The New Africa Magazine/ Dr Filomena Mathins

Is the Queen of
Sheba (Bilikisu
Sungbo) buried
in Ijebu?
The Ijebu people in Ogun State
believe that the Queen of Sheba
is actually Bilikisu Sungbo, a
wealthy and childless widow
from medieval times. The past
is a repository. Within its dark
pages and hazy corners lie stories that would
light the path and connect the dots between
our questions and the answers that stare
at us from places we have never thought to
look in.
Regardless of where you get your accounts
of times gone past, from the oral stories
of older folk or thick volumes curated in
London’s many scholarly halls, one thing
strikes many people from the moment they
begin to notice patterns. Mythology, and its
slightly more accurate sister, History, lean in
favor of the male gender.
From Zeus to Sango to George Washington,
the icons and legends of entire civilizations
and nations are not the women who birthed
its fore-bearers, but the bearded God who
made children with humans and the father
of a nation who kept other nations in chains.
This is not to say there is no space for the
female folk. Among the few women who find
a place in old wives tales and history texts,
perhaps the most prominent is the legend
of a queen of biblical times. She is known as
Bilquis, Bilikisu, or more notably, the Queen
of Sheba.
The legend of the Queen of Sheba is one
of history’s more fertile legends; over time,
it has been re-imagined by Jewish, Islamic,
Arabian and other many interpretations.
As a result of this, accounts of her life differ
depending on who’s telling the story. Still, her
story is widely recognized as a Biblical one,
and the most popular account of it is that
offered in the Bible; the story of her visit to
King Solomon.
According to the Book of Kings, the Queen of
Sheba came to Jerusalem with a very great
retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very
much gold and precious stones, “and when
she was with Solomon, she communed with
him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon
told her all her questions: there was nothing hid
from the king, which he did not tell her” (I Kings
10:2–3)
In the Queen’s time with King Solomon, she
was so astounded by the opulence and
advancement of his court, as well as his
wisdom, that she offered her respect for the
King and the God of Israel, Yahweh. Out of
this respect, she gave large amounts of gold,
rare wood and spices, precious stones in
tribute to King Solomon.
“And King Solomon gave unto the queen of
Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked,
beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal
bounty. So she turned and went to her own
country, she and her servants.” (I Kings 10:13)
It is said that after spending time with
Solomon, the Queen converted to his