The Queen of Sheba: legend
Queen of Sheba – the Legend
The Queen of Sheba is mentioned in the Bible and the Qur’an, as well as in many Persian and Arabian tales. At birth, she was named Makeda – the Queen of the South. The earliest mention of the Queen of Sheba is the Third Book of Kings (“The First of Kings” among the Jews) of the Old Testament. Unlike the stingy mention in the Bible, in the sacred Old-Fiop book “Kobra nagast” (translated from the language of Geez – “The Book of the Glory of Kings”) the visit of Israel by the Queen of Sheba is described in great detail.
Having learned about the great deeds and wisdom of King Solomon (approximately 965-926 BC), the Queen of Sheba arrives in Jerusalem to check it and gives riddles to Solomon. Makeda was so beautiful and regal that Solomon was fascinated by the young queen. But at the same time during the first meeting with the Israeli king some story was happened. It’s described in one of the books of the Talmud – “Midrash”. According to the conviction of the ancient Semites, one of the characteristic features of the devil is goat hooves. Solomon was afraid that under the guise of a beautiful woman in his guest hiding the devil. To check whether this is so, he built a pavilion with a glass floor, launched fish there and suggested Makeda to go through this hall. The illusion of this pool was so strong that the Queen of Sheba, crossing the threshold of the pavilion, did what every woman instinctively does when entering the water – lifted her dress. Just for a moment. But Solomon managed to see: the legs of the queen were human, but very unattractive – they were covered with thick hair. Instead of keeping silent, Solomon loudly exclaimed that he did not expect that there could be such a flaw in such a beautiful woman.
This story you can found in Muslim sources. We can say thanks to this great woman only for the fact that, according to legend, people invented the first means for depilation. The tool was called Nura and was a mixture of arsenic and quicklime. Nour was created at the court of King Solomon for the Queen of Sheba.
Queen of Sheba – a historical character
Makeda history
People say that even thousands of women over the years did not help Solomon to forget her. Six months lasted their short novel. All this time, Solomon did not part with her and constantly gave expensive gifts. When it turned out that Makeda was pregnant, she left the king and returned to the Kingdom of Saba, where she gave birth a son Menelik, who became the first Ethiopian king. He was destined to glorious fate. At the age of 22, taking Solomon’s ring from his mother, Menelik went to his father in Israel. “Kebra Nagast” says that Solomon accepted him cordially and offered to become his heir, since Menelik was his eldest son. When the young man refused and decided to return home, the caring father sent the elder sons of noble Israeli families with him, and also presented him with the main shrine of his people – the Ark of the Covenant from the Jerusalem Temple. The Ark of the Covenant, in which the Tables with the Ten Commandments carved on them, lies in the city of Axum.
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba are considered in Ethiopian legends as the founders of the three thousand-year-old dynasty of emperors of Abyssinia. According to the Ethiopian legend, Makeda was born around 1020 BC. in the country of Ophir.
The legendary country Ophir stretched across the entire east coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the island of Madagascar. The ancient inhabitants of Ophir were light-skinned, tall, virtuous. Now it is almost certain that her possessions were located in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula, where Yemen is. In the Haggadah legends, the state of the Queen of Sheba is described as a magical land, where sand is more precious than gold, trees from the Garden of Eden grow, and people do not know war.
Makeda’s mother was Queen Ismene, and her father was the chief minister at her court. At the age of fifteen, Makeda sets out to reign in southern Arabia, in the Sabaean kingdom, and henceforth becomes the Queen of Sheba. The rules of the Kingdom of Saba are about forty years old. They said about her that she ruled the heart of a woman, but with her head and hands of a man. Legends say that Queen Makeda was able to make essences from herbs, pitches, flowers and roots. This is one of the first references to the art of perfumery. The Queen knew astrology, curbing wild animals and drawing up love spells. On her little finger she wore a sorcerer’s ring with a stone, which was called “Asterix”. Historical sources report that she was from the dynasty of the Egyptian kings. Beautiful Makeda was very proud of her versatile knowledge and all her life she tried to gain secret esoteric knowledge.
She had the honorary title of the High Priestess of the Planetary Unification and regularly arranged in her Palace “Cathedrals of Wisdom”, which were attended by initiates of all continents.