Sheba

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THE KEBRA NAGAST
chapter 7 of this text explains, the Ge’ez word for the Ark, tabot, is of
ancient origin and was adopted from Hebrew before Ezra’s time.
Paradoxically, the clinching argument that the Sheba-Menelik Cycle
account is genuine rests with the seemingly ridiculous geographical
references mentioned above. These references are ludicrous when applied
to Palestine and Egypt but, as will be discussed later, make sense if placed
in western Arabia.
The Sheba-Menelik Cycle may never have survived had it not been
used to bolster the Caleb Cycle, a text whose contents have been verified
by the Book of the Himyarites, discovered in the early twentieth century.
The Caleb Cycle forms the other half of the Kebra Nagast. The subject
matter of its contents requires elaboration, for although it was dependent on
the Sheba-Menelik Cycle, its theological and political environment were far
removed from that of Solomon and Sheba. Its main character is King Caleb
(ca. A.D. 520-40), who most likely came to the throne as a pagan but in his
time was one of the world’s two most important Christian monarchs and
Christianity’s leading crusader. He ruled from Aksum and saw himself as
the political heir of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, respectively, as the
king of true Israelites and the rightful ruler of southern Arabia. Moreover,
he was proclaimed as the world’s most senior Christian leader and a blood
relative of Christ.
The Queen of Sheba, who lived around 1000 B.C.E., is associated
more with the Aksum region than elsewhere. Recent archaeology in Aksum
has revealed that, although it was probably not known by the name of
Aksum until much later, the site was occupied by an Iron Age people
during the Queen of Sheba’s time. It is estimated that about 5 per cent of
Aksum’s archaeological sites have so far been investigated. Whether or not
the queen herself ruled there, Israelite religion or Ethiopian customs
resembling Israelite practices may have been influential in the area from
her time onwards. Nevertheless, the rulers reverted to syncretism and
paganism soon after her reign. Why should a newly founded Israelite state
revert to paganism?
Although the Israelite religion and Judaism are certainly not the same
thing, it is usual in academic circles to take the example of the post-Ezra
Zadokite religious tradition as “normative Judaism,” because eventually it
led to modern Judaism. It is probable that without Persian backing Ezra’s
faith and its association with Palestine would never have developed into
modern Judaism and the state of Israel. Most Israelites did not go down
Ezra’s path but instead followed the example of the ten tribes of the