The Queen of Sheba (55 photos) Bashny.Net

Most of us must have heard the name, but few people have a real idea of ​​who she was, where she lived and whose was the queen. Today I will try to tell you about the mysterious Queen of Sheba:

The Queen of Sheba belonged to the genus Sabaean kings, priests - mukarribov. According to the Ethiopian legend, the Queen of Sheba in the child's name was Maqueda. She was born around 1020 BC in the country of Ophir, which stretched across the entire east coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the island of Madagascar. The inhabitants of the country Ophir was fair-skinned, tall and virtuous. They are reputed to be good soldiers, grazed herds of goats, sheep and camels, hunted deer and lions, mined gemstones, gold, copper, and knew how to smelt bronze




Edward Slocombe. "The Queen of Sheba."

Shot from the movie "Queen of Sheba»

Ophir capital - the city of Axum - is in Ethiopia. At the age of fifteen Macheda went to reign in South Arabia in Sheba, where she became the queen of Sheba. She rules the kingdom of about forty years.
The subjects were told that the rules it is woman's heart, but the head and hands of men. The capital of Sheba was Marib city. The Koran says that the Queen of Sheba and her people worshiping the sun.


"Holy Maqueda, the Queen of Sheba" modern icon

Hypotheses and archaeological evidence

More recently, scientists have found that the popular religion of ancient Yemen plays an important role Shams solar deity. Legends say that the queen was originally worshiped the stars, moon, sun and Venus. It had the honorary title of High Priestess planetary catholicity and arranged in his palace "Cathedrals of wisdom." She was a high priestess of the cult of the south and nobody tender passion. Only after a trip to King Solomon, she met with Judaism and adopted it.



The story of the birth of the queen, her reign, a visit to Jerusalem and the conception of the son (Ethiopian "comics»)

According to the descriptions of ancient authors, the lord of Sheba lived in a marble palace, surrounded by gardens with fountains gushing keys and where the birds were singing, fragrant flowers, and spread everywhere the fragrance of balsam and spices. The pride of Sheba was a giant dam west of Marib, which held the water in the artificial lake. Through a complex system of canals and drains the trough Lake peasant fields and fruit plantations and gardens at the temples and palaces



"Queen of Sheba" .Miniatyura of medieval German manuscript.

The length of the stone dam reached 600, and the height - 15 meters. The water in the canal system fed through two ingenious gateway. Behind the dam is not going to river water and rainwater, once a year brought by tropical storm of the Indian Ocean. The Koran states that the irrigation system was destroyed by air as a punishment for paganism. In reality, the disaster perpetrated by the Romans, plundered the city and destroyed the gates as a punishment for the desperate resistance of the inhabitants of Marib.



Thumbnail Boccaccio to the book "Illustrious Women", France, XV in.

In the city of Marib, where in ancient times the rules of the legendary Queen of Sheba, scientists have been trying to get for a long time. However, the very location of his for a long time remained a mystery, that thou mayest observe local Arab tribes and the government of Yemen.



"The Queen of Sheba on the throne" Persian miniature of the XVI century

In 1976, another attempt to break into the coveted city took French. They corresponded with the Yemeni authorities, seven long years until he secured permission to visit the ruins of one man, who was only allowed to examine them. And then in the Marib Paris we decided to send a photographer from the magazine "Le Figaro", able to shoot a hidden camera.



Poster of the movie 1921

He was able to see and remove the massive columns of ruined temples and palaces, as well as several sculptures dating from the period VI-IV centuries BC. Some were made of marble, others - made of bronze, and others - of alabaster.
Some figures were clearly Sumerian traits, others - Parthian. All of them were within ruins, leaning against the stones. The photographer was able to capture and embossed on the stone a kind of safe-conduct: "People Marib built this temple under the patronage of the gods, kings, and all the people of the state Saba. Who hurt the wall, or will take the sculpture, that he die, and his family will be cursed ».



Solomon and Sheba. Parma diocesan museum

Just after taking the text of the photographer was asked to leave. The recording was made on a fragment of bas-relief inside the building, from which there was only a foundation. Inside it, people swarmed in rags, which are stacked in bags of half bricks.
Images of the impression that the Europeans are not allowed Marib not because of what he declared a holy place for Muslims, and for the reason that it is a private quarry of a local feudal clan. According to the press photographer "Figaro", he managed to photograph only a hundredth of the possible. He admitted that such work is akin to race around on a motorbike through the halls of the Louvre.





Piero della Francesca - 2a. Procession of the Queen of Sheba

The researchers said that the visit of the Queen of Sheba in Jerusalem, apparently, could be a trade mission associated with the efforts of the king of Israel to settle on the coast of the Red Sea and it undermine the monopoly of Saba and other South Arabian kingdoms in the caravan trade with Syria and Mesopotamia.



Piero della Francesca - Legend of the True Cross - -to the queen of Sheba reception hall with Solomon

Assyrian sources confirm that southern Arabia has led the international trade in 890 BC. e., so that the arrival times of Solomon in Jerusalem, the trade mission of a South Arabian kingdom is feasible.



Solomon and Sheba, stained glass window in Strasbourg Cathedral Romanesque



Meeting Sheba and Solomon, stained glass window in Cologne Cathedral

There is, however, a problem with the chronology, Solomon lived approximately 965 by 926 years. BC. e., and the first traces of the monarchy Sava appear after about 150 years.



The ruins of the Sun Temple in Marib. Built in the VIII century BC. e., has existed for 1,000 years

In the XIX century explorers J. Halevy and Glaser found in the Arabian desert ruins of the huge city of Marib.



The ruins of the ancient Marib

Among the inscriptions found by scientists to read the name of the four South Arabian States: Mina Gadramaut, Qataban and Sava. As it turned out, the residence of the kings of Sheba was the city of Marib (modern Yemen), which confirms the traditional version of the origin of the queen from the south of the Arabian Peninsula.



Solomon and Sheba-portik.Vrata paradise



Detail of the "Gates of Paradise»

The inscriptions found in southern Arabia, the rulers do not mention, however, of the Assyrian documents VIII-VII centuries BC. e. Arabian Queen known in the more northern areas of Arabia. In the 1950s, Wendell Phillips (Wendell Philips) has made the excavation of the temple of the goddess Balkis in Marib. In 2005, American archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a temple in Sana'a near the palace of biblical Queen of Sheba in Marib (north of Sana'a). According to the researcher from the US Madeleine Phillips found columns, numerous drawings and objects at the age of 3 millennia.



Yemen - an area where, perhaps, the Queen arrived



Ethiopia - a country where perhaps her son
rules
The appearance of the legend of the Queen of Sheba son in Ethiopia researchers associated with the fact that, apparently, in the VI century BC. e. sabeytsy, climbing over the Bab-el-Mandeb, settled at the Red Sea and took part of Ethiopia, "capturing" the memory of their ruler with themselves and transplant it to a new stage. One of the provinces of Ethiopia is known as Sheva (Shawa, modern. Shoah).



In the Amiens Cathedral, medallions with scenes of the legend of Sheba

Quite common is also a point of view that the birthplace of the Queen of Sheba, or its prototype was not the South and North Arabia. Among other tribes severoaraviyskih sabeytsy mentioned on the stela Tiglath-Pileser III.



Mural de «Salomón y la Reina de Saba» Library Escorial

These northern sabeytsy on a number of attributes can be associated with sabeytsami (saveyanami) referred to in the Book of Job (Iov.1 15), Savoy Ezekiel (Iez.27: 22), as well as the grandson of Abraham Sheva (Gen. 25 3, Wed also Byt.10 7, Byt.10 28) (referred to his brother next to the name of Sheba, Dedan, due to the oasis of Al-Ula, north of Medina).



The Queen of Sheba before the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, Salomon de Bray (1597-1664)

According to some researchers, the kingdom of Israel first came into contact with the northern sabeytsami, and only then, perhaps through their mediation, with Saba to the south. Historian John. A. Montgomery suggested that in the X century BC. e. sabeytsy lived in Northern Arabia, though controlled the trade routes from the south

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Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, in the XX century was also the "godmother" Xena - Warrior Princess

The famous explorer Arabia G.Sent John Philby (H.St.John Philby) also believed that the Queen of Sheba comes not from South Arabia, and from the North, and legends about it at some point mixed with stories of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra militant (modern. Tadmur, Syria), who lived in the III century BC. e. and converted to Judaism.



Casa Alegre de Sagrera, Salomó I de la Reina Sabà

Thus, for example, describes (one of the biographers of Muhammad), that it is in Palmyra, in the VIII. during the reign of the Caliph Walid I, I was found a sarcophagus with the inscription: "Here was buried pious Bilqis, the wife of Solomon ...».



"Solomon and Sheba" Pietro Dandini

Jewish Kabbalistic tradition also considers Tadmur burial place of Queen-evil devils, and the city is a haven sinister demons



"King Solomon and Sheba." Frans Francken

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Frans Francken

In addition, there are parallels between Sheba and other Eastern autocrat - famous Semiramis also fought and engaged in irrigation, who lived about the same time - in to. IX century. BC. e., which can be seen in folklore. Thus, the writer of our era Meliton Syrian retells the legend in which the father is called Babylon Hadhad. In addition, the Jewish legend of the queen mother did Nebuchadnezzar and Semiramis - his wife



"The Queen of Sheba kneeling in front of King Solomon," Johann Friedrich August Tishbeyn

One of the companions of Vasco da Gama, suggested that the Queen of Sheba came from Sofala - the oldest known documents on the harbor in the southern hemisphere, the banks, which he supposed was called Ophir. In this regard, he mentions Sofala in "Paradise Lost," John Milton. By the way, later on in these places will make the Portuguese expedition in search of the gold mines of the Queen of Sheba.



Solomon takes the Queen of Sheba ", the painter of the Antwerp school, 17c

Other versions

Josephus in his work "Antiquities of the Jews" tells a story about visiting Solomon, the queen, "reigned at the time over Egypt and Ethiopia and are characterized by wisdom and outstanding qualities at all." Arriving in Jerusalem, she, like other legends, experiences Solomon with hard questions, I admire his wisdom and wealth. This story is interesting because it mentions the historian as the homeland of Queen completely different state.



General view of the temple of Hatshepsut

According based on these data reconstruction researcher Immanuel Velikovsky, the creator of extra-academic "revisionist history", the Queen of Sheba - a queen Hatshepsut (XV century BC. E. In the traditional chronology of ancient Egypt), one of the first and most influential rulers of the 18th dynasty of pharaohs (New Kingdom), whose father, Thutmose I, annexed to Egypt to Kush (Ethiopia).



Hatshepsut

As noted Velikovsky, at Deir el-Bahri (Upper Egypt), the queen has built for himself funerary temple on the model of the temple in the land of Punt, where there is a series of bas-reliefs, detail depicting the expedition to the Queen of the mysterious land, which she calls the "divine", or at another translated, "God's Earth." Hatshepsut bas-reliefs depict scenes similar to the biblical description of the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon.



"Solomon and Sheba" Knyupfera

Historians do not know exactly where was this land, although currently there is a hypothesis that the land of Punt - the territory of modern Somalia. In addition, it can be assumed that the name "Sheba" (Sheva in Hebrew) and "Thebes" - the capital of Egypt during the reign of Hatshepsut (ancient Greek. Θῆβαι -Tevai) - Definitely.



Sabaean stele: feast and camel driver, at the top of the inscription on the Sabaean language.

British writer Ralph Ellis (Ralph Ellis), the theory which puts scientists in question suggested that the Queen of Sheba could be his wife faraonaPsusennesa II, who ruled Egypt during the life of Solomon, and whose name in Egyptian sounded like Pa-Seba-Khaen-Nuit .



Edward Poynter, 1890, "The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon»

Also, attempts to draw an analogy between the Queen of Sheba and the Chinese goddess of Xi Wang Mu - Western goddess of heaven and immortality, the legend of which occurred at approximately the same era, and has similarities



"Arrival of the Queen of Sheba", the painting of Samuel Coleman

Travel Bilqis (the so-called Queen of Sheba in the later Arabic text) Solomon was one of the most famous biblical stories. She went to semisotkilometrovy road with a caravan of 797 camels.



"Solomon and Sheba" Giovanni Demin, XIX century
Sweet it was composed of black dwarfs, and a protective escort - from the tall light-skinned giants. At the head of the queen wore a crown adorned with ostrich feathers, and on the little finger was a ring with a stone "Asterix", which is not known to modern science. To travel on the water were hired 73 ships.



Piero della Francesca. Meeting with the Queen of Sheba Solomonom.Freska - San Francesco in Arezzo, Italy

The queen of Judah Solomon asked tricky questions, but the answers lords were absolutely correct. Historians point out that perhaps the most Queen puzzles based not on worldly wisdom but on the knowledge of the history of the Jewish people, and it really seems strange coming from a distant solntsepoklonnitsy, by the standards of that time, the country.



"Solomon and Sheba" Conrad Vitsa

In turn, Solomon was conquered by the beauty and intelligence Bilqis. Ethiopian book "Kebra Negast" describes that the arrival of Queen Solomon "had a great honor to her and was glad, and gave her abode in his royal palace to a close. And he sent her food for meals morning and evening »



"Solomon and Sheba" painting by Tintoretto, approx. 1555 Prado

According to some legends, he married the queen. Subsequently the courtyard of Solomon received the sultry Arabian horses, precious stones, jewelry made of gold and bronze. But the most valuable at the time it was sweet oil for church incense. The Queen also received in response to expensive gifts, and all subjects returned to their homeland.



"Queen Bilqis and hoopoe" .Persidskaya miniature approx. 1590-1600

According to most traditions, it has since the rules alone. But from Solomon Bilqis have a son named Menelik, who became the founder of the dynasty of three thousand years of the Emperors of Abyssinia. At the end of the life of the Queen of Sheba has returned to Ethiopia, where by the time the rules of her grown-up son.



The Queen of Sheba jumps in Ierusalim.Efiopskaya fresco

Another Ethiopian legend tells that long time Bilqis kept secret from the son of his father's name, and then send it to the embassy to Jerusalem, saying that he finds his father on the portrait, which Menelik had to first look only at the temple of the god Yahweh.



"Solomon and Sheba" item. Ottoman master, XVI in.

When they reached Jerusalem, and came to the temple to worship, Menelik took a portrait, but instead of drawing was surprised to find a small mirror. Looking at his reflection, Menelik looked around everyone in the church people saw among them King Solomon and the similarity guessed that this is his father ...

The puzzle for scientists

Meanwhile, a case has recently helped to get closer to unraveling the mysteries of a number of ancient Arabia. Less than ten years ago to work in Yemen invited the whole group of mining engineers from Europe, the US and Saudi Arabia.

In this purely technical team has quietly included several archaeologists. The first thing they found is the abundance forgotten oases and ancient settlements. Desert blew eastern legends and scorching winds, in ancient times, not everywhere was lifeless.



"Solomon and Sheba," by an anonymous artist, XV century, Bruges

There have been grazing, hunting, mines of precious stones. Among other things, it was found a small stone sculpture resembling an ancient Indo-European Mother Goddess that puzzled scientists.