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Sheba - For the Biblical character named Sheba see Sheba (person).
Sheba (also Saba, Arabic: سبأ) is a kingdom mentioned in the Old Testament and in the Qur'an; the actual location of the nation is still unknown, however. The nation makes its appearance in the form of the Queen of Sheba, who visits King Solomon. According to some traditions she either wed or had an affair with Solomon, eventually returning home with their child. The location of Sheba has thus become closely linked with national prestige as various royal houses have claimed descent from Sheba and Solomon. Long the most vigorous claimant has been Ethiopia where Sheba was traditionally linked with the ancient kingdom of Axum. As Ethiopia has remained a Christian state the connection to Sheba has been an important one, especially to the royal family. Recent archeological evidence has not supported the Ethiopian claim, however, and today scholars believe that at best Sheba controlled some coastal regions of Ethiopia while being centered on the southern end of the Arabian peninsula, in the current location of Yemen. Modern scholars tend to think a link to the Sabaeans of Arabia is the most probable, but the Sabeans did not rise until well after the mythical Queen of Sheba was meant to have lived, leaving many to believe traditional accounts of the wealth and power of Sheba to have been greatly exaggerated. Ruins in many other countries including Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, and Iran have been credited to Sheba, but with only minimal evidence.
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