QUEEN OF SHEBA (see Sheba), a queen from the old Arab state of שְׁבָ֗א (Arab. sābā), who visited King Solomon ostensibly “to test him with hard questions” only to discover that his wisdom surpassed all that she had heard (1 Kings 10:1-13; 2 Chron 9:1-12). There may have been trade motives in the visit as well. Her camels brought spices, gold and precious stones (1 Kings 10:2, 10). What Solomon gave in return is not specified, although it seems clear that he gave her some commodities (v. 13). Trading was an important facet of Solomon’s activities and the Red Sea and Arabian peninsula came within the ambit of his interest. Indeed, he had a port on the Red Sea at Eziongeber (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:11, 12, 22-29). Specific reference is made in 1 Kings 10:15 to the gold which he obtained “from the traders and from the traffic of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia.” Hence a visit from an Arab queen would not be inconceivable.

The ancient kingdom of Saba, the S Arabic name of the old Sabaean state (see Sheba), lay in the SW corner of the Arabian peninsula, roughly the area of modern Yemen. The state and its people the Sabaeans (q.v.) are referred to often in the OT (Job 6:19; Ps 72:10, 15; Isa 60:6; Jer 6:20; Ezek 27:22, 23; 38:13). Important excavations conducted in Marib, the old capital, in 1951-1952 have given a remarkable insight into the Sabaean civilization. Its origins are unknown, but there is some evidence that it may have been occupied by Semites who migrated S in the middle of the second millennium. By the 10th cent. b.c., there was a flourishing kingdom in the region and a diplomatic and trade mission led by a queen to the kingdom of Solomon some fifteen hundred m. to the N, was possibly part of a total policy of commercial expansion. Assyrian inscrs. from the 8th and 7th centuries b.c. mention several queens and this suggests a matrilinear system of succession.

The origin of the tradition that the Abyssinian royal line is descended from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is difficult to prove (or disprove!). Certainly Ethiopia was colonized from S Arabia by the Sabaeans. Arabic legends give many details about the queen who married Solomon, and Josephus linked the Queen of Sheba with Ethiopia (Jos. Antiq. II. X. 2., VII. VI. 5, 6).

Bibliography' W. Phillips, Sheba’s Buried City (1955); G. W. Van Beek, “South Arabian History and Archaeology,” The Bible and the Ancient Near East, essays in honor of W. F. Albright (1961), 229-248; G. W. Van Beek, “Sabeans,” IDB, IV (1962), 144-146.