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{{Short description|Biblical kingdom in Yemen and parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea}}{{Other uses}}{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=ar|otherarticle=مملكة سبأ|date=September 2023}}

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| conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Sheba| common_name = ShebaxsaSabaic) (Arabic)| image_coat = Sabaen kingdom’s coat of arms.jpg}}Sheba ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|iː|b|ə}}; }} {{Transliteration|he|Šəḇāʾ}}; {{Transliteration|ar|Sabaʾ}}; {{Transliteration|gez|Sabaʾ}}) (1000 B.CThe Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur'an: Three Books, Two Cities, One Tale — Anton Wessels {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208064326weblink|date=08 فبراير 2018}}A Brief History of Saudi Arabia — James Wynbrandt — Page11. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208064410weblink|date=08 فبراير 2018}}Perished Nations — Hârun Yahya — Page113. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208064404weblink|date=08 فبراير 2018}}- 275 A.DHellenistic Economies — Zofia H. Archibald, — Page123. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208064422weblink|date=08 فبراير 2018}}) is an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. It particularly features in the tradition of Orthodox Tewahedo in today's Yemen and is also asserted as the home of the Queen of Sheba, who is left unnamed in Jewish texts, but is known as Makeda in Ethiopian texts and as Bilqīs in Arabic texts. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Sheba was the home of Princess Tharbis, who is said to have been the wife of Moses before he married Zipporah.(File:Slab with an inscription about the political activities of the kings of Sheba. Ancient South Arabian script appears. From Yemen, 2nd century BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg|thumb|Slab with an inscription about the political activities of the kings of Sheba. Ancient South Arabian script appears. From Yemen, 2nd century CE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul)There is no consensus on the exact location of Sheba, though modern scholars have placed it in the general area spanning South Arabia and the Horn of Africa.The Encyclopædia Britannica posits that the biblical narrative about Sheba was based on the ancient civilization of the Sabaeans (Old South Arabian: 𐩪𐩨𐩱 S-b-ʾ{{px2}}) in South Arabia.Encyclopædia Britannica, Sabaʾ This view is echoed by Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein and American historian Neil Asher Silberman, both of whom write that "the Sabaean kingdom began to flourish only from the eighth century BCE onward" and that the story of Solomon and Sheba is "an anachronistic seventh-century set piece meant to legitimize the participation of Judah in the lucrative Arabian trade" with regard to the narrative of Solomon leading Israel to conquer Sheba.BOOK, Israel, Finkelstein, Neil Asher, Silberman, David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition, 171, 2007, Simon & Schuster,

Biblical tradition

The two names Sheba (spelled in Hebrew with shin) and Seba (spelled with samekh) are mentioned several times in the Bible with different genealogy. For instance, in the Generations of NoahGenesis 10:7. Seba, along with Dedan, is listed as a descendant of Noah's son Ham (as sons of Raamah, son of Cush). Later on in the Book of Genesis,Genesis 25:3. Sheba and Dedan are listed as names of sons of Jokshan, son of Abraham.Another Sheba is listed in the Table of NationsGenesis 10:28. as a son of Joktan, another descendant of Noah's son Shem.There are several possible reasons for this confusion. One theory is that the Sabaeans established many colonies to control the trade routes and the variety of their caravan stations confused the ancient Israelites, as their ethnology was based on geographical and political grounds and not necessarily racial.Javad Ali, The Articulate in the History of Arabs before Islam Volume 7, p. 421. Another theory suggests that the Sabaeans hailed from the southern Levant and established their kingdom on the ruins of the Minaeans.HOMMEL, Südarabische Chrestomathie (Munich, 1892), p. 64.The most famous claim to fame for the biblical land of Sheba was the story of the Queen of Sheba, who travelled to Jerusalem to question King Solomon, arriving in a large caravan with precious stones, spices and gold ({{bibleverse|1 Kings|10}}). The apocryphal Christian Arabic text Kitāb al-Magall ("Book of the Rolls"),"Kitab al-Magall". considered part of Clementine literature, and the Syriac Cave of Treasures, mention a tradition that after being founded by the children of Saba (son of Joktan), there was a succession of 60 female rulers up until the time of Solomon.Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, describes a place called Saba as a walled, royal city of Ethiopia that Cambyses II renamed as Meroë. He writes that "it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras", offering protection from both foreign armies and river floods. According to Josephus it was the conquering of Saba that brought great fame to a young Egyptian prince, simultaneously exposing his personal background as a slave child named Moses.Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews II.10.

Muslim tradition

In the Quran, Sheba is mentioned in surat an-Naml in a section that speaks of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.BOOK, Wheeler, Brannon, Brannon Wheeler, Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis,weblink 2002, A&C Black, 978-0-8264-4956-6, The Quran mentions this ancient community along with other communities that were destroyed by God.Qur'an 50:14(File:Bilquis.jpg|thumb|right|Bilqis reclining in a garden, Persian miniature (ca. 1595), tinted drawing on paper)File:Hafiz - Left Side of a Double-page Illustrated Frontispiece Depicting Queen Sheba (Bilqis) Enthroned - Walters W6313A - Full Page.jpg|thumb|Illustration in a Hafez frontispiece: Bilqis enthroned, under a flying simurghsimurghAccording to the Quran, Solomon commanded the Queen of Sheba to come to him as a subject, whereupon she appeared before him (an-Naml, 30–31, 45). Before the queen had arrived, Solomon had moved her throne to his place with the help of one who had knowledge from the scripture (Quran 27:40). She recognized the throne, which had been disguised, and finally accepted the faith of Solomon.Muslim commentators such as al-Tabari, al-Zamakhshari, al-Baydawi supplement the story at various points. The Queen's name is given as Bilqis, probably derived from Greek παλλακίς or the Hebraised pilegesh, "concubine".{{citation | author=Georg Freytag | author-link=Georg Freytag | entry=ﺑَﻠٔﻘَﻊٌ | title=Lexicon arabico-latinum | publisher=Schwetschke | year=1837 | page=44a | url=https://archive.org/details/lexiconarabicol00freygoog}} According to some he then married the Queen, while other traditions assert that he gave her in marriage to a tubba of Hamdan. According to the Islamic tradition as represented by al-Hamdani, the queen of Sheba was the daughter of Ilsharah Yahdib, the Himyarite king of Najran.{{citation | author=A. F. L. Beeston | author-link=Alfred Felix Landon Beeston | contribution=SABAʾ | title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition=2nd | volume=8 | publisher=Brill | year=1995 | pages=663–665}}Although the Quran and its commentators have preserved the earliest literary reflection of the complete Bilqis legend, there is little doubt among scholars that the narrative is derived from a Jewish Midrash.{{citation | author=E. Ullendorff | author-link=Edward Ullendorff | contribution=BILḲĪS | title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition=2nd | volume=2 | publisher=Brill | year=1991 | pages=1219–1220}}Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of Ophir served as a basis for legends about the Israelites traveling in the Queen of Sheba's entourage when she returned to her country to bring up her child by Solomon.{{citation | author=Haïm Zʿew Hirschberg | author2=Hayyim J. Cohen | contribution=ARABIA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=3 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=295}} There is a Muslim tradition that the first Jews arrived in Yemen at the time of King Solomon, following the politico-economic alliance between him and the Queen of Sheba.{{citation |author=Yosef Tobi |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica |volume=16 |page=765 |year=2007 |contribution=QUEEN OF SHEBA |edition=2nd |publisher=Gale}}Muslim scholars, including Ibn Kathir, related that the people of Sheba were Arabs from South Arabia.JOURNAL, A-Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism, Brannon M. Wheeler, People of the Well,

Ethiopian and Yemenite tradition

In the medieval Ethiopian cultural work called the Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia.Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), p. 75 Some scholars therefore point to a region in the northern Tigray and Eritrea which was once called Saba (later called Meroe), as a possible link with the biblical Sheba.The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses, by Stuart Munro-Hay Donald N. Levine links Sheba with Shewa (the province where modern Addis Ababa is located) in Ethiopia.Donald N. Levine, Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopia Culture (Chicago: University Press, 1972).Traditional Yemenite genealogies also mention Saba, son of Qahtan; Early Islamic historians identified Qahtan with the Yoqtan (Joktan) son of Eber (Hūd) in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 10:25-29). James A. Montgomery finds it difficult to believe that Qahtan was the biblical Joktan based on etymology.BOOK,weblink Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God's Prophetic Plan for Ishmael's Line, Maalouf, Tony, Kregel Academic, 2003, 9780825493638, 45, en, The Unfortunate Beginning (Gen. 16:1–6), "This view is largely based on the claim of Muslim Arab historians that their oldest ancestor is Qahtan, whom they identify as the biblical Joktan (Gen. 10:25–26). Montgomery finds it difficult to reconcile Joktan with Qahtan based on etymology.", 28 July 2018,weblink 28 July 2018, live, dmy-all, WEB, Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris, Adam to the Banu Khuza'ah,weblink 2015-08-15,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150924092744weblink">weblink 2015-09-24, dead,

Speculation on location

Modern historians agree that the heartland of the Sabaean civilization was located in the region around Marib and Sirwah, in what is now Yemen.Michael Wood, "The Queen Of Sheba", BBC History.{{sfn|Nebes|2023|p=299}} They later expanded their presence into parts of North Arabia{{sfn|Nebes|2023|p=299}} and the Horn of Africa, in modern-day Ethiopia.{{sfn|Nebes|2023|pp=348, 350}}Owing to the connection with the Queen of Sheba, the location has become closely linked with national prestige, and various royal houses claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. According to the medieval Ethiopian work Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. Ruins in many other countries, including Sudan, Egypt, Oman and Iran have been credited as being Sheba, but with only minimal evidence.

See also

• Queen of Sheba
• Haubas
• Sabaeans
• List of rulers of Saba and Himyar
• Qataban
• Old South Arabian, a language
• Ancient history of Yemen

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

Bibliography

• Alessandro de Maigret. Arabia Felix, translated Rebecca Thompson. London: Stacey International, 2002. {{ISBN|1-900988-07-0}}
• Andrey Korotayev. Ancient Yemen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-19-922237-1}}.
• Andrey Korotayev. Pre-Islamic Yemen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996. {{ISBN|3-447-03679-6}}.
• Kenneth A. Kitchen: The World of Ancient Arabia Series. Documentation for Ancient Arabia. Part I. Chronological Framework & Historical Sources. Liverpool 1994.
• Walter W. Müller: Skizze der Geschichte Altsüdarabiens. In: Werner Daum (ed.): Jemen. Pinguin-Verlag, Innsbruck / Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, {{oclc|17785905}}, S. 50–56.
• Walter W. Müller (Hrsg.), Hermann von Wissmann: Die Geschichte von Sabaʾ II. Das Grossreich der Sabäer bis zu seinem Ende im frühen 4. Jh. v. Chr. (= Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte. Vol. 402). Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1982, {{ISBN|3-7001-0516-9}}.
• BOOK, The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: The Age of Persia, Nebes, Norbert, Oxford University Press, 2023, 978-0-19-068766-3, 299–375, Radner, Karen, 5, Early Saba and Its Neighbors, Moeller, Nadine, Potts, D. T.,weblink
• Jaroslav Tkáč: Saba 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Band I A,2, Stuttgart, 1920, Pp. 1298–1511.
• Hermann von Wissmann: Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Alt-Südarabien (Sammlung Eduard Glaser. Nr. III = Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte. Band 246). Vienna: Böhlaus, 1964.
• Hermann von Wissmann: Die Geschichte des Sabäerreiches und der Feldzug des Aelius Gallus. In: Hildegard Temporini: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. II. Principat. Ninth volume, First halfvolume. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1976, {{ISBN|3-11-006876-1}}, p. 308
• Pietsch, Dana, Peter Kuhn, Thomas Scholten, Ueli Brunner, Holger Hitgen, and Iris Gerlach. "Holocene Soils and Sediments around Ma’rib Oasis, Yemen, Further Sabaean Treasures." The Holocene 20.5 (2010): 785-99. Print.
• "Saba'", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013. Web. 27 September 2013.

External links

• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20050308133058weblink">"Queen of Sheba mystifies at the Bowers" – UC Irvine news article on Queen of Sheba exhibit at the Bowers Museum
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140707020418weblink">"A Dam at Marib" from the Saudi Aramco World online – March/April 1978
• Queen of Sheba Temple restored (2000, BBC)
• William Leo Hansberry, E. Harper Johnson, "Africa's Golden Past: Queen of Sheba's true identity confounds historical research", Ebony, April 1965, p. 136 — thorough discussion of previous scholars associating Biblical Sheba with Ethiopia.

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