A recent discovery in Ethiopia may prove to be the fabled gold mine of the Queen of Sheba.
Being both a Christian and an archaeology buff, I’m always thrilled when discoveries that support the bible are found.
A British archaeologist named Louise Schofield has been excavating in northern Ethiopia. The kingdom of Sheba covered Yemen and Ethiopia 3,000 years ago.
She has uncovered an ancient gold mine and the ruins of a small temple dedicated to a moon god who was the primary deity of Sheba. Miss Schofield crawled under a 20 foot stele, or stone slab, carved with a sun and a crescent moon, the “calling card of the land of Sheba.”
A 9 foot rattlesnake was said to live under the stone. Fortunately, she didn’t come face to face with the rattler but she did find an ancient inscription written in Sabean, the language of Sheba.
The Queen’s visit to Solomon is immortalized in I Kings 10:1-13. She had heard of the wisdom of Solomon and came “to test him with hard questions.” When she saw the palace he had built and was convinced of his wisdom, “she gave him 120 talents of gold, quantities of spices and of precious stones.”
Once Miss Schofield acquires the necessary funding to finish excavating the mine she will begin at once.
I’ve discovered one other item of interest concerning Sheba, that may especially interest my friend Stephanie Thornton. Check out her blog at http://www.stephanie-thornton.com/. Some sources seem to think there is a good chance that the Queen of Sheba may actually have been Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh of Egypt. Stephanie has written a book about Hatsheput that will very probably be published soon.
Any thoughts, Stephanie?
Whoa! I hadn't heard the speculation about the Queen of Sheba. It's an interesting theory (not to mention one that would make a great novel), but I don't think the dates match up. The Queen of Sheba was born sometime during the 10th century BC, but Hatshepsut reigned from 1479-1458BC.
The discovery of the temple and gold mine are very cool–they remind me of some of the discoveries attributed to Cleopatra in Alexandria in recent years.
Thanks for the shout-out and the vote of confidence on my Hatshepsut book. Now I just have to finish revising the darn thing!