Sheba

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Arabic. (September 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Arabic article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Arabic Wikipedia article at [[:ar:مملكة سبأ]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ar|مملكة سبأ}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Kingdom of Sheba Kingdom of Saba 𐩪𐩨𐩱 (Sabaic) مملكة سبأ (Arabic)
~1000 BCE–275 CE
Emblem
Map of Sheba in blue in South Arabia
Capital	Sirwah Zafar Yarim
Official languages	Sabaic
Religion	Arabian polytheism
Demonym(s)	Sabaeans
Government	Monarchy
Mukarrib (King)
• 700–680 BCE	Karibi-ilu
• 620–600 BCE	Karib'il Watar
• 60–20 BCE	Ilīsharaḥ Yaḥḍub I
History
• Established	~1000 BCE
• Disestablished	275 CE
Succeeded by Himyar
Today part of	Yemen

Part of a series on the
History of Yemen
Timeline
Ancient history Kingdom of Awsan (c. 800 – c. 700 BC) Kingdom of Saba' (c. 1200 – c. 275 CE) Kingdom of Ḥaḑramawt (c. 1000 – c. 290 BCE) Kingdom of Qatabān (c. 1000 – c. 200 AD) Kingdom of Ma'in (c. 600 – c. 150 BCE) Kingdom of Ḥimyar (c. 110 – c. 525 CE) Axumite Yemen (c. 517 – c. 570 ) Sasanian Yemen (c. 570 – c. 630 )
Islamic history First Islamic State (c. 622 – c. 632) Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Ziyadid dynasty Najahid dynasty Sulayhid dynasty Ayyubid dynasty Rasulid dynasty
Modern history Ottoman Eyalet Qasimid state Aden Protectorate Ottoman vilayet Mutawakkilite Kingdom Unified Yemen (1990-present)
Related topics Yemeni unification 1994 Civil War Yemeni revolution Civil war (2014–present) COVID-19 pandemic Red Sea crisis
Yemen portal
v t e

The Kingdom of Sheba (/ˈʃiːbə/; Sabaean: 𐩪𐩨𐩱, romanized: SBʾ; Hebrew: שְׁבָא, romanized: Šəḇāʾ; Arabic: سبأ, romanized: Sabaʾ; Geʽez: ሳባ, romanized: Sabaʾ; ~1000 BCE – 275 CE),^[1][2][3][4] also known as the Kingdom of Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. It particularly features in the tradition of Orthodox Tewahedo in today's Yemen and is also asserted as the home of the Queen of Sheba, who is left unnamed in Jewish texts but is known as Makeda in Ethiopian texts and as Bilqīs in Arabic texts. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Sheba was the home of Princess Tharbis, who is said to have been the wife of Moses before he married Zipporah.

The Encyclopædia Britannica posits that the biblical narrative about Sheba was based on the ancient civilization of the Sabaeans in South Arabia.^[5] This view is echoed by Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein and American historian Neil Asher Silberman, both of whom write that "the Sabaean kingdom began to flourish only from the eighth century BCE onward" and that the story of Solomon and Sheba is "an anachronistic seventh-century set piece meant to legitimize the participation of Judah in the lucrative Arabian trade" with regard to the narrative of Solomon leading Israel to conquer Sheba.^[6]