To this day, historians argue about where the ancient state of Saba was. Most scientists agree that it is somewhere in the area of modern Yemen. Some believe that Saba also occupied part of the territory of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It was in this area that the legendary Queen of Sheba lived - a woman who was able to compete in wisdom with the Israelite king Solomon.
The Queen of Sheba is not a name at all. For example, any of the Romanov dynasty can be called a Russian tsar. But it is well known: Russia has seen many kings.
Classic plot
There are already disputes over the name of the queen. Her visit to Israel's king Solomon is described in the Old Testament. But there is indicated only, so to speak, the territorial affiliation of the ruler, but not what her name was. Later Arabic texts refer to it as Balkis or Bilkis. And the Ethiopian historical chronicles speak of Queen Makeda. In any case, the existence of this lady has not been historically confirmed. But this did not stop at all from passing on the myth about her from generation to generation.
The classic plot of the meeting of the Queen of Sheba with King Solomon is described in the 10th chapter of the Third Book of Kings. The ruler of the African country heard about the wisdom of the ruler of Israel and decided to come to him to "test him with riddles."
What follows is a description of countless treasures: gold, precious stones, and very expensive incense, which the queen carried for three years as a gift to Solomon. Then the queen's reaction to what the sage monarch told her is described: “And the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the house that he built, and the food at his table, and the dwelling place of his servants, and the slimness of his servants, and their clothes, and his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings, which he offered in the temple of the Lord. And she could no longer restrain herself and said to the king: It is true that I heard in my land about your deeds and about your wisdom; but I did not believe the words until I came and my eyes saw: and, behold, I was not even half told; you have more wisdom and wealth than I have heard."
In response, Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba "everything she wanted and asked for." After the visit of the queen, the ruler of Israel began a streak of success: he was recognized as the wisest and richest monarch in the world. And the Queen of Sheba began to practice Judaism.
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The Queen of Sheba and her country are mentioned in passing in several books of the Old Testament.
Thousand and One Nights
In the New Testament, as many commentators believe, the Queen of Sheba is called the “Queen of the South”. And her image is associated with the wise men, who, after many centuries, came to Jesus with gifts. Other researchers say that the African ruler personifies the churches of different nations, which sooner or later will come to Christianity. And Solomon - accordingly, Christ, to hear the wisdom of which people from all over the world are ready to come.
This story also appears in the Qur'an. It is described in the style of the fairy tales “Thousands and One
noah night. " There, a magic bird, the hoopoe, flew to the prophet Suleiman (read - Solomon), reporting that in a distant country called Saba (Sheba) there lives an immensely rich queen Balkis, who worships the sun. The king with the same bird sent a letter to the queen: “From the servant of God, Solomon, the son of David (to) Balkis, the Queen of Sheba. In the Name of the All-Merciful God. Peace be with him who follows the path of truth. Do not rebel against me, but come and surrender to me."
And Balkis set off on a journey with gifts to avoid a war with a strong enemy.
Then a piquant detail is reported: having stepped on the glass floor in Suleiman's palace, Balkis, mistaking it for a pool, lifted the hem of her clothes. And the king saw that her legs were hairy, like a man's. The frightened ruler exclaimed: “Lord! Indeed, I have done damage to myself, but now, together with Suleiman, I surrender to Allah, the Lord of the inhabitants of the worlds. According to the Koran, Balkis converted to Islam under the influence of Suleiman.
The history of this "date" with an unnamed woman from the state, about the boundaries of which historians argue, has overgrown with many legends over several millennia.
In the Jewish tradition, the brief description of the meeting was overgrown with a huge amount of detail. The beginning of the story almost coincides with what the Koran describes. But the episode with the accidental demonstration of the hairy legs of the Queen of Sheba is supplemented by Solomon's reaction: “Your beauty is the beauty of a woman, and your hair is the hair of a man. For a man it is beautiful, but for a woman it is revered as a defect. And the kind, wise king supplied the hairy woman with a special depilatory cream for removing unwanted hair.
It is clear that Solomon did this not without benefit for himself: he was going to enter into an intimate relationship with this wisest of women.
Information about the closeness of the two rulers first appeared in Hebrew texts that date back to the last quarter of the 1st millennium.
Ethiopian variant
The details of the connection between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon can be studied already from Ethiopian legends. The Ethiopian Book of the Glory of Kings says that Solomon “paid great honor to her and rejoiced, and gave her dwelling in his royal palace next to him. And he sent her food for the morning and evening meals ", and once" they lay down together "and" after nine months and five days she was separated from King Solomon … childbearing torment seized her, and she gave birth to a male child. " Who was this "male sex" baby? According to some chronicles, he became the ancestor of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the Temple. According to others, this child was Nebuchadnezzar. Solomon in this legend is shown as a real gentleman who did not want to take the queen by force.
The son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba lived with his mother. When he was 22 years old, he came to Solomon, and he recognized him. According to the Ethiopian epic: "You said," he is like you, "but it is not mine to become, but to become David, my father, in the days of his early courage, but he is much more beautiful than me."
Then the son of the kings, whose name was Baina-Lehkem, returned to his mother with a gift from his father - the Ark of the Covenant, which, according to the Ethiopians, is still kept in the ancient city of Aksum in northern Ethiopia. The queen ceded the throne to her son from Solomon. He began to build his state in the manner of the Jewish. The people, following their young ruler, adopted Judaism. The throne was inherited through the male line. Baina Lehkem became the founder of the Ethiopian ruling dynasty of the Solomonids. One of its representatives was Haile Selassie I, the last emperor of Ethiopia, who died in 1975.
Now the head of the dynasty is his grandson Zera Yakob Amha Selassie.
On the basis of the Jewish and Ethiopian texts, the Arabic ones appeared. They are even more reminiscent of the tales of "Thousand and One Nights". Here both the genies and the queen Balkis appear, who cuts off the head of a drunken sleeping Suleiman. The story of Judith and Holofernes immediately comes to mind.
A scattering of mysteries
Numerous texts do not provide any evidence that the Queen of Sheba existed in reality. Even the time of her life is very conditionally dated to the X century BC.
Of great interest are the riddles with which an intelligent woman tested the wisdom of the ruler of Israel.
The Hebrew texts give various riddles. In these tomes, both the number of riddles and their composition differ. Here are a couple of riddles given in one of the sections of the oral Torah. The first one sounds like this: "Seven come out and nine come in, two pour, and one drinks?" Solomon, without hesitation, replies: "Seven are the days of solitude [of female uncleanness in connection with menstruation], nine are months of pregnancy, two breasts are mixed, and one [infant] drinks."
The second riddle: "The woman said to her son:" Your father is my father, your grandfather is my husband, you are my son, and I am your sister. " Answer: "This mother is one of Lot's daughters who gave birth to children from her father."
What can I say? No matter how confusing and contradictory the story of the Queen of Sheba, who competed in wisdom with King Solomon himself, may look, the main thing in it was that their meeting became an honest and not bloody duel between two wise men.
Humanity appreciated this story: it inspired many writers and artists to create wonderful works.
For example, the following pompous lines were dedicated to the Queen of Sheba by the Russian poetess Mirra Lokhvitskaya:
Magazine: Mysteries of History №36. Author: Maria Konyukova
