The Queen Of Sheba

Page 4 of 7

• 1. Layers of the legend
• 2. Jewish legend
• 3. Unpicking the clues
• 4. Islamic tradition
• 5. Ethiopian tradition
• 6. An enigma
• 7. Find out more
• Print entire article

Islamic tradition

Even more interesting are the current excavations of an ancient temple in the old market town of Marib - in the lands thought to have once been part of the ancient kingdom of Saba. The temple is known as the Mahram Bilqis or Temple of Bilqis - and Bilqis is the name given to the Queen of Saba in the later stories in the Islamic tradition. In the Koran, written earlier, the Queen of Saba is nameless. Her story there shares some of the familiar lines of the Bible version, but adds a few of its own.

'[Sheba's] child had one normal foot and one goat's hoof.'

God, we are told, had enabled Solomon to converse with birds and one day noticed that the Lapwing was missing. When the bird returned, she explained that she had been travelling in a foreign land, known as Saba, which was ruled over by a queen who was immensely rich and sat on a throne of gold and silver. Solomon then invited the queen to visit him.

On arrival she entered the palace that he had had specially built for her. The walls and floor of the building were made of glass, and water flowed over the floor. She picked up her skirt to walk over the flood and so revealed her legs, which were covered with hair, like a goat's.

(A later Arabic tale tells of how the Queen of Sheba came to have a goat's hoof as a foot. Whilst pregnant, her mother saw a handsome goat which she craved for, 'after the manner of women who are with child', and when her own daughter was born, the child had one normal foot and one goat's hoof.)

NextPrevious

Published: 03-02-2005