Flourished 10th century BC
Queen Sheba of, biblical character also figures in Islamic tradition-where she is named Bilqis-and in Ethiopian legend, where, as Makeda, wife of King Solomon, she is credited with founding the first royal line of the Kingdom of Sheba in southwest Arabia.
In the biblical Book of Kings, the Queen of Sheba (or Saba’, a region located by scholars in southwest, or sometimes north, Arabia) visits King Solomon at his court in Jerusalem. Hoping to impress him with her wealth, she arrives with a camel-train laden with spices, gold and jewels. She is overwhelmed by the splendor of Solomon’s state. The Queen plies Solomon with difficult questions and is astonished at the wisdom revealed in his answers.
If the Queen of Sheba was a historical figure, she is likely to have travelled to Jerusalem for diplomatic and commercial reasons. Israel’s prosperity under Solomon is ascribed by scholars to the king’s vigorous expansion of trade, especially in metals, and Solomon would have controlled important overland trade routes from Sheba to the north.
A story in the Islamic holy book, the Qur’an (Koran), recounts a trick played on Bilquis by Solomon, whose attendant spirits, not wanting him to fall in love with the exotic queen, have told him that she has hairy legs with a donkey’s hooves. The king has a glass floor laid in front of his throne. When Bilqis approaches, she mistakes the glass surface for water and lifts her skirts, revealing her hairy legs.
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