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Queen of Sheba

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The Queen of Sheba, (Hebrew מלכת שבא Template:Semxlit, Arabic ملكة سبأ Template:Semxlit, Ge'ez: ንግሥተ ሳባ Nigista Saba), referred to in the Hebrew scriputures (Old Testament), Bible books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the New Testament, the Qur'an, and Ethiopian history, was the ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament). The actual location of the historical kingdom is disputed between Ethiopia and Yemen.

Known to the Ethiopian people as Makeda (Ge'ez: ማክዳ mākidā), she has been called a variety of names by different peoples in different times. In Islamic tradition she was Bilqis. To King Solomon of Israel she was the Queen of Sheba. She supposedly lived in the 10th century BC.

In the Old Testament genealogy of the nations (Genesis 10:7), Sheba, along with Dedan, is listed as one of the descendants of Noah's son Ham (as son of Raamah, son of Cush, son of Ham).

The name Cush given this civilization comes from the Old Testament where Cush was one of the sons of Ham who settled in Africa when the earth flood occur. In the Bible and archaically, a large region covering present-day Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, and Somalia were known as Cush.

Biblical Hebrew account

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba

According to the Hebrew Bible, the unnamed queen of the land of Sheba heard of the great wisdom of King Solomon of Israel and journeyed there with gifts of spices, gold, precious stones and beautiful wood to test him with questions, as recorded in First Kings 10:1-13 (largely copied in 2 Chronicles 9:1-12). The queen was awed by Solomon's wisdom and wealth, and pronounced a blessing on Solomon's God. Solomon reciprocated with gifts and "everything she desired," whereupon the queen returned to her country. The queen was apparently quite rich herself, as she brought 4.5 tons of gold with her to give to Solomon (1 Kings 10:10).

The Song of Solomon/Song of Songs contains some references which have been at various times interpreted as referring to love between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Thus, the female lover at 1:5 declares "I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon, Look not upon me because I am black Because the sun hath scorched me." However, the young woman continued to deny the romantic advances of King Solomon, instead professing her unwavering love for an unnamed young man, who himself expressed his love for her. The Song of Solomon/Song of Songs(Hebrew title שיר השירים, Shir ha-Shirim) is a book of the Hebrew Bible—Tanakh or Old Testament—one of the five megillot (scrolls) traditionally read at the biblical Jewish festivals.

Modern African account

Sheba is alleged to be one of two African queens mentioned in the Bible, the second being Kandake in the Book of Acts. Josephus refers to Sheba as "Queen of Ethiopia and Sheba". Both early church fathers Origen and Jerome considered her a queen of Black African nationality.

Indeed, according to Strabo, in the second century BC Ethiopians lived along both the Eastern African and Arabian coastlines. Homer further has this to say: "The Ethiopians that border Egypt are themselves, also, divided into two groups; for some of them live in Asia and others in Libya (Africa) though they differ in no respect from each other". There is no doubt that many peoples crossed the narrows of the Red Sea in both directions from an early date, and even in historical times, Ethiopian kings have held dominance over parts of southern Arabia, e.g., in the 6th century AD.

Qur'anic account

Main article: Islamic view of the Queen of Sheba

The Qur'an never mentions the Queen of Sheba by name, though Arab sources name her Balqis. The story is similar to the one in the Bible. The Qur'anic narrative has Solomon getting reports of a kingdom ruled by a queen whose people worship the sun. He sends a letter inviting her to come to him in submission to Allah, the Lord of the Alamin. She replies with a gift after consulting her people. He replies threatening an invasion. Then one of the servants of Solomon (who had the knowledge of the "Book") proposes to bring him the throne of Sheba 'in the twinkling of an eye' (27:40). The queen arrives at his court, is shown her throne, and when she enters his crystal palace she accepts Abrahamic monotheism and the worship of God alone. (See also Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an.)

Modern Arab view

Some modern Arab academics have placed the Queen of Sheba not in Yemen, as older Arab sources did, but rather as a ruler of a trading colony in Northwest Arabia, established by South Arabian kingdoms [citation needed]. Modern archeological finds do indeed confirm the fact that such colonies existed, with south Arabian script and artifacts, although nothing specific to Belqees has been uncovered.

Ethiopian and Eritrean account

File:Kebra Nagast.jpg
Modern book cover of Kebra Nagast: The Glory of the Kings

The imperial family of Ethiopia claims its origin directly from the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Ge`ez: ንግሥተ ሣብአ nigiśta Śab'a , who is named Makeda (Ge`ez: ማክዳ) in the Ethiopian account. The etymology of her name is uncertain, but there are two principal opinions about its source. One group, which includes the British scholar Edward Ullendorff, holds that it is a corruption of "Candace", the Ethiopian queen mentioned in the New Testament Acts; the other group connects the name with Macedonia, and relates this story to the Ethiopian legends about Alexander the Great. The Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini, however, was unconvinced by either of these theories and believed the matter unresolved.[1]

The Ethiopian narrative Kebra Negast ('the Glory of Kings'), is supposed to record the history of Makeda and her descendants. King Solomon is said in this account to have seduced the Queen, and sired a son by her, who would eventually become Menelik I, the first Emperor of Ethiopia. The tradition that the biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem in ancient Israel is supported by the 1st century AD Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who identified Solomon’s visitor as a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia.

While there are no traditions of matriarchal rule in Yemen during the early first millennium BC, the earliest inscriptions of the rulers of Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea mention queens of very high status, possibly equal to their kings.[2]

Christian interpretations

The Queen of Sheba is mentioned as the "Queen of the South" in the Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31 in the New Testament, where Jesus indicates that she and the Ninevites will judge the generation of Jesus' contemporaries who rejected him.

Christian interpretations of the Queen of Sheba scriptures in the Hebrew Bible typically have emphasized both the historical and metaphorical values in the story. The account of the Queen of Sheba can be interpreted as Christian metaphor and analogy. The Queen's visit to Solomon has been compared to the metaphorical marriage of the Church to Christ where Solomon is the anointed one or messiah and Sheba represents a Gentile population submitting to the messiah.

The Queen of Sheba's chastity has also been depicted as a foreshadowing of the Virgin Mary, and the three gifts that she brought (gold, spices and stones) have been seen as analogous to the gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense and myrrh), which is consistent with a passage from Isaiah 60:6; And they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring forth gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.[3]

Medieval depictions

Art in the middle ages depicting the visit of the Queen of Sheba includes the Portal of the Mother of God at the 13th Century Amiens Cathedral, which is included as an analogy as part of a larger depiction of the gifts of the Magi.[4]. The 12th century cathedrals at Strasbourg, Chartres, Rochester and Canterbury include artistic renditions in such elements as stained glass windows and door jamb decorations.[5]

Renaissance depictions

Renaissance relief of the Queen of Sheba meeting Salomo (At the gate of the Florence Baptistry)

Boccaccio's On Famous Women (Lat. De Mulieribus Claris) follows Josephus in calling her Nicaula, and Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies continues the convention. Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo (ca 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. See the Piero della Francesca entry for images. The Renaissance continuation of the metaphorical view of the Queen of Sheba as an analogy to the gifts of the Magi is also clearly evident in the Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1510 by Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch chooses to depict a scene of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon in an ornately decorated collar worn by one of the Magi.[6]

Modern theories

A theory has been voiced that the meeting between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba was not for love or admiration but a discussion about trade. According to the Bible Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber. The theory is that Solomon intended to routinely sail to East Africa and there trade, bypassing the South Arabian kingdom of Sheba which previously acted as middleman in this trade.[citation needed] The revisionist historian Ralph Ellis suggests that the Queen of Sheba (Seba) may have been the queen of Pharaoh Psusennes II, who ruled in Lower Egypt in this same era and whose Egyptian name was Pa-Seba-Khaen-Nuit. He suggests that the link between this queen and Ethiopia may have been derived from the Kebra Negast, which indicates that the eastern borders of Ethiopia terminated at Gaza and Jerusalem (KN 92).

The Queen of Sheba in popular culture

In Britain, and Canada, there is a common colloquial remark "And I'm the Queen of Sheba." or "If (that is so), then I'm the Queen of Sheba.", meaning "I do not believe that statement."

Another common colloquial usage in the UK and North America is to poke fun at another person who has dressed up fancily, or has perhaps displayed superior behavioral traits, resulting in someone remarking, "Who does she think she is, The Queen of Sheba?".

Songs

  • Bonnie Raitt makes a reference to the Queen of Sheba in the song "Thing Called Love" by saying "Baby, you know I ain't no Queen of Sheba." The song was written by John Hiatt.
  • Dolly Dots make a reference to The Queen of Sheba in the song "Leila Queen of Sheba" by saying "this day about a story talke by Leila Queen of Sheba"
  • Cassandra Wilson refers to the Queen of Sheba as Makeda in the second verse of the song "Solomon Sang".
  • Nas makes a reference to the Queen of Sheba in the song "Big Girl" from his Nastradamus CD, saying "I need her, I'll eat her / Do anything to please her / My ghetto queen of Sheba".
  • Les Nubians make reference to the Queen of Sheba as the subject of their song "Makeda"
  • Jandek refers to the Queen of Sheba in the song "Sheba Doesn't Have". ("The Queen of Sheba/Doesn’t have nothing on you/You dance on my necktie/Like it was your tattoo/i fall on my face here and dribble all about"). Its on Newcastle Sunday recorded live at the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle.

Operas

Ballets

Movies

Books

  • Wisdom's Daughter: A Novel of Solomon and Sheba (2005), written by India Edghill.
  • Small explicitly sexual role in American Gods (2002), as Bilquis, written by Neil Gaiman.
  • "Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship", written by Dr Bernard Leeman, Queensland Academic Press 2005, (3rd edition 2007) ISBN 0-9758022-0-8
  • "Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen" (2001), written by Nicholas Clapp
  • Brief appearance in The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874), by Flaubert
  • "Sandstorm", a novel written by James Rollins. The Queen of Sheba is featured prominently.
  • "Queen Sheba's Ring" (1910), by H. Rider Haggard.
  • The Butterfly that Stamped: one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, featuring the queen "wise Balkis of Sheba" who is said to be married to the polygamist King Solomon son of David. She is the only one of 1000 wives who does not quarrel with Solomon, out of her adoration for him, and so is herself sad when the incessant quarrels of the other 999 wives saddens their husband. She eventually tricks Solomon into making all the other queens frightened of his power, so that they will not argue again.

See also

References

  1. ^ David Allen Hubbard, "The Literary Sources of the Kebra Nagast", doctoral thesis (St. Andrews, 1954), pp. 303f.
  2. ^ Rodolfo Fattovich, "The 'Pre-Aksumite' State in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea Reconsidered" in Paul Lunde and Alexandra Porter ed., Trade and Travel in the Red Sea Region, in D. Kennet & St J. Simpson ed., Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 2. BAR International Series 1269. Archaeopress, Oxford: 2004, p. 73.
  3. ^ Byrd, Vickie, editor; Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality, (Santa Ana, California: The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2004), p. 17.
  4. ^ Murray, Stephen, The Portals:Access to Redemption, http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/Mcahweb/facade/body.html, webpage, accessed August 6, 2006.
  5. ^ Byrd, Vickie, editor; Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality, (Santa Ana, California: The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2004), p. 17.
  6. ^ Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bosch/91adorat/01tripty.html, website accessed August 2, 2006

External links

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