Queen of Sheba. Monarch of a prosperous empire in what is now modern-day *Yemen or southwestern *Arabia, the Queen of Sheba is mentioned in 1 *Kings 10:-1–13 and 2 *Chronicles 9:1–12. According to these accounts, the Queen of Sheba, hearing of King *Solomon's fame, comes to test his *wisdom, bringing gifts of spices, gold, and precious stones. Impressed by Solomon's court and his answers to her questions, she offers blessings and praise to Solomon and his *God.

Later Jewish legends suggest that the queen and Solomon had a romantic relationship (*Alphabet of Ben Sira 2). Ethiopian traditions identify Sheba with *Ethiopia; Ethiopian Jews, the Beta Israel, are said to be descendants of Israelite escorts who returned with Menelik, the supposed son of the union of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and founder of the Ethiopian royal dynasty. On the Queen of Sheba in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Ethiopian traditions, see J. B. Pritchard, ed., Solomon and Sheba (1972); and J. Lassner, Demonizing the Queen of Sheba: Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam (1993).

KATE FRIEDMAN

Qumran. Khirbet Qumran, a small site on a marl plateau overlooking the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, about twenty-two kilometers east of *Jerusalem, became famous after the discovery of hundreds of scrolls in the nearby caves that date to the late *Second Temple period.