Discover the Legend of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon
Judaism, Christianity, Islam: the Queen of Sheba is a figure present in many religions.
Immortalized in the Bible and the Koran, celebrated in musical works and paintings from Antiquity to the present day, this mysterious woman has a semi-legendary character which makes her fascinating for many historians.
Presented as a powerful queen who is said to have visited King Solomon accompanied by mountains of gold and gifts, the Queen of Sheba has become one of the main subjects of legends. This is true in Eastern culture, but also European and African.
But actually, who was this queen?
And where exactly did it come from?
What messages can she hide?
As we will discover together, these questions, even today, are left unanswered.
Contents :
The legend of the Queen of Sheba in the Bible
The Queen of Sheba in the Quran
The legend of the Queen of Sheba in the Bible
According to the Bible and the Torah, there was once a king in the land of Israel named Solomon.
Recognized by all for his fortune, his wisdom and his philosophical qualities, he is commonly presented to us by the Old Testament as one of the greatest leaders of all time. He is the one who built the temple of Solomon and who offered a kingdom to the Hebrew people, to the daughters and sons of God (or Jehovah in the Torah).
Indeed, according to the Scriptures, Solomon asked God to offer him the wisdom necessary for the good governance of his people, the Hebrews. This was granted to him, as well as abundant wealth and a fame that made him known far beyond his borders.
The Queen's Visit to the Ruler of Israel
This is how a foreign sovereign one day heard about him: you must suspect, we are talking here about the Queen of Sheba.
Curious to learn more about the man everyone considered the model king, she decided to go to Jerusalem to meet Solomon. More precisely, she wanted to test the king's reputedly infinite wisdom, and therefore prepared with her advisors a series of riddles meant to test him.
The Queen of Sheba, however, did not come empty-handed.
As the Bible teaches us:
“ She arrived in Jerusalem with a very numerous entourage, and with camels carrying spices, gold in very large quantities, and precious stones […]
She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. There no longer came as many herbs as the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
The ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, also brought from Ophir a large quantity of sandalwood and precious stones. » - I Kings 10:2-10
The legendary wisdom of Solomon
As expected, the queen also asked him some riddles.
We might expect it, but yes, King Solomon was able to answer it easily. The Hebrew king possessed the wisdom of the prophets and that of the word of God.
This did not fail to impress the Queen of Sheba, as we can see in this second biblical extract:
“ She went to Solomon and told him everything that was in her heart.
Solomon answered all his questions, and there was nothing the king could not explain to him.
The queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built. » - I Kings 10:2-4
The source of a royal conversion
It is interesting to note that this passage is also tinged with the beginnings of conversion on the part of the Queen of Sheba, as we clearly see here:
“ Blessed are your people, happy are your servants who are always before you, who hear your wisdom!
Blessed be the LORD your God, who has favored you to sit on the throne of Israel! It is because the LORD loves Israel forever that he has made you king to do justice and righteousness. » - I Kings 10:8-9
This story that we have just discovered together constitutes the official version mentioned in the Bible, the only one on which historians have been able to agree.
However, there are other traditions, which we will now discuss together.
The Ethiopian version
In many East African cultures, and particularly in Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba is presented as a woman native to the region.
The Kebra Nagast, the Ethiopian national epic which accounts for the creation of the country, indeed speaks of him as an eminent figure.
Clearly, the Kebra Nagast provides some details to our legend which, although questionable on a purely historical level, tell us a lot about Ethiopian culture.
The affair between King Solomon and our queen
This story tells us in fact that the Queen of Sheba would have stayed for some time with King Solomon before returning home. Being an unmarried woman, she warned the king not to touch her. He tells her that in exchange, she shouldn't take anything from him.
The first night, however, the dry air of Israel had dried out the queen's throat, and she got up to get a glass of water. Shortly after, Solomon came to confront her and pointed out that since she had broken her agreement, he too was freed from hers.
A king was born from their union
The two sovereigns thus spent the night together and, when she returned to her kingdom, the Queen of Sheba saw that she had become pregnant. She thus raised the child, a son whom she named Menelik, and made him a great king.
As he grew up, Menelik decided to go meet his father in Israel. When he returned, he returned with one of the most precious treasures imaginable: the Ark of the Covenant, the original sacred text containing the Ten Commandments handed down by God to Moses.
According to Ethiopian tradition, this invaluable asset is still in the possession of the sovereigns of the Ethiopian royal family today.
The Queen of Sheba in the Quran
The other major version of the legend of the Queen of Sheba is found in the Quran. The Muslim tradition, however, has major differences with the versions that we have just discussed together.
Already, the Queen of Sheba is better known there under the name of Bilqis. Solomon will instead be called Soliman.
The king of the Jews, moreover, not content with having obtained wisdom and wealth, possessed the divine gift of speaking to demons, jinns and birds.
A rich but unfaithful queen
According to this version of the legend, Solomon learned one day from one of his messenger birds that there lived in a distant kingdom a powerful queen who did not worship God, but idols and the Sun.
This queen, moreover, possessed enough wealth to be able to sit on a golden throne. Regardless of all this, our king decided to send him a letter, firmly asking him to renounce these pagan practices.
The queen responded with all the courtesy in the world that she would refuse. In addition, she sent mountains of gifts, undoubtedly with the idea of mollifying King Solomon and attracting his blessing.
Incorruptible, the sovereign of Israel decided to invite the Queen of Sheba in person to have a little discussion with her.
A wise king
Shortly before his arrival, Solomon remembered that the queen had a golden throne. Moreover, she had tried to soften him up with purely material gifts.
In his great mystical wisdom, he understood that he was dealing with a venal and materialistic person, who would only be impressed by the demonstration of wealth.
It was then that he summoned a djinn, whom he asked to bring him a copy of the throne of the Queen of Sheba, something which the spirit accepted. This royal seat was installed in a room with a crystal floor and, when the queen arrived, Solomon invited her to come and sit on it, as at home.
The effect it had on her was so intense, so powerful, that she declared:
"Lord, I have wronged myself: I submit myself with Solomon to Allah, Lord of the universe" - Surah 27:44
Just a conversion?
The tale recounted in the Koran ends here, at the moment when the Queen of Sheba converted. However, some versions of the story suggest that she went so far as to marry King Solomon. The end of idolatry would therefore have gone hand in hand with personal accomplishment...
More broadly, Muslim tradition has made the legend of the Queen of Sheba the basis and center of a vast cycle of tales and myths.
Other views
We saw together the biblical, Ethiopian and Muslim versions of our legend. However, there are others, later, which also feature the very mysterious Queen of Sheba.
Thus, certain Christian monks of the Middle Ages relied on the New Testament to establish descent between a "queen of the South", mentioned several times in the verses of the Gospels, and the queen of Sheba.
Typically, European religious art, particularly painting, will often choose this semi-legendary woman as the subject of its works, either alone or accompanied by King Solomon, or even a prophet from the Hebrew Bible.
Our sovereign is also particularly popular among the Copts, or Eastern Christians, as many stories and tales alluding to her show us.
The other major tradition in which it is distinguished is that of the Talmud. This sacred book of the Jewish people, for its part, opposes the existence of such a queen, and only accepts seeing her as an allegory, a figure representing earthly wealth which, even she, recognized the power of King Solomon. You will therefore never (almost) never hear about the Queen of Sheba in a synagogue or a Hebrew temple.
However, one branch of Judaism has focused on this figure: it is Kabbalah. A mystical branch of the Jewish religion, Kabbalah is dark and includes sacrifice, almost pagan rites and forbidden worship. In this sense, we advise you not to practice it.
Finally, it may also be interesting to note how the Persians (no doubt influenced by Jewish tradition) speak to us of the Queen of Sheba as a powerful magician, daughter of a Chinese king and a fairy. For a Persian, hearing the name of the Queen of Sheba therefore evokes a vaguely Semitic character with an almost magical aura.
Who was really the Queen of Sheba?
The Bible therefore tells us about the Queen of Sheba, yes, but never specifies what Sheba is precisely.
We easily understand that it is a kingdom, but nothing is told to us as to its nature or location. Many traditions, mainly those from the Koran, believe that our queen actually came from the kingdom of Sheba, formerly located in the south of the Arabian peninsula (Arabia and present-day Yemen).
Others, mainly Christians and Ethiopians, believe that the kingdom of Saba was the ancient name given to the kingdom of Ethiopia. In particular, proponents of this hypothesis establish Saba as being the ancestor of the kingdom of Aksum, itself being the ancestor of Ethiopia.
Even if it is quite complicated to separate these two points of view, historians know that it could hardly be another place. Some sources speak of links with the Egyptian pharaohs, with Babylon or Mesopotamia, but they are really in the minority.
Indeed, the Queen of Sheba brought with her many riches when she came to visit Israel, including incense. However, we know that at the time, incense was only cultivated in the Middle East in these two regions.
Despite decades of work by passionate historians, the rest of the question still remains a mystery. Archaeologists, theologians and exegetes will be able to reflect on it for many years to come.
Additional Resources
Today we have discovered the extraordinary legend of a queen present in many cultures and spiritualities.
As such, here are some collections from our site that are related to them:
- Here you will find certain symbols of Jewish tradition, because the Queen of Sheba does indeed come from this religion.
- Here is a collection dedicated to Islam, its mysteries, its secrets and its lucky charms.
- Our queen is inseparable from Africa, of which you will find here some accessories, emblems and jewelry linked to this continent.
More broadly, here are some external resources that will allow you to explore the subject of our legend:
- Valuable information on King Solomon, to whom our queen is still strongly linked.
- Others on the kingdom of Aksum, because it seems that the Queen of Sheba comes from this region.
Discover this article in video format
