What was the link between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba besides her testing his wisdom? A new Israeli study sheds light.

The connection between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is controversial. Some claimed that he had a child with her, but according to rabbinical scholars, the story is believed to be an Ethiopian folktale, without any serious evidence.

However, the Bible’s First Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles do document her visit to the king with gold, precious stones and camels carrying spices to test if he was as wise as reputed. According to these books, the queen was dazzled by his wisdom and majesty, as well as the Temple he had just recently completed. She praised both the king and Israel and went back home.

In a new study recently published in the journal of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) epigrapher Dr. Daniel Vainstub – who reconstructs, translates and dates inscriptions – was able to decipher an ancient South Arabian script used at the time in the southern Arabian Peninsula (present-day Yemen region) when the Kingdom of Sheba was the dominant kingdom.