NICAULE. This is the Name that Josephus1 gives to the Queen of Sheba, who came to visit Solomon2, and to try if his Wisdom was as great as it had been represented to her. See 1 Kings x. 1, 2, &c. and 2 Chron. ix. 1, 2, 3, &c. Josephus will have it, that this Princess was Queen both of Egypt and Ethiopia, and cites Herodotus as speaking of Queen Nicaule. But Herodotus3 speaks only of Niconis Queen of Egypt, and not of Nicaule, nor does he say any thing of her pretended Journey to Jerusalem. We shall relate here what the Scripture informs us concerning the Queen of Sheba, without deciding whether she was called Nicaule, as Josephus pretends. Solomon’s Fame being spread all round about, the Queen of Sheba, or as Jesus Christ calls her in the Gospel, the Queen of the South, came to make him a Visit. She Matth. xii. 42. Luke xi. 31.was probably Queen of that Part of Arabia fœlix, which was inhabited by the Sabeans, and where Women us’d to govern.
—————Medis levibusque Sabæis Imperat hic Sexus, Reginarumq; sub armis Barbariæ pars magna jacet4.
This Queen came to make a Trial of the Wisdom of Solomon by Riddles and Enigmatical Questions, which were then of frequent Use among those that pass’d for wise Men. She arrived at Jerusalem with an Equipage suitable to her Dignity. She brought with her a great Quantity of Spices, of Gold, and of precious Stones; and being introduced to King Solomon, she proposed to him whatever she had conceived in her Mind. Solomon satisfy’d her in all things that she enquired after; and seeing the great Wisdom of this Prince, the Magnificence of his Court, and the Sumptuousness of his Table and Attendants, she was quite astonished, and own’d to Solomon, that what she had been Witness of was much beyond what had been told her. She made him a Present of six score Talents of Gold, and of a vast Quantity of Perfumes and precious Stones. The King on his Part gave the Queen of Sheba whatever she desired, without reckoning the Presents he made her with a Royal Magnificence; after which she returned to her own Kingdom. This is what the Books of the Kings and Chronicles tell us, of this Journey of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem.
Josephus5 adds to these several other Circumstances, which he had received perhaps from the Traditions of the Jews. He says, that Nicaule Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, brought by the Reputation of Solomon’s Wisdom, came to Jerusalem with a Retinue proportionable to her Magnificence. She proposed to the King several very difficult Questions, in which he gave her immediate Satisfaction, with a great deal of Facility. The Sumptuousness of his Palace call’d the Forest of Libanus, the exact Order, the Neatness and Magnificence with which he was served at Table, the Pomp and Majesty that shone forth in the Temple at the Offering of the Sacrifices, and the rest of his Grandeur, fill’d her with Admiration and Astonishment. He adds, that she made him a Present of twenty Talents of Gold, whereas the Scripture says six Score; and that she gave him the Plant of Balm, which is so valuable, and which became afterwards so famous in Judæa.
Michael Glycas says6, that one of the Means made use of by this Queen, to prove the Wisdom of Solomon, was to dress up young Children in the same Manner, both Boys and Girls, and to present them to Solomon, to try if he could distinguish them at Sight. The King bid them wash their Faces, and so distinguished the Boys from the Girls, by their robust Manner of performing this Action, whereas the Girls did it tenderly and effeminately.
The Ethiopians think the Queen of Sheba was of their Country, and that she returned big with Child of a Boy that she had by Solomon. When this Child was of an Age to learn, she sent him to Solomon to be instructed, who brought him up as his Son. He took great Care of him, provided the ablest Masters for him, and then sent him back to his Mother, to whom he succeeded in the Kingdom. The Kings of Ethiopia pretend to be descended from Solomon by this young Prince, whom they call Menilebec or Meilic; and they reckon four and twenty Emperors of this Family down to Basilides, who reigned about the middle of the seventeenth Age. Ludolph’s History of Ethiopia may be consulted, Lib. 2. c. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
The Arabians give the Name of Balkis7 to the Queen of Sheba, who came to visit Solomon. They say she was Queen of Arabia, of the Posterity of Jarab Son of Cahthan, and that she reigned in the City of Mareb, the Capital of the Province of Sheba. Her Father was Hadhad Son of Scharbabil, the twentieth King of Jemen, or Arabia fælix. The Histories of those People are full of the Actions and fabulous Stories concerning the Journey of this Princess to Solomon’s Court, and of her Marriage with this Prince. As also concerning the Bird Hudhud, which we call a Lapwing, and which Solomon made use of to perform Journeys into Arabia, and to bring him Dispatches from thence.
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