}}), and with [[Abraham]]s grandson Sheba ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|25:3}}, cf. also {{Bibleverse|Genesis|10:7}}, {{Bibleverse|Genesis|10:28}}) (the name of Sheba's brother Dedan, mentioned next to it, is associated with the oasis of [[El-Ula]] north of [[Medina]]). According to some scholars, the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]] first came into contact with the northern Sabaeans, and only later, perhaps through their mediation, with Saba in the south.<ref name="retso"/><ref>Israel Eph'al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2-QO9Noo-ygC&hl=ru ''The Ancient Arabs: Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent, 9th-5th Centuries''], Leiden: Brill, 1982, p. 64</ref> The historian J. A. Montgomery has suggested that in the [[10th century BC|Xth century BC]] the Sabeans lived in northern Arabia, although they controlled trade routes from the south.<ref>J. A. Montgomery, ''Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings'', Edinburgh: ICC, 1951, p. 215f</ref> [[File:Zenobia.jpg|200px|thumb|[[Zenobia]], queen of Palmyra, which [[Harry St John Philby]] considered the origin of later legends about the Queen of Sheba]]The famous Arabian explorer [[Harry St John Philby]] also believed that the Queen of Sheba did not originate from Southern Arabia, but from Northern Arabia, and that the legends about her at some point blended with the stories of [[Zenobia]], the warrior queen of [[Palmyrene Empire|Palmyra]] (modern [[Tadmor, Syria]]), who lived in the [[3rd century|3rd century CE]].<ref>David Hatcher Childress [https://books.google.com/books?id=prq6ykijSyQC&pg=PA224&dq=queen+sheba&lr=&hl=en&sig=BL0-0eTDXwbHqpclc5ixc-pq_rY Lost Cities & Ancient Mysteries of Africa & Arabia]// books.google.com.</ref> For example, it is told (by one of [[Mohammed|Mohammed's]] biographers) that it was in Palmyra, in the [[8th century]] during the reign of Caliph [[Walid I]], that a sarcophagus was found with the inscription:'' 'Here is buried the pious Bilqis, the consort of Solomon...'.'' Jewish Kabbalistic tradition also considers Tadmor to be the burial place of the Queen, an evil deviless, and the city is considered an ominous haven for demons.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beyer |first1=Rolf |title=Die Königin von Saba: Engel und Dämon der Mythos einer Frau |date=1998 |publisher=G. Lübbe |location=Bergisch-Gladbach |isbn=3-7857-0449-6 |page=92}}</ref> There are also parallels between Sheba and another eastern autocrat, the famous [[Semiramis]], also a warrior and irrigator who lived around the same time, in the late [[9th century BC]], which can be traced in folklore. Thus, the 2nd-century AD writer [[Melito of Sardis]] retells a Syrian legend in which the father of Semiramis is called Hadhad. In addition, the Hebrew legend made the queen the mother of Nebuchadnezzar and Semiramis his wife.{{sfn|Beyer|1998|pp=148-150}}
== In art and culture == === Medieval === The 12th century cathedrals at [[Strasbourg Cathedral|Strasbourg]], [[Chartres Cathedral|Chartres]], [[Rochester Cathedral|Rochester]] and [[Canterbury Cathedral|Canterbury]] include artistic renditions in stained glass windows and doorjamb decorations.<ref name="autogenerated1">Byrd, Vickie, editor; Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality, ([[Santa Ana, California]]: The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2004), p. 17.</ref> Likewise of [[Romanesque art]], the enamel depiction of a [[Black people|black woman]] at [[Klosterneuburg Monastery]].<ref>[[Nicholas of Verdun]]: Klosterneuburg Altarpiece, 1181; column #4/17, row #3/3. NB the accompanying subject and hexameter verse: "Regina Saba." "Vulnere dignare regina fidem Salemonis." [http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/record.php?record=33463 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220746/http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/record.php?record=33463 |date=2016-03-03 }}; retrieved 24 December 2013.</ref> The Queen of Sheba, standing in water before Solomon, is depicted on a window in [[King's College Chapel, Cambridge]].<ref name="ei2-bilkis" />
=== Renaissance === [[File:Saabaghiberti.jpg|thumb|[[Florence Baptistry]] door, [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]] (1378‒1455), bronze relief.]]
The Queen of Sheba was a popular feature in the [[Italian Renaissance]]. It can be found in the doors of the [[Florence Baptistery]] by [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], frescoes by [[Benozzo Gozzoli]] in Pisa, and in the [[Raphael Rooms|Raphael Loggie]].<ref name="ej2-solomon" />
[[Piero della Francesca]]'s [[fresco]]es in [[Arezzo]] (c. 1466) on the ''[[Legend of the True Cross]]'' contain two panels on the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. The legend links the beams of Solomon's palace (adored by Queen of Sheba) to the wood of the crucifixion. The Renaissance continuation of the analogy between the Queen's visit to Solomon and the adoration of the Magi is evident in the ''[[The Epiphany (Bosch triptych)|Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi]]'' (c. 1510) by [[Hieronymus Bosch]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bosch/91adorat/01tripty.html|title=Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database|website=www.wga.hu|access-date=2018-12-01}}</ref>
=== Literature === [[File:Giovanni boccaccio, delle donne illustri, per filippo giunti, firenze 1596.jpg|thumb|Boccaccio's ''[[On Famous Women]]'']]
Boccaccio's ''[[On Famous Women]]'' ({{langx|la|De Mulieribus Claris}}) follows Josephus in calling the Queen of Sheba ''Nicaula''. Boccaccio writes she is the Queen of [[Ethiopia]] and [[Egypt]], and that some people say she is also the queen of [[Arabia]]. He writes that she had a palace on "a very large island" called [[Meroe]], located in the [[Nile river]]. From there Nicaula travelled to [[Jerusalem]] to see [[King Solomon]].<ref>[[Giovanni Boccaccio]], ''Famous Women'' translated by Virginia Brown 2001, p. 90; Cambridge and London, Harvard University Press; {{ISBN|0-674-01130-9}};</ref>
[[O. Henry]]'s short story ''[[The Gift of the Magi]]'' contains the following description to convey the preciousness of the protagonist Della Dillingham Young's hair: "Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts."
[[Christine de Pizan]]'s ''[[The Book of the City of Ladies]]'' continues the convention of calling the Queen of Sheba "Nicaula". The author praises the Queen for secular and religious wisdom and lists her besides Christian and Hebrew prophetesses as first on a list of dignified female pagans.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
[[Christopher Marlowe]]'s ''[[The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus|Doctor Faustus]]'' refers to the Queen of Sheba as ''Saba'', when [[Mephistopheles]] is trying to persuade [[Faust (opera)|Faust]]us of the wisdom of the women with whom he supposedly shall be presented every morning.<ref>Marlowe, Christopher; Doctor Faustus and other plays: Oxford World Classics, p. 155.</ref>
[[Gérard de Nerval]]'s autobiographical novel, ''[[Voyage to the Orient]]'' (1851), details his travels through the Middle East with much artistic license. He recapitulates at length a tale told in a Turkish cafe of [[Solomon|King Soliman]]'s love of Balkis, the Queen of Saba, but she, in turn, is destined to love Adoniram ([[Hiram Abif]]), Soliman's chief craftsman of the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple]], owing to both her and Adoniram's divine genealogy. Soliman grows jealous of Adoniram, and when he learns of three craftsmen who wish to sabotage his work and later kill him, Soliman willfully ignores warnings of these plots. Adoniram is murdered and Balkis flees Soliman's kingdom.<ref>Gérard de Nerval. ''Journey to the Orient'', III.3.1–12. Trans. Conrad Elphinston. Antipodes Press. 2013.</ref>
[[Léopold Sédar Senghor]]'s "Elégie pour la Reine de Saba", published in his ''Elégies majeures'' in 1976, uses the Queen of Sheba in a love poem and for a political message. In the 1970s, he used the Queen of Sheba fable to widen his view of [[Negritude]] and [[Eurafrique]] by including "Arab-Berber Africa".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Spleth|first= Janice|title=The Arabic Constituents of Africanité: Senghor and the Queen of Sheba|journal=Research in African Literatures|date= 2002|volume=33|issue=4|pages= 60–75|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v033/33.4spleth.html|jstor=3820499}}</ref>
[[Rudyard Kipling]]'s book ''[[Just So Stories]]'' includes the tale of ''[[The Butterfly that Stamped]]''. Therein, Kipling identifies Balkis, "Queen that was of Sheba and Sable and the Rivers of the Gold of the South" as best, and perhaps only, beloved of the 1000 wives of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, King Solomon. She is explicitly ascribed great wisdom ("Balkis, almost as wise as the Most Wise Suleiman-bin-Daoud"); nevertheless, Kipling perhaps implies in her a greater wisdom than her husband, in that she is able to gently manipulate him, the afrits and djinns he commands, the other quarrelsome 999 wives of Suleimin-bin-Daoud, the butterfly of the title and the butterfly's wife, thus bringing harmony and happiness for all.
The Queen of Sheba appears as a character in ''[[The Ring of Solomon]]'', the fourth book in [[Jonathan Stroud]]'s [[Bartimaeus Sequence]]. She is portrayed as a vain woman who, fearing Solomon's great power, sends the captain of her royal guard to assassinate him, setting the events of the book in motion.
In modern popular culture, she is often invoked as a sarcastic retort to a person with an inflated sense of entitlement, as in "Who do you think you are, the Queen of Sheba?"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stewart |first1=Stanley |title=In search of the real Queen of Sheba |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/mysterious-queen-sheba-legend-church-archaeology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219172134/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/mysterious-queen-sheba-legend-church-archaeology |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |website=National Geographic |access-date=27 August 2022 |date=3 December 2018}}</ref>
=== Film === [[File:Betty Blythe Queen of Sheba adjusted.jpg|thumb|right|[[Betty Blythe]] as the queen in ''[[The Queen of Sheba (1921 film)|The Queen of Sheba]]'' (1921).]]
* Played by [[Gabrielle Robinne]] in ''La reine de Saba'' (1913) * Played by [[Betty Blythe]] in ''[[The Queen of Sheba (1921 film)|The Queen of Sheba]]'' (1921) * Played by [[France Dhélia]] in ''Le berceau de dieu'' (1926) * Played by [[Dorothy Page (actress)|Dorothy Page]] in ''King Solomon of Broadway'' (1935) * Played by [[Leonora Ruffo]] in ''[[The Queen of Sheba (1952 film)|The Queen of Sheba]]'' (1952) * Played by [[Gina Lollobrigida]] in ''[[Solomon and Sheba]]'' (1959) * Played by [[Winifred Bryan]] in ''[[Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man]]'' (1963) * Played by [[Anya Phillips]] in ''Rome '78'' (1978) * Played by [[Halle Berry]] in ''[[Solomon & Sheba (1995 film)|Solomon & Sheba]]'' (1995) * Played by [[Vivica A. Fox]] in ''[[Solomon (film)]]'' (1997) * Played by [[Aamito Lagum]] in ''[[Three Thousand Years of Longing]]'' (2022)
=== Music === {{Listen|filename=Handel - Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.ogg|title=Arrival of the Queen of Sheba|description=''[[The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba]]'' by [[Georg Friedrich Händel]].}}
* ''[[Solomon (Handel)|Solomon]]'' (composed in 1748; first performed in 1749), oratorio by [[George Frideric Handel]]; "[[The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba]]" from this work is often performed as a concert piece *''[[La reine de Saba]]'' (1862), opera by [[Charles Gounod]] *''[[Die Königin von Saba]]'' (1875), opera by [[Karl Goldmark]] * ''La Reine de Scheba'' (1926), opera by [[Reynaldo Hahn]] * ''Belkis, Regina di Saba'' (1931), ballet by [[Ottorino Respighi]] * ''Solomon and Balkis'' (1942), opera by [[Randall Thompson]] * ''The Queen of Sheba'' (1953), cantata for women's voices by [[Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco]] * "Black Beauty" (1970), song by [[Focus (band)|Focus]] * "Leila, the Queen of Sheba" (1981), song by [[Dolly Dots]] * "Throne of Gold" (1984), song by [[Steel Pulse]] * "Sheba" (1989), song by [[Bad Brains]] * "The Original Queen of Sheba" (1991), song by [[Great White]] * "Machine Gun" (1993), by [[Slowdive]]<ref>{{Citation|title=Slowdive – Machine Gun|url=https://genius.com/Slowdive-machine-gun-lyrics|access-date=2021-10-04}}</ref> * "[[Aïcha]]" (1996), by [[Khaled (musician)|Khaled]] * "[[Princesses Nubiennes|Makeda]]" (1998), French-language R&B by French-Cameroonian duo [[Les Nubians]] * "Balqis" (2000), song by [[Siti Nurhaliza]] * "Thing Called Love" (1987), song by [[John Hiatt]]
=== Television === * Played by [[Halle Berry]] in ''[[Solomon & Sheba (1995 film)|Solomon & Sheba]]'' (1995) * Played by [[Vivica A. Fox]] in ''[[Solomon (film)|Solomon]]'' (1997) * Played by [[Andrulla Blanchette]] in ''[[Lexx]]'', [[List of Lexx episodes#Season 4 .282001.E2.80.932002.29|Season 4, Episode 21]]: "Viva Lexx Vegas" (2002) * Played by Amani Zain in ''Queen of Sheba: Behind the Myth'' (2002) * Played by [[Yetide Badaki]] in ''[[American Gods (TV series)|American Gods]]'' as Bilquis
== See also == * [[Arwa al-Sulayhi]] * [[Banu Hamdan]] * [[Barran Temple]], also known as "Throne of Bilqis" * [[Belkis]] * [[Bilkisu]] * [[Bilikisu Sungbo]] * [[Belqeys Castle]] * [[Biblical and Quranic narratives]] * [[Bilocation]] * [[Hadhramaut]] * [[List of legendary monarchs of Ethiopia]] * [[Minaeans]] * [[Qahtanite]] * [[Qataban]] * [[Sudabeh]]
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist|25em}}
== Bibliography == * Kisāʾī, ''Qiṣaṣ'' (1356 A.H.), 285–92 * G. Rosch, ''Die Königin von Saba als Königin Bilqis'' (Jahrb. f. Prot. Theol., 1880) 524‒72 * Thaʿlabī, ''Qiṣaṣ'' ̣(1356 A.H.), 262– * G. Weil, ''The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud ...'' (1846) * M. Grünbaum, ''Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sagenkunde'' (1893) 211‒21 * E. Littmann, ''The legend of the Queen of Sheba in the tradition of Axum'' (1904) * L. Ginzberg, ''Legends of the Jews'', 3 (1911), 411; 4 (1913), 143–9; (1928), 288–91 * H. Speyer, ''Die biblischen Erzählungen im Qoran'' (1931, repr. 1961), 390–9 * E. Budge, ''The Queen of Sheba and her only son Menyelek'' (1932) * J. Ryckmans, ''L'Institution monarchique en Arabie méridionale avant l'Islam'' (1951) * E. Ullendorff, ''Candace (Acts VIII, 27) and the Queen of Sheba'' (New Testament Studies, 1955, 53‒6) * E. Ullendorff, ''Hebraic-Jewish elements in Abyssinian (monophysite) Christianity'' (JSS, 1956, 216‒56) * D. Hubbard, ''The literary sources of the Kebra Nagast'' (St. Andrews University Ph.D. thesis, 1956, 278‒308) * ''La Persécution des chrétiens himyarites au sixième siècle'' (1956) * Bulletin of American Schools of Oriental Research 143 (1956) 6–10; 145 (1957) 25–30; 151 (1958) 9–16 * A. Jamme, ''La Paléographique sud-arabe de J. Pirenne'' (1957) * R. Bowen, F. Albright (eds.), ''Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia'' (1958) * ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible'' (1963) 2067–70 * T. Tamrat, ''Church and State in Ethiopia'' (1972) 1270–1527 * W. Daum (ed.), ''Die Königin von Saba: Kunst, Legende und Archäologie zwischen Morgenland und Abendland'' (1988) * J. Lassner, ''Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam'' (1993) * M. Brooks (ed.), ''Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings)'' (1998) * J. Breton, ''Arabia Felix from the Time of the Queen of Sheba: Eighth Century B.C. to First Century A.D.'' (1999) * D. Crummey, ''Land and Society in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia: From the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century'' (2000) * A. Gunther (ed.), ''Caravan Kingdoms: Yemen and the Ancient Incense Trade'' (2005)
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Queen of Sheba}} * {{Wiktionary inline|Queen of Sheba}} * {{Wiktionary inline|𐩣𐩡𐩫𐩩𐩪𐩨𐩱}}
{{Characters and Names in Quran}} {{Honoured women in Islam}} {{Solomon}} {{Song of Songs}} {{Authority control}}
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