The Queen of Sheba is mentioned in the Bible, but also without a name. In the Qur'an, as well as in many Persian and Arabic tales, she is called Bilqis. In Ethiopia, she is known under the name Makeda - the Queen of the South - and occupies such an important place in literature and traditions that Ethiopian emperors considered themselves to be her descendants and local Judaists continue to consider her as Falasha.
The oldest mention of the Queen of Sheba is considered to be the third Book of Kings ("First Kings" among the Jews) of the Old Testament. Having learned about the great deeds and wisdom of King Solomon (about 965-926 BC), the Queen of Sheba arrives in Jerusalem to check it out, and makes Solomon riddles. Which ones, the Bible does not say - it only mentions that the king solved them all.
It is now almost certain that her possessions were in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, where Yemen is now. In the legends of Haggadah, the state of the Queen of Sheba is described as a magical land where sand is more expensive than gold, trees from the Garden of Eden grow, and people do not know war.
According to Old Testament tradition, the Queen of Sheba, having heard about the glory of King Solomon, came to Jerusalem to test him with riddles and was amazed at his wisdom. Of course, Bilkis came not only to "make up riddles": the Incense Route passed through the vassal territories of Israel - the way from Saba to Egypt, Phenicia and Syria. In order to agree on the free passage of the caravans, she brought such generous gifts. So the queen overcame 2000 km through the deserts to Jerusalem not out of pure curiosity.
The Bible notes that the historic "summit" resulted in a mutually beneficial agreement. The queen gave Solomon "120 talents of gold, a great variety of incense and precious stones," and he fulfilled all her wishes. And she returned home.
The Bible colorfully tells about the impressions of the Queen of Sheba from her communication with Solomon: “It is true that I heard in my land about your deeds and your wisdom. But I did not believe the words until I came and saw my eyes. And now, I am not even half told - you have more wisdom and wealth than as I heard."
Bilkis herself was so beautiful and regal that Solomon was also fascinated by the young queen. But during one of her first meetings with the Israeli king, a story happened, which is described in one of the books of the Talmud - "Midrash". According to the beliefs of the ancient Semites, one of the characteristic features of the devil is the goat's hooves. Solomon feared that the devil was hiding under the guise of a beautiful woman in his guest.
To check if this is so, he built a pavilion with a glass floor, launched fish there and invited Bilquis to go through this hall. The illusion of a real pool was so strong that the Queen of Sheba, crossing the threshold of the pavilion, did what any woman instinctively does when entering the water - she lifted her dress. Just for a moment. But Solomon managed to see what was carefully hidden: the queen's legs were human.
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When Bilkis first appeared before Solomon, accompanied by all her retinue, dozens of half-naked girls as a gift to the king and two panthers guarding her, he was amazed and could not resist her beauty and grandeur.
They say that a thousand women after many years did not help Solomon forget her. Their short romance lasted six months. All this time, Solomon did not part with her and constantly gave expensive gifts. When it became clear that Bilkis was pregnant, she left the king and returned to the Sabaean kingdom, where she gave birth to a son, Menelik, who became the first Ethiopian king. A glorious fate was prepared for him. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba are considered in Ethiopian legends to be the ancestors of the three thousand-year dynasty of the emperors of Abyssinia.
If in Africa the Queen of Sheba was always honored, in other cultures and religions the attitude towards her was completely different. Some legends turned the noble queen of the Old Testament, equal to the great ruler of Israel, into a seducer and simply a witch. She allegedly arrived in Jerusalem not of her own free will, but by order of the king, led a depraved life, and managed to seduce even Solomon.
Why did the reputation of the Queen of Sheba change so dramatically? Perhaps this reflected the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy - women were losing their rights and influence. In Solomon's time, queens were common in the Middle East, but in post-biblical times, a woman on the throne was hard to imagine. The memory of the powerful ruler hurt male pride, and therefore they tried to mix her image with dirt.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba respected each other. She highly appreciated his wisdom, and he admired her beauty and satisfied all her requests.
Legends testify that the queen Bilkis knew how to make essences from herbs, resins, flowers and roots. This is one of the first mentions of the art of perfumery.
The queen, it turns out, also understood a lot about astrology, all kinds of sex, taming, wild animals and drawing up love conspiracies. On her little finger, she wore a witch's ring with a stone called "asterix". Modern scientists do not know what it is, and in those days it was self-evident that the gem was intended for philosophers and lovers.
Later Greek and Roman myths attributed unearthly beauty and the greatest wisdom to the Queen of Sheba. She possessed the art of intrigue to retain power and was the high priestess of a certain southern cult of tender passion …
Traveled on elephants and camels. In solemn moments, she wore a golden crown with ostrich feathers. Her retinue consisted of black dwarfs, and the guard - of light-skinned tall giants. And she herself was not dark-skinned. As a child of her era, she was cunning, depraved, inclined to recognize foreign gods, if they promised her good luck.
So, legends and myths paint us both a romantic and a realistic image of the Queen of Sheba - a merchant, diplomat, warrior, skillful ruler of a large and prosperous land.
Its royal palace complex, along with a fairy-tale garden, was surrounded by an ornamented wall of colored stones. Legends name various areas of the location of the capital of a mysterious country, for example, at the junction of the borders of Namibia, Botswana and Angola, at the reserve with Lake Upemba (southeast of Zaire), etc.
Ancient literary sources report that she was from the dynasty of Egyptian kings, the father was God. She was familiar with pagan idols and predecessors of Hermes, Poseidon, Aphrodite. She was inclined to recognize foreign gods. Legends and myths that have come down to us tell us about a real and romantic, but always mysterious image of the Queen of Sheba from a large and prosperous state.