QUEEN OF SHEBA
curriculum vitae
(2nd half of the 10th century – 2nd day of the month of Rabi, end of the 10th century BC)
The Queen of the Kingdom of Saba’ or Sheba is mentioned in the Bible and probably had the same name as the supreme divinity of the Sabaeans, Almak. LMQH (‘goddess of the Moon’); according to Ethiopian tradition her name is Makeda; also Nikaulis, Bilqis (Arab.), Queen of the South (Sheba). Founder of the Abyssian (Ethiopian) Solomonic dynasty, she replaced matrilineal inheritance with patrilineal. According to Christian tradition, she foretold the birth and crucifixion of the Saviour.
Sabaean. Born in the town of Marib, Saba, to the south-west of the Arabian Peninsula (northern Yemen) to Harura, daughter of King Talab, and Hadhada from the royal house of Tobba. Had dark skin and wide, bright eyes. According to different sources she had a slight deformity of the legs, although the precise nature is unknown. The most ancient pictorial representation shows her as a Sibyl in a mosaic on the west façade of the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, dated 320s. In the 20th year of her rule she went to Jerusalem to marry Solomon, the King of Israel. Their son Menilek (Baina-Lekom) became King of Axum (Ethiopia).
Held monotheistic beliefs mixed with solar-lunar ritual as part of a state cult.
Died at the age of 27 in the Gumdan Palace in the town of Sana, Yemen. Buried in the town of Palmyra (Tadmor), Syria. Her remains were ceremonially reburied by Caliph Valid I (705-715), and a new marble crypt erected.
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