The Bible's Sheeba, Queen of Adulis

**Jacuma** · 05-24-2005

The Old Testament of the Bible, the book of the Jews, speaks of one of religion's great romances, that between Solomon, King of the Jews and Sheeba, Queen of Adulis, the great and sacred land known of as Punt by the people of KMT/Egypt.
Sheeba, Queen of Adulis travelled to meet the legendary Solomon up the Red Sea by boat. The historical record and geography point to the Dahlak islands and the ancient and world famous port city and civilization of Adulis as the clear choice to be the point of orgin for Sheeba when she set off on her odyssey across the Red, or Erythrean, Sea to find Solomon over a thousand miles away.
Adulis or Punt was the ancient source of Frankinsence and Myyrh, world famous for their religious and medicinal uses. The Greeks and later the Romans wrote extensively of the city of Adulis that remained their most prominent transhipment point with the high civilizations of India and China.
Adulis today lies in the contemporary African country of Eritrea near the modern port of Massawa. In the days of Adulis the climate was much more wet. Elephants in herds of many tens of thousands roamed the Horn of African lowlands, and most probably made forrays into the highlands as well. Rivers flowed year round and lakes and wetlands were common. Ivory, Ebony, Frankensence and Myyrh, and of course Gold, made its way to both south, east, west and northwest asia(europe) from Adulis.
Today we know that Adulis spread to encompass Yemen as well, for the more remote villages of Yemen still speak a dialect of Tigrynia, the language of much todays Eritrea and all of Tigray, home to the much later and relatively brief reign of Axum and Gondar.
A common mistake for many novices in studying the history and culture of the Horn of Africa is to use in an ancient context the word ethiopia to describe Adulis or the Adulite civilization. Ethiopia, like Eritrea, are contempory creations of colonialism. Both words are of Greek origin and there is no historical record of any African civilization calling themselves either Eritrea or Ethiopia. The Old Testament of the Bible, originally written in Hebrew, uses the word Kush to describe all areas of Africa south of KMT/Egypt. Kush was the term used by KMT/Egypt for the geographic area occupied by the modern day state of Sudan. The people of KMT/Egypt knew of another high civilization, seperate from Kush, located in the Horn of Africa region that they called Punt.
Today, Adulis/Punt or the Adulite civilization, is known to include Saba. or the Sabeans, of Yemen, and is the lost civilization of Africa. Only two surveys of Adulis have been taken, both very limited, by the Italians in the early 1900's and later in the 1930's.
The Adulite civilization used the ancient language and written alphabet of Gheez, still used today by the Tigrynia, Tigrayan and Amhara tribes of the Horn of Africa. Just how old Gheez is another of the great mysteries of history, for it could be the first written language for all we know. Someday, after a lot more field work, the scholarly world will abandon use of the modern, european term ethiopia and restore the wondrous, ancient and lost high civilization of Adulis/Punt to her place in history.

Thomas C. Mountain
US Eritrean Peoples Friendship Association
tmountain@hawaii.rr.com

**Mekeda7** · 05-26-2005

Just wanted to add on...
http://www.toptags.com/aama/bio/women/makeda.htm

MAKEDA
Known to her people as Makeda she has been known under various names at different periods. The Queen of the South, to the Moslems, she was Bilqis. To King Solomon of Israel, she was the Queen of Sheba or Saba. To the ancient Greeks she was the Black Minerva and the Ethiopian Diana.

Makeda was the queen of both Ethiopia and Saba, in southern Arabia. It is beieved that Axum, the capital city of her empire, was founded one hundred years after the Great Flood. Makeda made many changes and rebuilt the territory of Saba during her reign. There are many versions of the Solomon and Sheba story.

Queen Makeda was very beautiful and exceedingly rich. She had heard a great deal about the wealth of Israel and the wisdom of King Solomon from her royal merchants. The more she heard the more she longed to travel to Jerusalem. One day she announced to her constituents that she intended to visit Jerusalem to learn from the wise King Solomon. Makeda departed for the Holy City with a caravan of almost eight hundred camels, asses, and mules, which were loaded with precious stones, metals, and other valuable items.

During her six-month visit, Makeda conferred frequently with King Solomon. She was so impressed with his wisdom that she gave up her religion and adopted Judaism. King Solomon desired to father many sons who would rule in the name of the God of Israel. Shortly thereafter, she requested to return to her own country. Although Solomon would have perferred for her to stay, he pulled her aside saying, "Take this ring so that thou mayest not forget me. And if it happen that I obtain seed from thee, this ring shall be a sign of it, and if she begot a male child, she would crown him king of Ethiopia. At the time of Makeda's reign, Axum and Saba were matriarchies so her promise was significant. The queen departed for home, and nine months and five days after Makeda left King Solomon, she gave birth to a male child. She named him Ibn al-Hakim, "son of the wise man." His royal name was Menelik.

At the age of twenty-two, Menelik traveled to Jerusalem to visit his father. He did not need the ring Solomon had given his mother for identification, because when he arrived in Gaza, the people knew by his appearance that he was Solomon's son. When Menelik finally reached his father, Solomon stated, "He is handsomer than I am, and his form and stature are those of David, my father, in his early manhood." Solomon kissed and embraced his son, and asked him to stay. He promised Menelik the kingdom of Israel upon his death, but Menelik replied, "My lord, it is impossible for me to abandon my country and my mother; I swore to her by her breasts that I would return to her."

When Solomon realized that he could not persuade his son to remain in Jerusalem, he anointed Menelik king of Ethiopia, bestowed upon him the name of David, and provided him with councilors and officers for the founding of Israel's new kingdom in Ethiopia. Except for a brief period during the ninth and tenth centuries, and until the demise of Haile Selassie, Queen Makeda's descendants have ruled the throne of Ethiopia.

ALSO:
http://www.swagga.com/queen.htm#makeda

**Sun Ship** · 05-28-2005

The name and term Saba or Sheba has many powerful cognates and other metaphysical and etymological relationships. The southern part of Arabia where Sheba and Dedan where located had very spiritual significance to the Ancient Kemetic people, they called it the “land of the Gods”.

**Mekeda7** · 06-14-2005

Originally Posted by Sun Ship

The name and term Saba or Sheba has many powerful cognates and other metaphysical and etymological relationships. The southern part of Arabia where Sheba and Dedan where located had very spiritual significance to the Ancient Kemetic people, they called it the “land of the Gods”.

Greetings
This dialogue on Sheba Saba Mekeda is very enlightening for me, as you see I have personal interest in her

Sun Ship I thank you for adding this info. !

Ase!