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The Queen of Sheba
The Queen of Sheba
'Now when the queen of Sheba heard of
the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to
test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very
great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and
precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him
about all that was in her heart.' (1 Kings
10:1-2)
This is the first
reference to the legendary Queen of Sheba. She is thought to have
come from the kingdom of Saba (popularly known in English as
'Sheba'), a powerful incense trading kingdom, in
the heart of present-day
Yemen.
This tour originally
accompanied the exhibition Queen of Sheba:
Treasures of Ancient Yemen (9 June - 13
October 2002) which examined the Queen of Sheba in art and legend
and explored the magnificent civilization that lay behind the myth
through archaeological treasures from the ancient kingdoms of South
Arabia. The artefacts in the exhibition came from the collections
of the British Museum, the American Foundation for the Study of Man
(Falls Church, Virginia, USA) and museums across
Yemen.
This tour provides
an introduction to the different myths of the Queen and to how she
is portrayed in works of art from the Renaissance
onwards.
Queen
of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen
was sponsored by Barclays PLC.