| The Queen of Sheba was one of the most powerful women to hold sway over the Arab world – but who was she? Scott MacMillan heads up the search
ILLUSTRATION BY RAY ZAPANTA FOR ILLUSTRATIONROOM.COM.AU
She came bearing gold – a lot of it. One hundred and twenty talents’ worth to be precise, or about one metric tonne. One thing we can safely say about the Queen of Sheba is that she was a lady of some means. The certainty, however, ends there.
Many say she was one of the earliest Yemeni rulers, while others suggest she may have presided over a tribal state in the deserts of northern Arabia. The Ethiopians claim her as their earliest empress. Or perhaps she was a Nubian beauty, raised along the banks of the Upper Nile. Much remains a mystery about the Queen of Sheba described in the Bible and the Quran, starting with the land from which she came.
According to the account given in the Bible, the queen arrived at the court of King Solomon bearing gold, precious stones and more spices than had ever been seen by the Levantines of the time, which was probably around 1000 BC. Her native land was a seemingly godless place prone to pagan idolatry and sun worship. According to the Quran, Solomon performed a feat of teleportation, bringing her throne to his palace in Jerusalem in the twinkle of an eye. After quizzing the king about his religion, the Queen of Sheba accepted Abrahamic monotheism.
Various other sources suggest that romance flared between the two leaders, with the Ethiopians even claiming that a marriage between Solomon and Sheba bore a son from which descended all their emperors until the last, Haile Selassie, who was deposed in 1974. Neither the Quran nor the Bible mention if she was fair-skinned, black as ebony or a shade in between.
Where was Sheba? Yemen remains among the strongest contenders, and indeed most Yemenis are unequivocal that Sheba, or Saba in Arabic, was in present-day Yemen. They are correct in that a kingdom called Saba did flourish in southern Arabia between the eighth century BC and the fourth century AD. Centred on the city of Marib, Saba was the first unified state in the area. The problem is that neither the Bible nor the Quran provide a map, and modern archaeology has unearthed evidence of other places called Saba.
So the legend persists in rumour and half-truths. She is named as Bilqis in numerous Arabic texts, and the legend of a local queen by that name has roots in Yemen that are likely pre-Islamic. Every few years, sensationalist accounts appear in the Yemeni press that an image of the “real” Queen of Sheba has been found. Almost all these are dubious, if not outright fakes.
Given the number of spurious claims, it’s no surprise that a visit to Yemen in search of the Queen of Sheba raises more questions than it provides answers. Among Yemenis the discussion assumes added weight, for the Sabaean Kingdom has become part of the foundation myth of Yemen itself. The Sabaeans are pegged as the original Yemenis, giving the fabled state no small amount of importance since, as most Yemenis are happy to tell you, the Yemenis are in fact the original Arabs.
If it’s hard evidence you’re after, one place to start is Marib itself, site of the so-called Throne of Bilqis, which is actually a temple to the pre-Islamic god Baran. Archaeologists began excavating the site in 1998, with promoters capitalising on the Queen of Sheba connection and claiming that the temple, recognisable from the five complete limestone pillars that remain standing, would prove to be the “eighth wonder of the world”, rivalling the buried ruins at Pompeii, the Acropolis and the Giza Pyramids in its archaeological importance.
If only it were so. Due to the queen’s enduring allure, the site is potentially a major tourist attraction for Yemen, but because of security concerns it remains off-limits for foreigners, as does the entire Marib district. Within the confines of this no-go area are the remains of what was once Arabia’s greatest city. Attractions include not only the Baran temple, but also a 2,500-year-old dam that provided the most advanced irrigation system in the region when it was built. The sluices remain intact to this day.
It was the dam, or one of its earlier versions, that allowed the Sabaeans to control the largest watershed in Yemen and thus take over neighbouring kingdoms. Advanced irrigation techniques allowed them to build a capital that eventually covered 100 hectares and had a population of 20,000, the largest city in the peninsula at the time. This provides a clue, perhaps, to how the Queen of Sheba became so wealthy – she controlled the local water supply.
Chris Edens, the former director of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies and an archaeologist who has worked extensively in Yemen, says that while it’s conceivable that Bilqis hailed from Yemen, the case is far from convincing. I met with him in the courtyard of the Hotel Dawood in Old Sanaa, surrounded by the ancient tower houses so characteristic of the city – and, it turns out, of Marib itself, for the archaeological evidence suggests the Sabaeans lived in dwellings that resembled smaller versions of these buildings.
The problem is that no evidence exists, prior to medieval times, that a queen ever ruled southern Arabia. “There’s not been a lot of archaeology done in Yemen compared to, say, Palestine, Iraq or Turkey,” says Edens. “This is relatively under-studied. At the same time, most of the effort that has been done has focused on sites that belong to her [alleged] kingdom, and there have been no traces of ruling queens.”
In fact, there is no written record at all, and certainly no evidence of a flourishing Sabaean state, until about 800 BC, which is when construction began on Baran’s temple, the Throne of Bilqis. This is generations after Solomon. “The evidence so far says that writing and the civilisation itself started after she would have been dead for about 100 or 150 years,” says Edens.
Documents put Yemeni claims on even shakier ground. Assyrian records from the ninth and eighth centuries BC mention queens, or high priestesses with political responsibility, that ruled parts of what is now northern Saudi Arabia. The same records also mention a place called Saba, which appears not to be the Saba of Yemen. In other words, there may have been two places with a similar name, and from what little evidence that exists, the northern candidate seems more likely to have had a woman in charge.
“Just to add more complications, Arabic was introduced to Yemen by groups moving south from further north in the peninsula,” adds Edens. “They had a tradition of female rulers in the north and may have brought that with them. They may have introduced Bilqis and the whole story when they came.”
“As there’s no empirical evidence one way or another, I think she’s up for grabs,” says Edens. It seems the truth of the queen and her talents of gold may remain lost beneath the desert sands.
VISITING MARIB
LOCATION Approximately 120km east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa
HOW TO GET THERE By road from Sanaa, the route takes you over the Haraz Mountains. It is compulsory for tourist vehicles to be accompanied by the police; if you are travelling with a tourist company, they will organise the necessary permits
OPENING HOURS Most sights are accessible from sunrise to just before sunset; an admission fee is payable at the Great Marib Dam
MARIB MARKET This is well worth a visit for a taste of the atmosphere
GREAT MARIB DAM Some 8km south-west of the town, this is feted as Yemen’s most famous monument. When the dam burst, locals spread across Arabia and the town was largely abandoned until the discovery of oil. Much of the dam’s remains was used to build the new town, but Sabaean inscriptions can be made out on two sluice gates that remain
OLD MARIB Said to be one of the oldest towns on earth, and to the south of the modern city, it is now deserted
THRONE OF BILQIS Arsh Bilqis is the site of the famous pillars that lie at the heart of our tale
TEMPLE OF BILQIS Further along the road to Safir is the largest of all the Sabaean temples, which includes a dramatic row of eight 12m-high columns |
