Arabia or Africa: Where Is the Land of Sheba?

026

According to the Bible, the unnamed Queen of Sheba, having heard of King Solomon’s wisdom, traveled to Jerusalem to test him. His reputation proved justified: “Solomon answered all her questions” (1 Kings 10:3). “Not even half had been told me,” she reported to him (1 Kings 10:7). She presented Solomon with gifts of gold, spices and precious stones. And she praised “the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel” (1 Kings 10:9). Solomon reciprocated with gifts, and the Queen of Sheba “returned to her own land” (1 Kings 10:13; see also 2 Chronicles 9). No mention is made in the Bible of the queen’s beauty, of a love affair with King Solomon or of the queen’s bearing King Solomon a son. Why then is the queen often perceived as a beautiful queen who had a love affair with the king? And why is it considered common knowledge that this queen came from Ethiopia?

028

As is often the case with short but intriguing Biblical stories, the Queen of Sheba’s visit has been elaborated in Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. The most detailed and arguably the most influential development of the story appears in a book titled Kebra Nagast (The Glory of Kings)—a cornerstone of Ethiopian Orthodox identity and theology. Its date is controversial. Although some scholars date its composition as late as the 14th century C.E., others contend it is based on earlier traditions that go back as far as the sixth century C.E.¹

According to the Kebra Nagast, the Queen of Sheba was the beautiful queen of Ethiopia. The Kebra Nagast states that on her return from Jerusalem, the Queen of Sheba gave birth to Solomon’s firstborn son, known as Menelik in the Ethiopian tradition. As a young man, Menelik journeyed to Jerusalem, where King Solomon received him with honor. When Solomon announced his intention to appoint Menelik as his heir, the next king of Israel, Menelik refused; his desire was to return home. Saddened that his firstborn was leaving, Solomon ordered the firstborn sons of the elders of the kingdom to accompany Menelik and establish a new Israel in Ethiopia.

Before Menelik departed, an angel told the son of the Israelite high priest who was to accompany Menelik to make a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and to replace the Ark in the Holy of Holies of the Temple with its replica. Only during the journey to Ethiopia did Menelik discover that the true Ark of the Covenant was being carried in029 his entourage. In the meantime, Solomon discovered that the true Ark had been removed from the Temple, but he was divinely instructed not to have it returned. It was God’s will that the Ark—and with it, God’s grace—would depart from Israel (and its people) and reside in Ethiopia. To this day, Ethiopian Christians claim that the Ark of the Covenant resides in a chapel next to the Church of Maryam Tsion (Mary of Zion), the central church of the ancient Ethiopian capital, Aksum.

Ethiopian Christians see the presence of the Ark in Ethiopia as physical proof that they are God’s chosen people, both in the flesh and in the spirit. Their kings were seen as direct descendants of the House of David, rulers by divine right. This view of themselves as Israel after the flesh and not only after the spirit may have been one of the reasons leading to the development of a number of unique qualities030 of the Ethiopian Church: Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity sees many of the religious laws of the Old Testament, and not only of the New Testament, as binding. Ethiopian Christians circumcise their sons on the eighth day, like the Jews. They observe Biblical dietary laws. They consider Saturday a holy day.

The Ethiopian Christians’ view of themselves as Israelites is, in my opinion, best demonstrated by the meeting that took place in 1908 between the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II and Jacques Faitlovitch, the activist who dedicated his life to building a connection between Ethiopian Jews and the Jewish world. During the meeting, Faitlovitch presented the emperor with books he had written and translated. Faitlovitch describes the emperor’s reaction when he came across Hebrew text in one of the books: “The emperor asked me which language this was. My answer, that this was the Hebrew language, amazed the emperor. … [He] asked if I could read him a few lines. ‘I want to hear the language of my ancestors,’ he said.”²

One challenge to the Kebra Nagast narrative, which scholars have raised, is that there is a well-documented Kingdom of Sheba (Saba) that existed in Biblical times. It is documented both historically and archaeologically—and it was not in Ethiopia, but rather in southern Arabia (modern-day Yemen).

Moreover, the Kingdom of Saba was well known in Ethiopia; it was the greatest of the South Arabian kingdoms in Biblical times, Ethiopia’s neighbor on the opposite shore of the Red Sea. Ethiopia had extensive contacts with this kingdom, and, after the kingdom’s demise in the third century C.E., Ethiopia preserved its memory in ecclesiastic literature. In such literature, there is a clear distinction031 between the Kingdom of Aksum (Ethiopia) and the Kingdom of Saba (Sheba).³ Yet the Kebra Nagast claims that the Queen of Sheba was the queen of Ethiopia and, hence, that Ethiopia was the Biblical Kingdom of Sheba. This identification is common knowledge in Ethiopia and around the world. How did this dual identification of the Kingdom of Sheba come to be?

The beginning of an answer may lie in the fact that the earliest polities in the Ethiopian highlands (c. 800–400 B.C.E., parallel to the Iron Age in the Near East) embraced some elements of South Arabian culture. South Arabian-style temples were built in Ethiopia.⁴ South Arabian gods were worshiped there. South Arabian script was used, as well as the central South Arabian religious symbol of the disc and crescent (a symbol prominent in South Arabia that also appears in other parts of the Middle East). Some of the Ethiopian kings in this period used the South Arabian royal title “Mukarib.” Two inscriptions from this time even refer to a “Mukarib of Da’amat [the name of an Ethiopian polity at the time] and Saba (Sheba).”⁵

What do all these South Arabian elements in Ethiopia mean? At one time it was thought that the founders of advanced civilization in Ethiopia were South Arabians from the opposite shore of the Red Sea, who immigrated there in large numbers.⁶034 However, with advances in archaeological research, it has become clear that the situation was more complex: While elements of elite culture, such as temples and inscriptions, were influenced by South Arabian culture, other elements, such as pottery, stone tools, forms of burial and even cultic sites, were of local African origin.⁷ Had the majority of the population of the early Ethiopian polities been of South Arabian origin, we would have expected that the material culture of these polities in general, and not only the official material culture designed by the rulers and the elite, be affiliated with South Arabian material culture.

Hence, it stands to reason that the Ethiopian elite imitated a number of aspects of the culture of kingdoms on the other side of the Red Sea that were highly advanced, prosperous and powerful at this time. This should not be surprising. It was common in the ancient world—as it is today. In the ancient Near East, Greek culture, followed by Roman culture, had profound influences on local populations in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. In modern times, elements of American culture are embraced and imitated worldwide. Perhaps these ancient Ethiopians even saw themselves as connected in some way with the peoples of South Arabia. Could that be why some early Ethiopian monarchs claimed to be “Mukarib of Da’amat and Saba”?

At the end of the fifth to the beginning of the fourth century B.C.E., these Ethiopian polities began to decline. Temples were abandoned, and indications of South Arabian-influenced elite culture became scarce. Around the fourth century B.C.E., a new polity was formed on a hill known today as Beta Giyorgis (Church of St. George) hill. Instead of building monumental temples, the people of this polity erected stelae, standing stones, on large platforms in association with burials. These burial fields seem to be the principal cultic centers of this polity and continue an African tradition of erecting standing stones on burial fields.⁸ Between the first century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., the people of this polity founded a new town, Aksum, at the foot of Beta Giyorgis hill. Its residents gradually took control of vast territories, thus forming the Kingdom of Aksum. At its peak between the third and the sixth centuries, the Kingdom of Aksum ruled an area extending from the Nile Valley (modern-day Sudan) through the northern Ethiopian Highlands to the Red Sea coast (modern-day Eritrea). At times, the kingdom also controlled parts of South Arabia (modern-day Yemen). This kingdom would later evolve into modern-day Ethiopia.

The Aksumite kingdom has become so important in Ethiopian history that scholars refer to the polity on Beta Giyorgis hill, from which it developed, as the Proto-Aksumite polity—and the Iron-Age polities that preceded it as Pre-Aksumite polities.

The material culture of the Aksumite kingdom was in many ways derived from its Proto-Aksumite predecessor. For example, the focus of the cult continued to be burial fields with stelae. The largest of these fields, probably the burial place of the035 Aksumite kings, includes some of the largest standing stones ever erected, the tallest of which was 107 feet tall. These stelae are beautifully carved to represent multi-storied buildings constructed in an architectural style unique to the Aksumites. Interestingly enough, no large and central pre-Christian Aksumite temple is known—at least so far.⁹ This demonstrates further that in terms of cult, and probably identity, the Proto-Aksumites and Aksumites followed a tradition different from that of the Pre-Aksumite polities.

However, not all aspects of Aksumite culture are derived directly from Proto-Aksumite culture. Some are affiliated with South Arabia: Aksumite coins imitate South Arabian coins. A deity known from South Arabia and other locations in the Middle East, Astar, is mentioned in Aksumite inscriptions together with local deities. And the disc and crescent religious symbol became the official Aksumite religious symbol.

Some Aksumite royal inscriptions list the regions under Aksumite control.¹⁰ The most widespread formula mentions Aksum first, followed by Saba (Sheba) and Himyar, the kingdom that inherited Saba as the central South Arabian kingdom in the third century C.E. Only then are other regions mentioned, many of which are much closer to the city of Aksum than South Arabia. This demonstrates the importance of South Arabia in the eyes of Aksumite rulers. Interestingly enough, such inscriptions claiming Aksumite control over South Arabia appear at times when the Aksumite kingdom did not actually rule South Arabia, indicating that the claim of ruling South Arabia had a strong ideological quality to it.

A more subtle indication of South Arabian importance in the Aksumite kingdom: Aksumite royal inscriptions declaring the victories of the king are recorded in three types of script: (1) Greek, the language of the Roman east and of international trade; (2) Ge’ez, the official language of the Kingdom of Aksum; and (3) Ge’ez written with the archaic South036 Arabian alphabet rather than the Ge’ez alphabet. Writing Ge’ez in the South Arabian script meant that the inscription was not practical; Ge’ez speakers, as well as speakers of South Arabian languages, would have a hard time deciphering it. Thus, the use of South Arabian letters implies that the letters themselves had a symbolic meaning.

Could the appearance of all these South Arabian-affiliated elements indicate that the rulers of the Aksumite kingdom were intentionally advertising their connection with South Arabian heritage? With the conquest of the former territories of the Pre-Aksumite polities, could the Aksumite kings have tried to demonstrate to the peoples of these territories that they were part of the same, Pre-Aksumite tradition? Or could renewed contact with South Arabia have re-stimulated Ethiopian interest in its culture?

In the fourth century, something happened that would change the destiny of Ethiopia for millennia. Ezana, the Aksumite king, adopted Christianity. This is attested by the coins minted during his reign. The earliest of these bear the polytheistic disc and crescent symbol and thus indicate that at the beginning of his rule, he officially followed the polytheistic faith of his predecessors. The latter issues of these coins bear the cross, indicating that he was, by the time they were minted, Christian.¹¹ This transformation is also demonstrated in his royal inscriptions. The earliest of these mention deities worshiped in the Aksumite kingdom before the spread of Christianity: Mahrem, Astar, Beher and Meder. An inscription which has been interpreted as representing a transitional phase mentions only one god: the “Lord of Heaven.” An additional inscription is undoubtedly Christian, as it bears the following formula: “In the faith of God and the power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who saved for me the kingdom, by the faith of his son Jesus Christ, who has helped me and will always help me.”¹²

An account of the arrival of Christianity to the Aksumite kingdom is also described in the Ecclesiastical History of the Byzantine historian Rufinus of Aquileia, written around 400 C.E.¹³ According to Rufinus, two brothers from Tyre (in modern-day Lebanon), Frumentius and Aedesius, were on a ship that docked in a forbidden harbor in “India” (a name used in Roman-Byzantine times to describe the lands on both sides of the Red Sea and beyond). From the context, it can be understood that the harbor served the Aksumite kingdom. The ship was seized, the crew killed, and the two brothers brought before the king. The king was so impressed with them that he gave060 them administrative positions at court. When the king died, the queen asked the two brothers to share with her the role of regent until the king’s son would come of age. Frumentius made use of his authority to aid the local Christian community and to encourage Christians to settle in the realm. When the new king came of age, the two brothers decided to return to Phoenicia. Aedesius returned directly, but Frumentius went to Alexandria, where he beseeched the patriarch Athanasius to appoint a bishop for the newly established Christian community in Aksum. Athanasius was so impressed with Frumentius’s accomplishments that he appointed him bishop and sent him back to the land from which he had just come.

Archaeological evidence indicates that by the sixth century a substantial portion of the population of the heartland of the061 Kingdom of Aksum had converted to Christianity. All the excavated Aksumite churches date to the sixth century or later. And, especially significant, crosses begin to appear on pottery, which is often made by local craftsmen and designed to fit the taste of the general population—unlike coins, which were designed by the authorities and displayed official propaganda.

Finally, in the sixth century, the Aksumite kingdom waged a religious war on the Kingdom of Himyar (Yemen) in the name of Christianity; from the fourth century C.E., a substantial portion of the Himyarite population, as well as Himyarite rulers, had abandoned their old polytheistic faith and embraced Judaism.¹⁴ The Aksumites, around the early sixth century, managed to take control of parts of Himyar and advanced the Christian religion there. When the Jewish Himyarite king Yusuf (Joseph) As’ar Yath’ar, known in the popular tradition as Dhu Nuwas, attempted to regain full Himyarite independence, he waged war against the Aksumite soldiers stationed in Himyar and killed many Christians in his realm. This infuriated several leaders in the Christian world and served as the official reason for the campaign waged against Himyar in 525 C.E. by the Aksumite king Caleb. Supported by a Byzantine fleet, Caleb conquered Himyar and spread the Christian religion throughout the Himyarite realm.

With the advent of Christianity in the Aksumite kingdom, several elements of pre-existing culture were given a new, Christian form. Pre-Christian cultic sites became Christian monasteries.¹⁵ The architectural qualities of Aksumite palaces, replicated in relief on Aksumite royal stelae, became typical features of Aksumite churches.¹⁶ Funerary cult, the central form of cult in pre-Christian times, was given Christian form, as is attested by a number of Aksumite funerary churches, as well as funerary churches built in the centuries immediately following the fall of the Aksumite kingdom.¹⁷ And monumental thrones, erected in honor of the aid of the gods in military victories, continued to be erected in Christian times, this time in honor of God.¹⁸

What of the special connection with South Arabia that the Aksumites advertised and maintained? This connection might also have received a Christian form. As the Kingdom of Saba is known in the Bible as the Kingdom of Sheba, the claim that the Aksumite kings were also kings of Saba would naturally lead to the claim that they were kings of Sheba. The affinity of the Aksumite kingdom with South Arabia, which was advertised by the elite and might have been a cornerstone of Late Antique Ethiopian identity, may have been a step in the process of identification of Ethiopia with the Kingdom of Sheba itself. Thus, it would lead, by means of the Biblical story of the meeting between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, to the development of the Kebra Nagast narrative as we know it today.

Therefore, while Yemen can rightfully claim to be the place of the historical Kingdom of Sheba, Ethiopian culture and Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity can rightfully claim to be based on the Biblical heritage of this kingdom. And this heritage has had a major impact on Ethiopian Orthodox religion and identity. As such, perhaps the Ethiopian claim can be seen as no less substantial than the Yemenite one.

The meeting of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is described in the Bible. Bringing exquisite gifts, the Queen of Sheba came from an exotic land—but where exactly? Ethiopians claim the Queen of Sheba as part of their heritage, but archaeological and historical sources document a Kingdom of Saba (Sheba) during Biblical times in modern-day Yemen. Who has the rightful claim to the Queen of Sheba?