Over the centuries, the Bible's barebones account of the meeting between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba has been fleshed out by additional religious texts and folktales.
This image is King Solomon and Queen of Sheba as depicted in an illuminated manuscript of Speculum Humanae Salvationis (ca. 1430). Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
In Brief
Sheba, despite the mystery of her origins, presents us with a valid memory of women who managed to carve out high-ranking positions for themselves in worlds dominated by men. An independent woman ruling a fabulously wealthy Arabian or African kingdom to the south of Judah, this unnamed queen appears in one of the many stories emphasizing the grandeur of Solomon’s court and his international reputation for extraordinary wisdom. Whether viewed as a dangerous demonic partner or a noble ancestress, traditional sources portray her as an able ruler, and hence, a powerful human incarnation of the virtues and abilities residing in Woman Wisdom of Proverbs 1–9.
Bibliography
Abbott, Nabia. “Pre-Islamic Arab Queens.” American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature 58 (1941): 1–22.
Fontaine, Carole R. “More Queenly Proverb Performance: The Queen of Sheba in the Targum Esther Sheni.” In Wisdom, You Are My Sister: Studies in Honor of Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm., on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, edited by Michael L. Barré, 216–233. Washington, D. C.: 1997.
Lassner, Jacob. Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam. Chicago: 1993.
Meyers, Carol, General Editor. Women in Scripture. New York: 2000.
Pritchard, James B., ed. Solomon and Sheba. London: 1974.
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