The Queen of Sheba is the only character of antiquity who is mentioned in the sacred books of the three main world religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The legendary ruler of Saba in South Arabia - an amazing country where sand is more expensive than gold, where trees from the Garden of Eden grow, and people are not aware of war. The Bible says that she came to Jerusalem to test the riddles of King Solomon and was amazed at his wisdom.
According to some legends, the Queen of Sheba had goat legs (possibly echoes of the ancient cult of the zoomorphic moon goddess of South Arabia). In Muslim legends, the queen is called Bilkis. She and King Solomon, as myths say, are the ancestors of the 3,000-year-old dynasty of Ethiopian emperors.
In the Bible, her name is not called, she appears in it simply as the Queen of Sheba, or the South, and is opposed to those who do not want to listen to the wisdom of Jesus. She ruled the Savyans, the people of the "Happy Arabia", which lay south of Palestine. About 2000 km separated her residence from Jerusalem.
For what reason did the queen set off on her journey? According to legend, Solomon learned from the hoopoe about an outlandish country and a woman of incomparable beauty and wisdom ruling it. The king sent her a letter inviting her to visit Jerusalem. In case of refusal, he promised to send demons to her. (Solomon was not only a sage, but also a magician.) The queen responded to the call of the formidable neighbor. She traveled to Jerusalem hoping to resolve many issues regarding her personal life, her kingdom and her people.
She had heard a lot about Solomon, whose glory was always associated with the name of God. This god seemed to her the reason for the prosperity achieved. Whom can such a wise king worship? The Queen of Sheba is a reasonable and intelligent woman, but she knows about the limits of her awareness and wants to become wiser. For this, she sacrifices time, funds and amenities.
Solomon was shocked by her beauty. But along with this, he wanted to check what legs she had … A bad story is described in one of the books of the Talmud. According to the belief of the ancient Semites, one of the characteristic features of the devil is the goat's hooves. The king was wary of the impure himself hiding under the guise of a beautiful woman. To test it, he built a pavilion with a glass floor and launched fish there.
The ruler had to go through this hall, but as soon as she crossed the threshold, she instinctively lifted her dress. Solomon managed to see that the queen's legs were human, but covered with thick hair. The same story can be found in Muslim sources. But the Islamic version of the legend says: Bilkis's legs were actually goats - covered with wool and with hooves instead of feet …
Ethiopian legends will be able to reconcile both versions. There the Queen of Sheba is called Makeda, or Atiya-Azeb. It is believed that she was from a tribe that made sacrifices to the dragon. And now it was Atiya-Azeb's turn: the girl was tied to the crown of a tree where the dragon flew … In the shade of this tree 7 saints sat down to rest. They decided to help and killed the dragon.
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However, one drop of blood hit the girl's heel, and her foot turned into a hoof. The villagers chose Makeda as their leader. Once she heard that King Solomon rules in Jerusalem, who heals people from all diseases. Having overcome the difficult path, the leader crossed the threshold of the king's palace, and her leg immediately became what it was before.
The romance between the tsar and the queen of Sheba lasted six months. When it became clear that the beautiful southern woman was pregnant, she left Jerusalem and returned to Saba, where she gave birth to a boy who became the ancestor of the Abyssinian rulers. Ethiopians call him Bane Hekem ("son of the king"), or Menelik. Having reached maturity, Menelik went to visit his father. And having returned, accompanied by young Jews to their homeland, he brought the biblical Ark of the Covenant with relics to Ethiopia. Residents of the city of Aksum are sure that the Ark is hidden in a stone chapel of the largest church in the city and has been protecting their homeland for almost three 3,000 years.
Is the Queen of Sheba a real historical figure?
This remarkable story is somewhat overshadowed by two questions: where was the Sabaean kingdom? And in general, did the Queen of Sheba really exist? The south of the Arabian Peninsula and the coast of the Persian Gulf, along with the Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley, are considered the most ancient centers of civilization. Already in the IV millennium BC. e. there lived Arabians, who were mainly Semites and spoke languages close and understandable to the peoples of Palestine and Syria.
At the turn of the II and I millennia BC. e. in the south-west of Arabia the states of Hadhramaut, Kataban, Saba, Mann arose. Around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. the kingdom of Saba gained the greatest weight here, which established control over the main trade artery of the Arabian Peninsula - "the way of incense".
It existed under various names for one and a half thousand years. There is very little authentic information about the legendary queen. The Muslims call her Bilkis. It is known that she was the daughter of the "prime minister" of the mysterious kingdom of Ophir. Most likely, Bilkis received the empowerment of the queen only for the duration of her journey to the Israelite-Judean kingdom, where she went in order to negotiate the free passage of incense caravans through the territories vassal to him.
In 711 BC. e. Assyrian king Tiglathpalasar mentioned the state in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. The historian Flavius believed that the country of the Saves was located in the north-east of Africa - in Ethiopia. Some of the researchers of the biblical story believe that the state of Dilmun (or the Kingdom of Sabaean) was on the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Such a statement might seem unfounded - in the Old Testament only the south of Arabia is indicated - if it were not for the ancient Greek legend, which suggests unusual thoughts about the origin of the Queen of Sheba.
The Greeks believed in the Amazons, the oldest of whom were the inhabitants of Libya, where there were once many tribes of warlike and brave women. The ancestral home of one of their tribes was the island of Hesper (Bahrain) off the coast of Ethiopia. Its ruler Mirina once conquered many neighboring peoples, including the Atlanteans, and then, through Egypt, Arabia and Syria, went to Asia Minor, where she founded a number of cities.
Of course, it cannot be said that the Queen of Sheba and Myrina are one person. But this assumption should not be neglected either. First, the island is located right between Ethiopia and Arabia. Secondly, a Greek legend that originated around the 5th – 4th centuries. BC e., talks about "bygone days", so that Mirina could well have lived 500 years earlier.
In favor of the fact that the Queen of Sheba is a real historical person, archaeological excavations in the territory of South Yemen can testify. A study of the ruins of the palace showed that in about 1000-950 years. BC e. there lived the queen, who made a trip north to Al-Quds (the Arabic name for Jerusalem).
Islamologist M. Piostrovsky believes that Sheba was the queen of Ancient Yemen, whose culture is characterized by monumental, building-like stone thrones of rulers, which are mentioned in legends. In addition, the sun deity Shams played a very important role in the religion of this country. (According to legends, the inhabitants of Saba worshiped the Sun and the Moon.) The Arabs associate the name of the queen with the Yemeni city of Marib, near which there are the majestic ruins of the ancient temple of Abvam (Bilkis temple) covered with sand. Many believe that it was there that the earthly paradise garden of Eden from the Book of Genesis was.
The Ethiopian version of the origin of the Queen of Sheba also makes sense, moreover, many of the scientists seem to be very reasonable. Although Ethiopia itself is located in Africa, a narrow strip of water separates it from Saba. The Sabeans, who mastered the sea route to India, could easily overcome it. Perhaps, in ancient times, these two territories were closely related to each other, making up one state. The population of Ethiopia believes that the Queen of Sheba lived in the town of Aksum, not far from the sea coast.
We find a similar story about this in the national epic, which tells about the reigning dynasties, which trace their origin from the famous traveler. Proving that Makeda (Queen of Sheba) left for Solomon from Aksum, Ethiopians refer to the Book of Psalms, which directly says about Makeda's visit to Jerusalem. In addition, there are many religious rituals in Ethiopia that resemble the Semitic ones: they are unlikely to be able to take root in the country without the support of the supreme power. Noteworthy is the observance of the Sabbath, the division of animals into clean and unclean, religious dances. In addition, the emperor of Ethiopia is referred to as "the king of Zion."
Local residents say that the right to make laws and interpret them was given to the descendants of the Jewish tribe of Levites by the son of the Queen of Sheba: he himself was half a Jew! To this day, there is a small, isolated religious group of Abyssinian Jews who consider themselves the descendants of those who arrived with the son of Makeda from Jerusalem. They call themselves "falash", which means "emigrants." This historical name confirms their non-Ethiopian origins. There are several attractions in Aksum that are related to the legendary queen.
First of all, this is the obelisk in the central square and the grave of Makeda herself. Several granite slabs measuring 5x1.5 meters with obelisks lie in a wheat field outside the city. Under one of them, this mysterious woman allegedly found peace. Under the other two lies the ashes of two more kings of Aksum, and Menelik is buried on a mountain near the horizon.
Supporters of the Ethiopian origin of the Queen of Sheba cite various historical facts and references to authorities to prove that the biblical ruler lived here. They also report that Makeda was 50 years old when she went to Jerusalem, and that she died in 986 BC. e. The descendants of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon are believed to have ruled the country until 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown.
Many scholars consider the statement that the dynasty of Ethiopian rulers originated from the legendary queen, state propaganda, a myth with the help of which local monarchs tried to confirm the legitimacy of their power. The fact is that none of the official documents outside Ethiopia mentions that the Ark of the Covenant ever left the borders of Jerusalem. The first Ethiopian kingdom in general appeared only 800-900 years after the period indicated as the supposed date of Solomon's life (965-928 BC). In addition, during the reign of the wise king, only the formation of the Sabaean kingdom took place. Consequently, it could not yet be the dominant state in either southern Arabia or Ethiopia.
One of the most authoritative specialists in this field is the archaeologist R. Eichmann. He tops the list of history skeptics. Taking a scientific approach to the biblical story of the Queen of Sheba, he claims that he has not found a single scientific evidence of her existence, and believes that she is nothing more than a myth. Eichmann is far from the only skeptic who has expressed doubts about the existence of the legendary queen. However, he, perhaps, for the first time presented purely scientific considerations on this score.
The German archaeologist believes that during the excavations not a single piece of evidence was found that could become a scientific argument in favor of the fact that the Queen of Sheba was a real historical person. The events described, according to the accepted chronology, took place around the 10th century BC. e. Eichmann points out that the Koran says that during a visit to Solomon, the Sabaean queen was so struck by monotheism that she converted to Islam. But in 900 BC. e. Islam did not exist yet. Therefore, this is not a historical, but a fictional fact. However, the cautious scholar immediately added: “I am not saying that the Queen of Sheba was not there. I'm just saying that there is no material or scientific evidence of its existence."
Doubts are reinforced by detailed research by archaeologists. Having studied the inscriptions and stonework found in Marib, experts assure that the famous temple of Abvam, whose founder could presumably be the Queen of Sheba, was built in the second half of the 7th century BC. e. This means that he has nothing to do with the mysterious ruler who lived in the middle of the 10th century BC. e. According to Eichmann, a number of other points speak in favor of the fact that the story of the Queen of Sheba is not a real fact, but a fiction.
For example, it is not known whether the Sabaeans allowed women to occupy such a high position? To this, however, some experts rightly note that some indirect historical sources say that matriarchy reigned in Saba of that period. As proof, cuneiform texts found in Assur are cited: they tell about the "queens of the Arabs" Zabib and Samsi. But apart from these records, there are no other Assyrian sources dating back to 700 BC. e., which would contain references to women on the throne. Eichmann and other skeptics are undoubtedly right when they say that without additional research, humanity will always remain in the captivity of myths.
So, who was the heroine of the famous biblical legend, in which historical facts, oriental folklore and fantastic legends were intertwined? Did it really exist? Did she live in Arab Marib? Was the ruler of Ethiopian Aksum? Or was she from a proud tribe of female warriors? This mystery has not been solved by scientists to this day. And is it really so important for a modern person? Indeed, in the Book of Books it continues to exist to this day …
I. Vagman, O. Kuzmenko