#Solomon & Sheba

[illustratus]

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon by Edward John Poynter

[arisaria]

Halle Berry in the 1995 film Solomon & Sheba ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹

[linelle-v]

My king, my king, my king

[drachenwiki]

A lot of the time when you read about African dragons online, people talk about cryptids like the Kongamato, Mokele-Mbembe or the Das-Adder. Most of these creatures, while originating in local folklore or mythology, have been warped beyond recognition by European accounts and in many cases are also not particularily dragon-like aside from being reptilian and sometimes being associated with water.

So for this African History Month, I decided to do a series of posts about African mythical creatures that actually are very similar to dragon myths and probably have a common origin or are at least connected through mutual influences.

The first such dragon is Arwë (also known as Wainaba). This giant serpent is said to have been worshipped in Ethiopia before king Ezana of Axum embraced Christianity in the 4th century.

According to legend, a stranger came to Arwë's land and met a woman who cried because her daughter was about to be sacrificed to the dragon. The stranger asked her for a white lamb and the juice of the poisonous Euphorbia tree. Then he offers the lamb and juice to Arwë, who is poisoned and dies. The people of Ethiopia make the man their king, and after his reign he is followed on the throne by his daughter, the Queen of Sheba. With king Solomon she becomes the mother of Menelik I., the first historical king of Ethiopia.

There are many alternative versions of the tale. In one of them, the stranger is a wizard who fires flame from his palms to kill the serpent, while in another version one of the seven saints of Ethiopia, Abba Mentelit, kills the dragon with his cross.

In the versions of the story that include human sacrifices, one can clearly see parallels to the legend of St. George, who was and still is a very popular saint in Ethiopia.

Sources:

Edward Ullendorff (1956), The Contribution of South Semitics to Hebrew Lexicography, Vetus Testamentum, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1515723

Ernst Hammerschmidt (1965), Jewish Elements in the Cult of the Ethiopian Church, Journal of Ethiopian Studies, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1515723

Dorothea McEwan (2007), Sebetat: the Many Lives and Deaths of a Monster, Journal of Ethiopian Studies, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41988222

How Makeda Visited Jerusalem, and How Menelik Became King in Anthonia C. Kalu (2007), The Rienner Anthology of African Literature, Lynne Rienner Publishers, ISBN 9781588264916

Andrea Manzo (2014), Snakes and Sacrifices: Tentative Insights into the Pre-Christian Ethiopian Religion, Aethiopica, Vol. 17, https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.17.1.737, ISSN 2194-4024

Wainaba, the Serpent Ruler, Oxford Reference

Enno Littmann (1904), The Legend of the Queen of Sheba in the Tradition of Axum, BiblioLife (2009), ISBN 978-1103925988

[marathehomosexual]

[perioddramapolls]

Period dramas dresses tournament: Pink dresses Round 1- Group D: Sheba, Solomon and Sheba (gifset) vs Carolyn Palamas, Star trek's ancient Greece themed episode (pics set)

[jccheapalier]

How Hip-Hop Crowned The Wrong King.

[jewishicequeen]

Day five: Asmira

Plus today’s writing prompt:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64497364/chapters/165950551

Domestic Fluff and Smoothie:) kinda broke my decision to make a thing from both menu each day, but I guess you can count the artwork up here as “fight” also^^

[thegoodthegrandandtheugly]

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

October: Gold Redux

Solomon and Sheba / Gina Lollobrigida as the Queen of Sheba

Like the gold dress from Auntie Mame featured earlier in the month, this is basically a 1950s strapless evening dress masquerading as something more exotic. It's pretty clearly more advanced tailoring than the ancient world would have created, but the jewelry and heavy tassels do help to create an archaic effect. The wide collar necklace may be intended as a hint to her Egyptian alliance. Also note the matching turquoise ornament at the waist.

The shiny gold color is definitely anachronistic, as even real cloth of gold is a medieval invention and this is pretty obviously lamé. But it does make her stand out among the Israelites, where even the king only has limited gold elements on his clothing. (That's Yul Brynner as King Solomon, by the way!)

The costume designer is Ralph Jester. He only worked on a few movies, among them The Ten Commandments (another Biblical epic) a few years earlier.

[linelle-v]

BROKEN

(inspired by @itwasleo from Twitter)

[artandthebible]

King Solomon Receiving the Queen of Sheba

Artist: Frans Francken II (Flemish, 1581-1642)

Style: Baroque

Date: 1620-1629

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Description

The queen of Sheba is reported in the Book of 1 Kings 10:1-12 to have journeyed to Jerusalem to test King Solomon’s wisdom and see the splendor of his court.

We see the reception of the great queen who kneels in homage before Solomon, surrounded by her gifts to him. She is beautiful, but also a delicate blond. The artist apparently expected his patrons to be more interested in pageantry than historical accuracy.

[popculturebaby]

Gina Lollobrigida as Queen of Sheba in “Solomon and Sheba”, 1959 ✨

[perioddramapolls]

Period dramas' dresses tournament: Golden-yellow dresses

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Semifinals Finals

Winner: Bai Zhouyue's dress, from Novoland: eagle flag

Costume designer: Yee Chung-man

[gatabella]

Gina Lollobrigida and Yul Brynner, Solomon and Sheba, 1959

"Yul didn’t waste any time making himself known. As soon as he got to Madrid, he sized up the situation. If Gina arrived twenty minutes late, he managed to arrive twenty minutes after her. If she was escorted by five or six people, he had himself preceded by a whole battalion: valets, bodyguards, secretaries, chauffeurs. Slowly, he would ascend Solomon’s throne. Then he would snap his fingers. One of his slaves would offer him a cigarette, another a match, and a third would hold out an ashtray.

Yul was no fool. He had decided to out-star the star. But as soon as he was away from King Solomon’s throne and back with his friends, he would make fun of himself. For Yul’s heart belonged to an activity which he considered far more important than the make-believe of technicolor. Without ever mentioning it, he had been working for UNICEF for several years. Many of those who had escaped the slow death camps during the war now found themselves in other camps where death was even slower. Yul visited these refugees, collected funds to help them, struggled with governments, committees, prison guards, and laws to release them from this hell. I take my hat off to the man."

-Jean-Pierre Aumont, Sun and Shadow, autobio (1977)

[nasuverse-most-breedable-tourney]

For every riddle you answer correctly. Sheba's technique increases in power (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)

Romani/Solomon template by tumblr user kcciny