The Queen of Sheba is a holy figure to some; a demon in disguise to others. Author and journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee explores the many afterlives of the Queen of Sheba and how ideas about gender and power have shifted in each retelling of her life.
1 Kings 10:1-2, 10-11 (RSV) Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard Is the queen of Sheba and her famous visit to see King Solomon the stuff of myth and legend or actual history? I provide significant evidence in favor of the latter.
The story of Solomon and Sheba is well known as one of love. But their true identities reveal how much affection and adoration Solomon truly had for his favorite Queen.
Finding Solomon’s Temple and Palace
Fragments of glazed tiles depicting water, fish, reeds and birds have only ever been found in the ruins of one ancient Palace, that of Ymn Htp III at Malqata near Luxor.
This fact, along with a number of other finds in Luxor, are examined in “Out of Egypt” by the British/Egyptian historian Ahmed Osman and every-one of them points only to one man as having been the legendary King Solomon , namely the Pharaoh YmnHtp III.
We are told in the Book of 1 Kings that Solomon’s Temple and Palace were so grand and sumptuous that there has to be some archaeological evidence for them - yet nothing has ever been found in modern day Israel despite umpteen digs over more than a hundred years. The fabulous remains in Luxor not only match all we are told in the Bible, but many of the ancient walls and columns still stand, shouting out their message that these were built by the 18th Dynasty Kings David and Solomon, otherwise known in Ancient Egypt a