Editing Queen of Sheba (section)

== Narrative ==
=== Hebrew ===
{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width=
 |image1=Köln Dom Jüngeres Bibelfenster85.JPG |caption1=Queen of Sheba and Solomon, around 1280, window now in [[Cologne Cathedral]], [[Germany]]
 |image2=Visita de la reina de Saba a Salomón, por Tintoretto.jpg |caption2=''The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon'' by [[Tintoretto]], [[Wiktionary:circa|around]] 1555
}}

The Queen of Sheba ({{langx|he|מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא|Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ}},<ref>{{citation | editor=Francis Brown | editor-link=Francis Brown (theologian) | entry=שְׁבָא | title=Hebrew and English Lexicon | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1906 | page=985a | url=https://archive.org/details/hebrewenglishlex00browuoft}}</ref> in the [[Hebrew Bible]]; {{langx|grc-x-koine|βασίλισσα Σαβά|basílissa Sabá}}, in the [[Septuagint]];<ref>{{citation | editor=Alan England Brooke | editor2=Norman McLean | editor3=Henry John Thackeray | title=The Old Testament in Greek | year=1930 | volume=II.2 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | page=243 | url=https://archive.org/download/OldTestamentGreeklxxTextCodexVaticanus/06.OTGreek.Vat.v2.LHB.p2.Kings.I.II.Brooke.McLean.1930..pdf}}</ref> {{langx|syr|ܡܠܟܬ ܫܒܐ}};<ref>{{citation | editor=J. Payne Smith | editor-link=Jessie Payne Margoliouth | entry=ܡܠܟܬܐ | title=A compendious Syriac dictionary | volume=1 | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1903 | page=278a | url=https://archive.org/details/CompendiousSyriacDictionarysmithVol1}}{{dead link|date=January 2024}}</ref>{{romanization needed}} {{langx|gez|ንግሥተ ሳባ|Nəgśətä Saba}}<ref>{{citation | first=August | last=Dillmann | author-link=August Dillmann | entry=ንግሥት | title=Lexicon linguae Aethiopicae | page=687a | year=1865 | publisher=Weigel | url=https://archive.org/details/lexiconlinguaeae00dilluoft}}</ref>), whose name is not stated, came to [[Jerusalem]] "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones" ([[1 Kings 10]]:2). "Never again came such an abundance of spices" (10:10; [[2 Chronicles 9]]:1–9) as those she gave to Solomon. She came "to prove him with hard questions", which Solomon answered to her satisfaction. They exchanged gifts, after which she returned to her land.<ref name="ej2-solomon">{{citation | author=Samuel Abramsky | author2=S. David Sperling | author3=Aaron Rothkoff | author4=Haïm Zʾew Hirschberg | author5=Bathja Bayer | contribution=SOLOMON | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=18 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | pages=755–763| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref><ref name="ej2-queen" />

The use of the term {{Transliteration|he|ḥiddot}} or 'riddles' ([[1 Kings 10]]:1), an [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] [[loanword]] whose shape points to a sound shift no earlier than the sixth century BC, indicates a late origin for the text.<ref name="ej2-solomon" /> Since there is no mention of the [[Fall of Babylon]] in 539 BC, [[Martin Noth]] has held that the [[Books of Kings|Book of Kings]] received a definitive redaction around 550 BC.<ref>{{citation | author=John Gray | contribution=Kings, Book of | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=12 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | pages=170–175| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref>

Sheba was quite well known in the classical world, and its country was called [[Arabia Felix]].<ref name="ej2-queen">{{citation | author=Yosef Tobi | contribution=QUEEN OF SHEBA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=16 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=765| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref> Around the mid-1st millennium BC, there were [[Sabaeans]] also in [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]], in the area that later became the realm of [[Aksum]].<ref name="ei2-saba">{{citation | author=A. F. L. Beeston | contribution=SABAʾ | title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition=2nd | volume=8 | publisher=Brill | year=1995 | pages=663–665| author-link=Alfred Felix Landon Beeston | title-link=The Encyclopaedia of Islam }}</ref> There are five places in the Bible where the writer distinguishes ''Sheba'' ({{lang|he|שׁבא}}), i.e. the Yemenite Sabaeans, from ''Seba'' ({{lang|he|סבא}}), i.e. the African Sabaeans. In [[Book of Psalms|Ps.]] 72:10 they are mentioned together: "the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts".<ref>{{citation | editor=John McClintock | editor-link=John McClintock (theologian) | editor2=James Strong | editor2-link=James Strong (theologian) | entry=Seba | title=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature | volume=9 | publisher=Harper & Brothers | year=1894 | pages=495–496| title-link=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature }}</ref> This spelling differentiation, however, may be purely factitious; the indigenous inscriptions make no such difference, and both Yemenite and African Sabaeans are there spelled in exactly the same way.<ref name="ei2-saba" />

=== Arabic ===
Although there are still no inscriptions found from [[South Arabia]] that furnish evidence for the Queen of Sheba herself, South Arabian inscriptions do mention a South Arabian queen (''mlkt'', [[Ancient South Arabian script|Ancient South Arabian]]: {{script|Sarb|𐩣𐩡𐩫𐩩}}).<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Maraqten|first=Mohammed|date=2008|title=Women's inscriptions recently discovered by the AFSM at the Awām temple/Maḥram Bilqīs in Marib, Yemen|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223951|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|volume=38|pages=231–249|jstor=41223951|issn=0308-8421}}</ref> And in the north of Arabia, [[Assyria]]n inscriptions repeatedly mention Arab queens.<ref name="ej2-sabea">{{citation | author=John Gray | contribution=SABEA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=17 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=631| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref> Furthermore, Sabaean tribes knew the title of ''mqtwyt'' ("high official", {{langx|xsa|𐩣𐩤𐩩𐩥𐩺𐩩}}). ''Makada'' or ''Makueda'', the personal name of the queen in Ethiopian legend, might be interpreted as a popular rendering of the title of ''mqtwyt''.<ref name="nce-saba">{{citation | author=A. Jamme | contribution=SABA (SHEBA) | title=New Catholic Encyclopedia | edition=2nd | volume=12 | publisher=Gale | year=2003 | pages=450–451| title-link=New Catholic Encyclopedia }}</ref> This title may be derived from [[Ancient Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]] ''m'kit'' ({{lang|egy|𓅖𓎡𓇌𓏏𓏛}}) "protectress, [[housewife]]".<ref>{{citation | author=E. A. Wallis Budge | entry=m'kit | title=Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary | volume=1 | publisher=John Murray | year=1920 | page=288b | url=https://archive.org/details/egyptianhierogly01budguoft| author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge }}</ref>

The queen's visit could have been a [[trade mission]].<ref name="ej2-queen" /><ref name="ei2-saba" /> Early South Arabian trade with [[Mesopotamia]] involving wood and spices transported by [[camel]]s is attested in the early 9th century BC and may have begun as early as the 10th.<ref name="ej2-solomon" /> A recent theory suggests that the [[Ophel inscription]] in Jerusalem was written in the [[Sabaic language]] and that the text provides evidence for trade connections between ancient South Arabia and the [[Kingdom of Judah]] during the 10th century BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Incense from Sheba for the Jerusalem Temple |journal=Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology |last=Vainstub |first=Daniel |volume=4 |pages=42–68 |doi=10.52486/01.00004.2 |year=2023 |s2cid=257845221 |issn=2788-8819|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The ancient Sabaic [[Awwam|Awwām Temple]], known in folklore as ''Maḥram'' ("the Sanctuary of") ''Bilqīs'', was excavated by archaeologists, but no trace of the Queen of Sheba has been discovered in the many inscriptions found there.<ref name="ej2-queen" /> Another Sabean temple, the Barran Temple ({{langx|ar|معبد بران}}), is also known as the '' 'Arash Bilqis' '' ("Throne of Bilqis"), which like the nearby Awwam Temple was also dedicated to the god [[Almaqah]], but the connection between the [[Barran Temple]] and Sheba has not been established archaeologically either.<ref>{{cite web |title=Barran Temple |url=https://madainproject.com/barran_temple |website=Madain Project |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref>

Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of [[Ophir]] served as a basis for legends about the Israelites traveling in the Queen of Sheba's entourage when she returned to her country to bring up her child by Solomon.<ref>{{citation | author=Haïm Zʿew Hirschberg | author2=Hayyim J. Cohen | contribution=ARABIA | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=3 | year=2007 | publisher=Gale | page=295| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref>