Queen of Sheba

For other uses, see Queen of Sheba (disambiguation).
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba Piero della Francesca
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba by Handel
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The Queen of Sheba is a queen regnant who appears in the Bible. The tale of her visit to King Solomon has undergone extensive Jewish, Arabian and Ethiopian elaborations, and has become the subject of one of the most widespread and fertile cycles of legends in the Orient.[1]

Narratives

Bible

Queen of Sheba and Solomon, around 1280, window nowadays in Cologne Cathedral

The queen of Sheba (מַֽלְכַּת־שְׁבָׄא, malakat-shaba in the Hebrew Bible, βασίλισσα Σαβὰ in the Septuagint, Syriac ܡܠܟܬ ܫܒܐ,[2] Ethiopic ንግሥተ፡ሳባእ፡[3]) came to Jerusalem "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones" (I Kings 10:2). "Never again came such an abundance of spices" (10:10; II Chron. 9:1–9) as those which she gave to Solomon. She came "to prove him with hard questions", all of which Solomon answered to her satisfaction. They exchanged gifts, after which she returned to her land.[4][5]

The use of the term ḥiddot or "riddles" (I Kings 10:1), an Aramaic loanword whose shape points to a sound shift no earlier than the sixth century B.C., indicates a late origin for the text.[4] Since there is no mention of the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E., Martin Noth has held that the Book of Kings received a definitive redaction around 550 B.C.E.[6]

Virtually all modern scholars agree that Sheba was the South Arabian kingdom of Saba, centered around the oasis of Marib, in present-day Yemen. Sheba was quite known in the classical world, and its country was called Arabia Felix.[5] Around the middle of the first millennium B.C., there were Sabaeans also in the Horn of Africa, in the area that later became the realm of Aksum.[7] There are five places in the Bible where the writer distinguishes Sheba (שׁבא), i. e. the Yemenite Sabaeans, from Seba (סבא), i. e. the African Sabaeans. In Ps. 72:10 they are mentioned together: "the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts".[8] This spelling differentiation, however, may be purely factitious; the indigenous inscriptions make no such difference, and both Yemenite and African Sabaeans are there spelt in exactly the same way.[7]

The alphabetic inscriptions from South Arabia furnish no evidence for women rulers, but Assyrian inscriptions repeatedly mention Arab queens in the north.[9] Queens are well attested in Arabia, though according to Kitchen, not after 690 B.C.E.[4] Furthermore, Sabaean tribes knew the title of mqtwyt (high official). Makada or Makueda, the personal name of the queen in Ethiopian legend, might be interpreted as a popular rendering of the title of mqtwyt.[10]

The queen's visit could have been a trade mission.[5][7] Early South Arabian trade with Mesopotamia involving wood and spices transported by camels is attested in the early ninth century B.C. and may have begun as early as the tenth.[4]

The ancient Sabaic Awwām Temple, known in folklore as Maḥram (the Sanctuary of) Bilqīs, was recently excavated by archaeologists, but no trace of Queen of Sheba has been discovered so far in the many inscriptions found there.[5]

Christian

The Queen of Sheba, Prague, Czech Republic

Christian scriptures mention a "queen of the South" (Greek: βασίλισσα νότου, basilissa notou) Latin: Regina austri), who "came from the uttermost parts of the earth", i.e. from the extremities of the then known (Christian) world, to hear the wisdom of Solomon (Mt. 12:42; Lk. 11:31).[11]

The mystical interpretation of the Canticles, which was felt of supplying a literal basis for the speculations of the allegorists, makes its first appearance in Origen, who wrote a voluminous commentary on the Canticles.[12] In his commentary, Origen identified the bride of the Canticles with the "queen of the South" of the Gospels, i. e. the Queen of Sheba, who is assumed to have been Ethiopian.[13] Others have proposed either the marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter, or his marriage with an Israelitish woman, the Shulamite. The former was the favorite opinion of the mystical interpreters to the end of the 18th century; the latter has obtained since its introduction by Good (1803).[12]

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, Claude Lorrain (1600‒1682), oil on canvas

The bride of the Canticles is assumed to have been black due to a passage in Cant. 1:5, which the Revised Standard Version (1952) translates as "I am very dark, but comely", as does Jerome (Latin: Nigra sum, sed formosa), while the New Revised Standard Version (1989) has "I am black and beautiful", as the Septuagint (Greek: μέλαινα ἐιμί καί καλή).[14]

Solomon and The Queen of Sheba Giovanni De Min 1789–1859

The legend exists that the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon the self-same gifts which the Magi afterwards brought to Christ.[15]

During the Middle Ages, Christians sometimes identified the queen of Sheba with the sibyl Sabba.[16]

Mention should be made of the very special significance of the Old Testament for African Christians. Africans identify with the Old Testament and its rituals (such as sacrifice) and this sometimes brings them into conflict with missionaries who emphasize a Christianity based on the New Testament and European cultural taste. Africans want to embrace the Old Testament literally – such as its marriage customs and its emphasis on community – and find inspiration and sustenance in the Exodus theme of Liberation (J. Mbiti, "African Christians and the Jewish Religion", in: Christian Attitudes on Jews and Judaism (October 1977), 1–4).[17]

Aggadah

According to Josephus (Ant. 8:165–73), the queen of Sheba was the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and brought to Israel the first specimens of the balsam, which grew in the Holy Land in the historian's time.[5][18]

The Talmud (Bava Batra 15b) insists that it was not a woman but a king of Sheba (based on varying interpretations of Hebrew mlkt) that came to Jerusalem, obviously intended to discredit existing stories about the relations between Solomon and the Queen.[1]

The most elaborate account of the queen's visit to Solomon is given in the 8th century (?) Targum Sheni to Esther. A hoopoe informed Solomon that the kingdom of Sheba was the only kingdom on earth not subject to him and that its queen was a sun worshiper. He thereupon sent it to Kitor in the land of Sheba with a letter attached to its wing commanding its queen to come to him as a subject. She thereupon sent him all the ships of the sea loaded with precious gifts and 6,000 youths of equal size, all born at the same hour and clothed in purple garments. They carried a letter declaring that she could arrive in Jerusalem within three years although the journey normally took seven years. When the queen arrived and came to Solomon's palace, thinking that the glass floor was a pool of water, she lifted the hem of her dress, uncovering her legs. Solomon informed her of her mistake and reprimanded her for her hairy legs. She asked him three (Targ. Sheni to Esther 1:3) or, according to the Midrash (Prov. ii. 6; Yalḳ. ii., § 1085, Midrash ha-Hefez), other riddles to test his wisdom.[1][4][5][18]

The 11th century (?) Alphabet of Ben Sira avers that Nebuchadnezzar was the fruit of the union between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.[1]

In the Kabbalah, the Queen of Sheba was considered one of the queens of the demons and is sometimes identified with Lilith, first in the Targum of Job (1:15), and later in the Zohar and the subsequent literature. A Jewish and Arab myth maintains that the Queen was actually a jinn, half human and half demon.[19][20]

In Ashkenazi folklore, the figure merged with the popular image of Helen of Troy or the Frau Venus of German mythology. Ashkenazi incantations commonly depict the Queen of Sheba as a seductive dancer. Until recent generations she was popularly pictured as a snatcher of children and a demonic witch.[20]

Islam

Bilqis reclining in a garden, Persian miniature (ca. 1595), tinted drawing on paper
Illustration in a Hafez Frontispiece Depicting Queen Sheba, Walters manuscript W.631, around 1539

In the Quran, the queen is simply the "queen of the south" (XXVII, 27 ff.).[7] The story is similar to the Bible and other Jewish sources.[5] Solomon commanded the Queen of Sheba to come to him as a subject, whereupon she appeared before him (XXVII, 30–31, 45). Before the queen had arrived, Solomon had got her throne to his palace with the help of a jinn. She recognized the throne, which had been disguised, and finally accepted the faith of Solomon. (XXVII, 34).[18] Much is omitted that is quite necessary for the understanding of the story.[21]

Muslim commentators (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Baydawi) supplement the story at various points. The Queen's name is given as Bilkis, probably derived from Greek παλλακίς or the Hebraised pilegesh, "concubine". The demons at Solomon's Court, afraid that the King may marry Bilkis, spread the rumour that the Queen has hairy legs and the foot of an ass. Hence Solomon's ruse of constructing a glass floor which the Queen mistakes for water thus causing her to lift her skirts. Solomon then commands his demons to prepare a special depilatory to remove the disfiguring hair. According to some he then married the Queen, while other traditions assert that he gave her in marriage to a tubba of Hamdan.[1]

Although the Quran and its commentators have preserved the earliest literary reflection of the complete Bilkis legend, there is little doubt among scholars that the narrative is derived from a Jewish Midrash.[1]

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.[22] 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. However, that tradition is suspected to be an apologetic fabrication of Jews in Yemen later transferred to Islam, just like many other traditions.[5]

Coptic

The story of Solomon and the queen was popular among Copts, as shown by fragments of a Coptic legend preserved in a Berlin papyrus. The queen, having been subdued by deceit, gives Solomon a pillar on which all earthly science is inscribed. Solomon sends one of his demons to fetch the pillar from Ethiopia, whence it instantly arrives. In a Coptic poem, queen Yesaba of Cush asks riddles of Solomon.[23]

Ethiopian

The fullest and most significant version of the legend appears in the 14th century (?) Kebra Nagast (Glory of the Kings), the Ethiopian national saga. Here Menelik I is the child of Solomon and Makeda (the Ethiopic name of Bilkis) from whom the Ethiopian dynasty claims descent to the present day. While the Abyssinian story offers much greater detail, it omits any mention of the Queen's hairy legs or any other element that might reflect on her unfavourably.[1][24]

Based on the Gospels of Matthew (12:42) and Luke (11:31), the "queen of the South" is claimed to be the queen of Ethiopia. In those times, King Solomon sought merchants from all over the world, in order to buy materials for the building of the Temple. Among them was Tamrin, great merchant of Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. Having returned to Ethiopia, Tamrin told the queen of the wonderful things he had seen in Jerusalem, and of Solomon's wisdom and generosity, whereupon she decided to visit Solomon. She was warmly welcomed, given a palace for dwelling, and received great gifts every day. Solomon and Makeda spoke with great wisdom, and instructed by him, she converted to Judaism. Before she left, there was a great feast in the king's palace. Makeda stayed in the palace overnight, after Salomon had sworn that he would not do her any harm, while she swore in return that she would not steal from him. As the meals had been spicy, Makeda awoke thirsty at night, and went to drink some water, when Solomon appeared, reminding her of her oath. She answered: "Ignore your oath, just let me drink water." That same night, Solomon had a dream about the sun rising over Israel, but being mistreated and despised by the Jews, the sun moved to shine over Ethiopia and Rome (i. e. the Byzantine empire). Solomon gave Makeda a ring as a token of faith, and then she left. On her way home, she gave birth to a son, whom she named Baina-leḥkem (i. e. bin al-ḥakīm, "Son of the Wise", later called Menilek). After the boy had grown up in Ethiopia, he went to Jerusalem carrying the ring, and was received with great honors. The king and the people tried in vain to persuade him to stay. Solomon gathered his nobles and announced that he would send his first-born son to Ethiopia together with their first-borns. He added that he was expecting a third son, who would marry the king of Rome's daughter and reign over Rome, so that the entire world would be ruled by David's descendants. Then Baina-leḥkem was anointed king by Zadok the high priest, and he took the name David. The first-born nobles who followed him are named, and even today some Ethiopian families claim their ancestry from them. Prior to leaving, the priests' sons had stolen the Ark of the Covenant, after their leader Azaryas had offered a sacrifice as commanded by one God's angel. With much wailing, the procession left Jerusalem on a wind cart lead and carried by the archangel Michael. Having arrived at the Red Sea, Azaryas revealed to the people that the Ark is with them. David prayed to the Ark and the people rejoiced, singing, dancing, blowing horns and flutes, and beating drums. The Ark showed its miraculous powers during the crossing of the stormy Sea, and all arrived unscathed. When Solomon learned that the Ark had been stolen, he sent a horseman after the thieves, and even gave chase himself, but neither could catch them. Solomon returned to Jerusalem, and gave orders to the priests to remain silent about the theft and to place a copy of the Ark in the Temple, so that the foreign nations could not say that Israel had lost ist fame.[25]

According to some sources, Queen Makeda was part of the dynasty originally founded by Za Besi Angabo in 1370 B.C.E., with her grandfather and father being the last male rulers of the royal line. The family's intended choice to rule Aksum was Makeda's brother, Prince Nourad, but his early death led to her succession to the throne. She apparently ruled the Ethiopian kingdom for more than 50 years.[26]

In the Ethiopian Book of Aksum, Makeda is described as establishing a new capital city at Azeba.

Edward Ullendorff holds that Makeda is a corruption of Candace, the name or title of several Ethiopian queens from Meroe or Seba. Candace was the name of that queen of the Ethiopians whose chamberlain was converted to Christianity under the preaching of Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8:27) in 30 C.E. In the 14th century (?) Ethiopic version of the Alexander romance, Alexander the Great of Macedonia (Ethiopic Meqédon) is said to have met a queen Kandake of Nubia.[27]

Historians believe that the Solomonic dynasty actually began in 1270 with the emperor Yekuno Amlak, who, with the support of the Ethiopian Church, overthrew the Zagwe Dynasty, which had ruled Ethiopia since sometime during the 10th century. The link to King Solomon provided a strong foundation for Ethiopian national unity. Despite the fact that the dynasty officially ended in 1769 with Emperor Iyaos, Ethiopian rulers continued to trace their connection to it, right up to the last 20th-century emperor, Haile Selassie.[24]

According to one tradition, the Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel, "Falashas") also trace their ancestry to Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.[28] An opinion which appears to be more historical is that the Falashas are the descendants of those Jews who settled in Egypt after the first exile, and who, upon the fall of the Persian domination (539–333 B.C.E.) on the borders of the Nile, penetrated into the Sudan, whence they went into the western parts of Abyssinia.[29]

Other

The Luhya people of Kenya call the Queen of Sheba Nakuti.

The Yoruba Ijebu clan of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, claim that she was a noblewoman of theirs known as Oloye Bilikisu Sungbo, which is similar to the name mentioned in the Quran, Balqis. They also assert that a medieval system of walls and ditches, built sometime around the 10th century, was dedicated to her. After excavations in 1999 the archaeologist Patrick Darling was quoted as saying, "I don't want to overplay the Sheba theory, but it cannot be discounted... The local people believe it and that's what is important... The most cogent argument against it at the moment is the dating."[30]

In art

Medieval

The treatment of Solomon in literature, art, and music also involves the sub-themes of the Queen of Sheba and the Shulammite of the Song of Songs. King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba was not a common subject until the 12th century. In Christian iconography Solomon represented Jesus, and Sheba represented the gentile Church; hence Sheba's meeting with Solomon bearing rich gifts foreshadowed the adoration of the Magi. On the other hand, Sheba enthroned represented the coronation of the virgin.[4]

Sculptures of the Queen of Sheba are found on great Gothic cathedrals such as Chartres, Rheims, Amiens, and Wells.[4] The 12th century cathedrals at Strasbourg, Chartres, Rochester and Canterbury include artistic renditions in stained glass windows and doorjamb decorations.[31] Likewise of Romanesque art, the enamel depiction of a black woman at Klosterneuburg Monastery.[32] The Queen of Sheba, standing in water before Solomon, is depicted on a window in King's College Chapel, Cambridge.[1]

The explicit sexual content of the Song of Songs and the rather strong female role model of the Queen has sometimes been downplayed and even demonized by reducing her regal power attributes.[33] However there has been no generic depiction of the Queen as being passive or powerless; on the contrary, she was preferably used to show female sovereignty and might.[34] E.g. author Christine de Pizan praised the Queen for secular and religious wisdom in 'The City of Ladies' (1405) and lists her besides Christian and Hebrew prophetesses as first on a list of dignified female pagan.[34]

Renaissance

Florence Baptistry door, Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378‒1455), bronze relief

The reception of the queen was a popular subject during the Italian Renaissance. It appears in the bronze doors to the Florence Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti, in frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli (Campo Santo, Pisa) and in the Raphael Loggie (Vatican). Examples of Venetian art are by Tintoretto (Prado) and Veronese (Pinacotheca, Turin). In the 17th century, Claude Lorrain painted The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba (National Gallery, London).[4]

Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo (ca. 1466) on the Legend of the True Cross contain two panels on the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. The legend links the beams of Solomon's palace (adored by Queen of Sheba) to the wood of the crucifixion. The Renaissance continuation of the analogy between the Queen's visit to Solomon and the adoration of the Magi is evident in the Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1510) by Hieronymus Bosch.[35]

Berta Golahny with her sculpture of 'Sheba'.

Literature

Boccaccio's On Famous Women (Latin: De Mulieribus Claris) follows Josephus in calling the Queen of Sheba, Nicaula. Boccaccio goes on to explain that not only was she the Queen of Ethiopia and Egypt, but also the queen of Arabia. She also is related to have had a grand palace on "a very large island" called Meroe, located someplace near the Nile river, "practically on the other side of the world." From there Nicaula crossed the deserts of Arabia, through Ethiopia and Egypt and up the coast of the Red Sea, to come to Jerusalem to see "the great King Solomon".[36]

Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies continues the convention of calling the Queen of Sheba, Nicaula. The author praised the Queen for secular and religious wisdom and lists her besides Christian and Hebrew prophetesses as first on a list of dignified female pagan.[34]

Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus refers to the Queen of Sheba as Saba, when Mephistopheles is trying to persuade Faustus of the wisdom of the women with whom he supposedly shall be presented every morning.[37]

The Queen of Sheba has been an important role model and base for different narratives, works of arts, scientific studies and musical compositions over centuries till the present. The legend has led to different variants of the Chosen people narrative.[38]

Léopold Sédar Senghor's "Elégie pour la Reine de Saba," published in his Elégies majeures in 1976, uses the Queen of Sheba in a love poem and for a political message. Senghor already had put Africa's cultural achievements on the same level as Europe's, seeing them as being part of the same cultural continuum.[39] In the 1970s, he used the Queen of Sheba fable to widen his view of Negritude and Eurafrique by including 'Arab-Berber Africa'.[40]

Jill Francis Hudson's novel The Last Queen of Sheba (Lion Publishing 2014) uses the Queen's Ethiopian name, Makeda, and explores her relationship with King Solomon and her possible role in his downfall.

In 'Mister Pip' by Lloyd Jones, one of the main characters, Mrs Grace Watts, played the queen of Sheba in a play. She was mentally ill and could not snap out of the role; she was always in character. This meant she would never talk meaning the villagers thought of her to be very strange and often mocked her, calling her 'Mrs Pop Eye' and her husband, Mr. Tom Watts, 'Pop Eye'.

Film

Betty Blythe as the queen in The Queen of Sheba (1921).

Music

Television

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 E. Ullendorff (1991), "BILḲĪS", The Encyclopaedia of Islam 2 (2nd ed.), Brill, pp. 1219–1220
  2. ↑ J. Payne Smith, ed. (1903), "ܡܠܟܬܐ", A compendious Syriac dictionary 1, Oxford University Press, p. 278a
  3. ↑ August Dillmann (1865), "ንግሥት", Lexicon linguae Aethiopicae, Weigel, p. 687a
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Samuel Abramsky; S. David Sperling; Aaron Rothkoff; Haïm Zʾew Hirschberg; Bathja Bayer (2007), "SOLOMON", Encyclopaedia Judaica 18 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 755–763
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Yosef Tobi (2007), "QUEEN OF SHEBA", Encyclopaedia Judaica 16 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 765
  6. ↑ John Gray (2007), "KINGS, BOOK OF", Encyclopaedia Judaica 12 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 170–175
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 A. F. L. Beeston (1995), "SABAʾ", The Encyclopaedia of Islam 8 (2nd ed.), Brill, pp. 663–665
  8. ↑ John McClintock; James Strong, eds. (1894), "Seba", Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature 9, Harper & Brothers, pp. 495–496
  9. ↑ John Gray (2007), "SABEA", Encyclopaedia Judaica 17 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 631
  10. ↑ A. Jamme (2003), "SABA (SHEBA)", New Catholic Encyclopedia 12 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 450–451
  11. ↑ John McClintock; James Strong, eds. (1891), "Sheba", Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature 9, Harper & Brothers, pp. 626–628
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 John McClintock; James Strong, eds. (1891), "Canticles", Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature 2, Harper & Brothers, pp. 92–98
  13. ↑ Origen (1829), D. Caillau; D. Guillon, eds., Origenis commentaria, Collectio selecta ss. Ecclesiae Patrum 10, Méquiqnon-Havard, p. 332
  14. ↑ Raphael Loewe et al. (2007), "BIBLE", Encyclopaedia Judaica 3 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 615
  15. ↑ John McClintock; James Strong, eds. (1891), "Solomon", Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature 9, Harper & Brothers, pp. 861–872
  16. ↑ Arnaldo Momigliano; Emilio Suarez de la Torre (2005), "SIBYLLINE ORACLES", Encyclopedia of Religion 12 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 8382–8386
  17. ↑ R. J. Zwi Werblowsky; Geoffrey Wigoder (2007), "CHRISTIANITY", Encyclopaedia Judaica 4 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 673–694
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Ludwig Blau (1905), "SHEBA, QUEEN OF", Jewish Encyclopedia 11, Funk and Wagnall, pp. 235‒236
  19. ↑ Gershom Scholem (2007), "DEMONS, DEMONOLOGY", Encyclopaedia Judaica 5 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 572–578
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Susannah Heschel (2007), "LILITH", Encyclopaedia Judaica 13 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 17–20
  21. ↑ Charles Cutler Torrey (1933), The Jewish Foundation of Islam (PDF), Jewish Institute of Religion Press, pp. 113–115
  22. ↑ Haïm Zʿew Hirschberg; Hayyim J. Cohen (2007), "ARABIA", Encyclopaedia Judaica 3 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 295
  23. ↑ Johannes Leipoldt (1909), "Geschichte der koptischen Litteratur", in Carl Brockelmann; Franz Nikolaus Finck; Johannes Leipoldt et al., Geschichte der christlichen Litteraturen des Orients (2nd ed.), Amelang, pp. 165—166
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Willie F. Page; R. Hunt Davis, Jr., eds. (2005), "Solomonic dynasty", Encyclopedia of African History and Culture 2 (revised ed.), Facts on File, p. 206
  25. ↑ Enno Littmann (1909), "Geschichte der äthiopischen Litteratur", in Carl Brockelmann; Franz Nikolaus Finck; Johannes Leipoldt et al., Geschichte der christlichen Litteraturen des Orients (2nd ed.), Amelang, pp. 246—249
  26. ↑ Willie F. Page; R. Hunt Davis, Jr., eds. (2005), "Makeda, Queen (queen of Sheba)", Encyclopedia of African History and Culture 1 (revised ed.), Facts on File, pp. 158–159
  27. ↑ Vincent DiMarco, 'Travels in Medieval Femenye:Alexander the Great and the Amazon Queen,' in Theodor Berchem, Volker Kapp, Franz Link (eds.)Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch Duncker & Humblot, 1973 pp.47-66 pp.56-7.
  28. ↑ K. Hruby; T. W. Fesuh (2003), "FALASHAS", New Catholic Encyclopedia 5 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 609–610
  29. ↑ Jacques Faitlovitch (1920), "The Falashas" (PDF), American Jewish Year Book 22: 80–100
  30. ↑ Archaeologists find clues to Queen of Sheba in Nigeria, Find May Rival Egypt's Pyramids
  31. ↑ Byrd, Vickie, editor; Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality, (Santa Ana, California: The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2004), p. 17.
  32. ↑ Nicholas of Verdun: Klosterneuburg Altarpiece, 1181; column #4/17, row #3/3. NB the accompanying subject and hexameter verse: "Regina Saba." "Vulnere dignare regina fidem Salemonis." The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database; retrieved 24 December 2013.
  33. ↑ Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam by Jacob Lassner, Daniel Boyarin, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Oct., 1994), pp. 300-302
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Needle, Scepter, Sovereignty: The Queen of Sheba in Englishwomen's Amateur Needlework Ann Rosalind Jones Early Modern Culture. (2003).
  35. ↑ Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bosch/91adorat/01tripty.html, website accessed August 2, 2006
  36. ↑ Giovanni Boccaccio, Famous Women translated by Virginia Brown 2001, p. 90; Cambridge and London, Harvard University Press; ISBN 0-674-01130-9;
  37. ↑ Marlowe, Christopher; Doctor Faustus and other plays: Oxford World Classics, p. 155.
  38. ↑ The Queen of Sheba: Legend, Literature and Lore, Deborah M. Coulter-Harris, McFarland, 10.01.2013,
  39. ↑ Eurafrique as the Future Past of Black France: Sarkozy's Temporal Confusion and Senghor's Postwar Vision / Gary Wilder, in Black France / France Noire: The History and Politics of Blackness, Trica Danielle Keaton, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Tyler Stovall, Tyler Edward Stovall, Duke University Press, 26.06.2012
  40. ↑ Spleth, Janice. The Arabic Constituents of Africanité : Senghor and the Queen of Sheba. Research in African literatures, Winter 2002, vol. 33, no 4, p. 60-75.Review on Muse

Bibliography

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