Reviews

Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen

Nicholas Clapp (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001) 372 pp., $26

Is there a more resplendent woman in the pages of the Old Testament than the queen of Sheba—she who has inspired so many artists throughout history, including the likes of Flaubert, Browning, Kipling and Yeats?

According to 1 Kings 10, she burst indignantly upon King Solomon’s court, having heard of his wisdom and determined to test it. She arrived (from where we do not know) with a “great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones.” In the masculine ancient Semitic world, the queen’s appearance must have been shocking, and yet she unburdened herself to Solomon, telling him “all that was on her mind.” Satisfied that the Israelite king was deserving of his formidable reputation, the queen presented him with the riches in her possession: “Never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.” In return, Solomon satisfied “every desire [the queen of Sheba] expressed.”

The queen appears in the Koran, as well. Known as Bilqis, the daughter of a djinn, she rules over the royal city of Kitor. Her relationship with Solomon is depicted as tense, though she ultimately submits to him and to a single god, Allah.