Sheba

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Sheba

Sheba (Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
: ???, Saba', Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
: ???, Sh'va, Ge'ez, Amharic

Amharic language

Amharic is a Semitic languages spoken in North Central Ethiopia by the Amhara people. It is the second most spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic language, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia....
, Tigrinya

Tigrinya language

Tigrinya , also spelled Tigrigna, Tigrina, Tigri?a, less commonly Tigrinian, Tigrinyan, is a Semitic languages spoken by the Tigray-Tigrinya people in Tigray [Northern Ethiopia] and in central Eritrea , where it is one of the two official languages of Eritrea, and in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia , where it also...
: ??, Saba) was a southern kingdom mentioned in the Jewish scriptures

Tanakh

The Tanakh is the Bible used in Judaism. The name "Tanakh" is a Hebrew language Acronym and initialism formed from the initial Hebrew alphabet of the Tanakh's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim - hence TaNaKh....
(Old Testament

Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
) and the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
. The actual location of the historical kingdom is disputed between southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa

Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea, and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden....
; the kingdom may have been situated in either present-day Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
or present-day Yemen

Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
, or both.
Biblical tradition
Sheba is mentioned several times in the Bible

Hebrew Bible

The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic....
.

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Encyclopedia

Sheba (Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
: ???, Saba', Hebrew

Hebrew language

Amharic language

Tigrinya language

Tanakh

Old Testament

Qur'an

Horn of Africa

Ethiopia

Yemen

Biblical tradition

Sheba is mentioned several times in the Bible

Hebrew Bible

The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic....
. For instance, in the Table of Nations (Genesis

Genesis

Genesis or Breishit is the first book of the Bible used by Judaism and Christianity, and the first of five books of the Pentateuch or Torah....
10:7), Sheba, along with Dedan

Dedan

The word Dedan means "low ground".In the Bible, it can refer to either:*A son of Raamah . His descendants are mentioned in Isaiah 21:13 and Ezekiel 27:15....
, is listed as a descendant of Noah

Noah

Noah was, according to the Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs ; and a prophet according to the Qur'an. The biblical story of Noah is contained in the book of Book of Genesis, chapters 5-9, while the Qur'an has a whole sura named after and devoted to his story with other references elsewhere....
's son Ham

Ham, son of Noah

Ham , according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush , Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan ....
(as sons of Raamah

Raamah

Raamah is a name found in the Bible that may mean "thunder".The name is first mentioned as a son of Cush, in Genesis 10:7, and later appears as a country that traded with the Phoenician city-state of Tyre , in Book of Ezekiel 27:22....
son of Cush

Biblical Cush

Cush was the eldest son of Ham, son of Noah, brother of Canaan and the father of Nimrod , mentioned in the "Table of Nations" in the Hebrew Bible ....
). In Genesis 25:3, Sheba and Dedan are listed as names of sons of Jokshan

Jokshan

Jokshan ; most probably Josephus' Jazar. He was the second son of Abraham and his concubine Keturah, whom he wed after the death of Sarah....
, son of Abraham

Abraham

Abraham is a man featured in the Book of Genesis and an important figure in several monotheistic religions. Judaism, Christianity and Islam traditions regard him as the founding Patriarchs of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomite peoples....
. Another Sheba is listed in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:28) as a son of Joktan

Joktan

Joktan or Yoktan was the second of the two sons of Eber mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. His name means "small" or "smallness".In the Book of Genesis 10:25 it reads: "And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan."...
, another descendant of Noah's son Shem

Shem

Shem was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son....
. Yet another Sheba is mentioned in 2 Samuel 20:1-22 who rebeled against King David, was beheaded and his head thrown over the wall by the people in the city of Abel in order to save their lives.

In Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, the last of these three Shebas (Joktan's son) is considered the primary ancestor of the original Semitic

Semitic

In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages....
component in their ethnogenesis

Ethnogenesis

Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as Ethnicity distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges....
, while Sabtah and Sabtecah, sons of Cush, are considered the ancestors of the Cushitic element.

Jewish

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
-Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
historian

Historian

A historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time....
Josephus

Josephus

Josephus , also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu and, after he became a Roman citizenship, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a first-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70....
describes a place called Saba as a wall

Wall

A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into Room s, or protects or delineates a space in the open air....
ed, royal city of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Cambyses

Cambyses is the name of several members of the Achaemenid line of ancient Persian Empire .*Cambyses , son and successor of Teispes of Anshan, father of an earlier Cyrus and great grandfather of Cyrus the Great....
afterwards named Meroe

Meroë

Mero? is the name of an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, approximately 200 km north-east of Khartoum....
. He says "it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras

Astaboras

Astaboras may refer to:* the Atbarah River of Ethiopia/Sudan, as named by 1st century Greek geographer Strabo* Astaboras, a canal on Mars connecting Syrtis Major to Ismenius Lacus, named after the African river....
" offering protection from both foreign armies and river flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide....
s. According to Josephus it was the conquering of Saba that brought great fame to a young Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ian Prince

Prince

Prince, from the Latin root princeps, is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility....
, simultaneously exposing his personal background as a slave child named Moses

Moses

Moses is a Hebrew Bible Hebrews religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, to whom the Mosaic authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew , he is the most important prophet in Judaism, and also an important prophet of Christianity, Islam, the Bah?'? Faith, Rastafari movement, Chrislam and many ot...
.

The Kitab al-Magall ("Book of the Rolls", considered part of Clementine literature

Clementine literature

Clementine literature is the name given to the religious romance which purports to contain a record made by one Clement of discourses involving the Saint Peter, together with an account of the circumstances under which Clement came to be Peter's travelling companion, and of other details of Clement's family history....
) and the Cave of Treasures
Cave of Treasures

The Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is a book of the New Testament apocrypha. This text is attributed to Ephraim the Syrian, who was born at Nisibis soon after A.D....
mention a tradition that after being founded by the children of Saba (son of Joktan), there was a succession of sixty female rulers up until the time of Solomon

Solomon

Solomon is a figure described in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. He is also called Jedidiah in the Tanakh , and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah split; following th...
. The Biblical tradition of the "Queen of Sheba

Queen of Sheba

The Queen of Sheba , was the woman who ruled the ancient kingdom of Sheba and is referred to in Habeshan history, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur'an....
" (named Makeda in Ethiopian tradition and Bilqis in Islamic tradition) makes its first appearance in world literature in 1 Kings 10, describing her as travelling to Jerusalem to behold the fame of King Solomon.

Owing to the connection with the Queen of Sheba, the location has thus become closely linked with national prestige, as various royal houses have claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon

Solomon

Ethiopia

Eritrea

Islamic origins

The Qur'anic Queen of Sheba, Balqis, was a ruler who visited Solomon

Solomon

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
. The letter read, "In the Name of Allah

Allah

Allah is the standard Arabic language word for God. While the term is best known in the Western world for its use by Muslims as a reference to God, it is used by Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, in reference to "God"....
, the Most Beneficent, and Most Merciful: be you not exalted against me, but come to me as Muslims (true believers who submit with full submission)" (27:30-31 Quran). After visiting with King Solomon

Solomon

Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
), together with Sulayman, to Allah

Allah

Alamin

In Islamic philosophy, Alamin refers to the Universe or Worlds, or all that exists. This includes humans, plants, animals, earth, stars, Genie and angels....
(mankind, jinns, and all that exists)" (27:20-44 Quran).

Archeological considerations

Evidence is mounting of a region in northern Tigray

Tigray

Tigray may refer to:* Tigray Region* Tigray Province* Tigray people...
and Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the Country of Eritrea, is a country in Northeast Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast....
which called itself Saba. As yet, most scholars would call it Ethiopian Saba, and indicate that it supports the assumption that Sabean culture existed both in Ethiopia and Yemen, without one colonizing the other.

Linguistic evidence points to a close historical relationship between the two sides of the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
, as South Semitic

South Semitic

South Semitic is one of the three macro-classifications in Semitic languages linguistics, the other two being East Semitic and West Semitic . Semitic itself is considered a branch of the larger Afro-Asiatic language family found, as indicated in the name, both in Africa and Asia....
languages are found only in two places: southern Arabia (modern Yemen and Oman

Oman

Oman , officially the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab country in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates on the northwest, Saudi Arabia on the west and Yemen on the southwest....
), and the Horn of Africa (modern Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the Country of Eritrea, is a country in Northeast Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast....
and Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Sabaeans

The Sabaeans or Sab?ans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in south west Arabian Peninsula; from 2000 BC to the 8th century BC....
of southern Arabia, who inhabited the same region, is probable. However, others such as Ethiopisant Donald Levine argued in Wax and Gold in favor of one Ethiopian tradition that "Sheba is Shewa

Shewa

Shewa is a historical region of Ethiopia. Formerly an autonomous monarchy within the Ethiopian Empire, the Ethiopian modern capital Addis Ababa is located at its center....
!"

Ruins in many other countries, including Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa....
, Yemen

Yemen

Sudan

Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest in the African continent and the Arab World, and List of countries and outlying territories by total area by area....
, Egypt

Egypt

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the Country of Eritrea, is a country in Northeast Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast....
, and Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
, have been credited as being Sheba, but with only minimal evidence. There has even been a suggestion of a link between the name "Sheba" and that of Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25?50 km off the coast of the mainland....
.

According to Marco Polo

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was a trader and exploration from the Venetian Republic who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione also known as Oriente Poliano and the Description of the World....
, Saba

Saveh

Saveh is a city in the Markazi Province of Iran. It is located around 100 km southwest of Tehran, at an elevation of 1,030 meters . As of 2004, the city had a population of approximately 140,000 people....
is the location of the tombs of the three Magi.

Bibliography

Alessandro de Maigret. Arabia Felix, translated Rebecca Thompson. London: Stacey International, 2002. ISBN 1-900988-07-0
Andrey Korotayev
Andrey Korotayev

Andrey Korotayev is an anthropology, economic historian, and sociology....
. 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.

External links

- UC Irvine news article on Queen of Sheba exhibit at the Bowers Museum
from the 'Saudi Aramco World' online - March/April 1978

Sheba

Biblical tradition

Islamic origins

Archeological considerations

Bibliography

See also

External links