IL Archive The name that crossed millennia
EN

Independent research archive Texts · Ideas · Civilizations

Menu

Person · literary_royal_figure

Queen of Sheba

Region
Sheba/Saba in the narratives; historical Saba in South Arabia

The ruler in narratives of Solomon's encounter with Sheba; neither First Kings nor the Quran gives her a personal name, and her historical identification is unresolved.

Solomon's meeting with the Queen of Sheba in British embroidery, ca. 1700: later artistic reception, not a historical portrait. Met 64.101.1307; public domain
Solomon's meeting with the Queen of Sheba in British embroidery, ca. 1700: later artistic reception, not a historical portrait. Met 64.101.1307; public domainThe Metropolitan Museum of Art; Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964. · Public domainObject record

Metadata

These are descriptive fields, not conclusions.

Edition
3

Text

The Queen of Sheba is a royal figure in two religious narratives about Solomon. In 1 Kings 10:1–13 she visits JerusalemJerusalemJerusalem is a city of religious importance in Judaism, Christianity and IslamGlossary · Click to read the explanation to test the king's wisdom with questions, then returns to her land. In QuranQuranCentral text of Islam, used here as evidence of its religious discourse.Glossary · Click to read the explanation 27:22–44 the hoopoe reports a woman ruling Saba, and the story develops through a letter and a meeting. Neither passage gives her a personal name. [1][2]

The narratives place their action in Solomon's time, traditionally assigned to the tenth century BCE, but the setting of a story does not independently date the queen as a historical person. Saba was a historical South Arabian kingdom; its existence alone cannot establish the queen's life or appearance. [3]

References and notes

  1. The specified source portion only; this does not imply reading the entire book. Entire displayed passage 1 Kings 10:1–13 read. Return to the text ↑
  2. The specified source portion only; this does not imply reading the entire book. Verse 27:23 displayed translations read; verses 27:22 and 27:44 checked separately. Return to the text ↑
  3. The specified source portion only; this does not imply reading the entire book. South Arabian regional chronology and Saba paragraphs read; evidence for kingdom, not individual queen. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 3 · 14 October 2026 · aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

  2. Edition 2 · 14 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

Suggest a correction · Suggest a source for this record

Cite this record

IL Archive, «Queen of Sheba», Edition 3, https://ilarchive.com/en/people/queen-of-sheba