QUEEN BILQUIS

Is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The tale of her visit to King Solomon has undergone extensive Jewish, Islamic, and Ethiopian elaborations, and has become the subject of one of the most widespread and fertile cycles of legends in the Orient. The Queen of Sheba) came to Jerusalem "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones". "Never again came such an abundance of spices" as those she gave to Solomon. She came "to prove him with hard questions," which Solomon answered to her satisfaction. They exchanged gifts, after which she returned to her land. Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of Ophir served as a basis for legends about the Israelites