CITY OF ANCIENT SHEBA’S QUEEN

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 28 April 1934, Page 14

CITY OF ANCIENT SHEBA’S QUEEN

pADTA'IN 'COBiNIGMON 'MOLI-XHER and M.' Andre iMalraux have telegraphed from French Somaliland that they had found the lots capital of the Queen of Sheba, says the * ‘.Christian Science Monitor.” They reported f to the newspaper “Intransigeant” that they discovered 'the legendary city t>y aerivpla.no and had photographed it. Its towers and temples are still standing, they said.

It is located at the northern edge of the great sandy desert of Arabia, called Ruba-el-Khali, also called Rou-bat-el-Kahli and Roubahi Kale (meaning the Empty Quarter). The point indicated is 1000 miles south-east from Jerusalem and 900 miles north-east from .French Somaliland.

Their message, telegraphed from Djibouti, French iSOmaliland, read in part: “We discovered the legendary city of the Queen of ISheba. Twenty towers •or temples still stand. It is at the northern edge of Roubat-el-Khali. We took photographs for ‘.lntransigeant.’ ’ ’ If the rtvo explorers are correct in their belief they have ended a search conducted by archaeologists for centuries, locating a city which is desscribed in the nineteenth chapter of Joshua as under the jurisdiction of Simeon with the words:— . ‘■‘And the second lot came forth to Simeon, oven for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families; and their inheritance was

Discovery by Aeroplane Claimed

within the inheritance of the children of, Judah. “ And they had in their inheritance Ber-shema, and Sheba, and Mol-a-Dah.”

In those days the land of Sheba was one of the wealthiest of the worldthe world that civilisation knew.

The wealth of the region is hinted at in II Chronicles 9, in the description of one of history- most famous visits: “And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with ihiim of all that was in her heart. . . ..

“ And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones; and When, she was come to iSolomon as the Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. . . . .

‘ ‘And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, .beside that which, shq had brought unto the king. So she turned and went away to her own land, she and her servants.” The land of Sheba is no longer a land of plenty. M. iMalraux, an author, was the 1933 winner of the 'Goneourt literary prize. He is an archaeologist and a veteran explorer.