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ISO 259-3 is a standard for the phonemic conversion and representation of Hebrew in the Latin script. It is designed to deliver the common structure of the Hebrew word throughout the different dialects or pronunciation styles of Hebrew, in a way that it can be reconstructed into the original Hebrew characters by both man and machine. It is part of a series of standards (ISO 259) dealing with the Romanization of Hebrew characters into Latin characters.

ISO 259-3 is neither a character-by-character transliteration nor a phonetic transcription of one pronunciation style of Hebrew, but is instead phonemic from the view point that all the different dialects and pronunciations of Hebrew through the generations can be regarded as different realizations of the same structure, and by predefined reading rules every pronunciation style can be directly derived from it.

Tables of conversion[link]

Consonants[link]

Each consonant character in the Hebrew script is converted into its unique Latin character:

Vowels[link]

ISO 259-3 has five vowel characters, corresponding to the five vowel phonemes of Modern Hebrew: a, e, i, o, u. In addition there is a sixth sign for denoting the vowel /e/ that is written followed by י in common Hebrew spelling: ei.

External links[link]

• ISO 259-3 Document

For the Charles Gounod opera, see La reine de Saba.

This article contains Ethiopic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Ethiopic characters.

The Queen of Sheba (Hebrew: מלכת שבא‎, Malkaṯ Šəḇâ in Biblical Hebrew; Malkat Sh'va in Modern Hebrew; Ge'ez: ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nigiste Saba (Nəgəstä Saba); Arabic: ملكة سبأ‎, Malikat Sabaʾ) was a monarch of the ancient kingdom of Sheba and is referred to in Ethiopian history, the Bible, the Qur'an, Yoruba customary tradition, and Josephus. She is widely assumed to have been a queen regnant, although there is no historical proof of this; in fact, she may have been a queen consort.^[1] The location of her kingdom is believed to have been in Ethiopia and Yemen.

Diverse references[link]

The queen of Sheba has been called a variety of names by different peoples in different times. To King Solomon of Israel she was the Queen of Sheba. In Islamic tradition she was called Bilqis or Balqis by the Arabs, who say she came from the city of Sheba, also called Mareb, in Yemen or Arabia Felix. The Roman historian Josephus calls her Nicaule. The Ethiopian people claim her as Makeda or Maqueda. She is thought to have been born sometime in the 10th century BC. Her lineage was part of the Ethiopian dynasty established in 1370 BCE by Za Besi Angabo, which lasted 350 years; Makeda's grandfather and father were the last two rulers of this dynasty. Makeda's mother was known as Queen Ismenie. In 1005 BCE, Makeda's father appointed her as his successor from his deathbed.^[2]

To the early ancient Greeks, Ethiopia referred to an empire that encompassed a vast territory, extending to Arabia, Syria, Armenia, and the territory between the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf. This is the empire that the Queen of Sheba was said to have reigned over. In the Ethiopian Book of Aksum, she is described as establishing a new capital city at Azeba, while the Kebra Negast refers to her building a capital at Debra Makeda, or "Mount Makeda". The Yemenite kingdom of Himyar refers to her in its histories as well.^[3]

In the Hebrew Bible, a tradition of the history of nations is preserved in Genesis 10. In Genesis 10:7 there is a reference to Sheba, the son of Raamah, the son of Cush, the son of Ham, son of Noah. In Genesis 10:26-29 there is a reference to another person named Sheba, listed along with Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab as the descendants of Joktan, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Arphaxad, the descendant of Shem, another son of Noah.

Aharoni, Avi-Yonah, Rainey, and Safrai placed the Semitic Sheba in Southern Arabia in geographic proximity to the location of the tribes descended from their ancestor, Joktan. In addition to Sheba, Hazarmaveth and Ophir were identified. Semitic Havilah was located in Eastern Africa, modern day Ethiopia. Semitic Havilah (Beresh't 10:29) is to be distinguished from Cushite Havilah (Beresh't 10:7), the descendant of Cush, descendant of Ham; both locations for Havilah are thought by these scholars to have been located in present day Ethiopia.^[4]

Narratives concerning the Queen of Sheba[link]

Hebrew biblical accounts[link]

Claude Lorrain, The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba

According to the Hebrew Bible, the unnamed queen of the land of Sheba heard of the great wisdom of King Solomon of Israel and journeyed there with gifts of spices, gold, precious stones, and beautiful wood and to test him with questions, as recorded in First Kings 10:1-13 (largely copied in 2 Chronicles 9:1–12).

It is related further that the queen was awed by Solomon's great wisdom and wealth, and pronounced a blessing on Solomon's God. Solomon reciprocated with gifts and "everything she desired." Solomon offered to give her everything his kingdom had to offer except the "royal bounty." Therefore, according to the Bible, "she turned and went to her country, she and her servants." The queen apparently was quite rich, however, as she brought four and a half tons of gold with her to give to Solomon (1 Kings 10:10).

In the biblical passages which refer explicitly to the Queen of Sheba there are no hints of love or sexual attraction between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The two are depicted merely as fellow monarchs engaged in the affairs of state.

Account in the New Testament[link]

The Queen of Sheba is believed^[who?] to be the Queen of the South referenced in Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31 in the New Testament, where Jesus indicates that she and the Ninevites will judge the generation of Jesus' contemporaries who rejected him. (Some arguments believe that The Queen of Sheba was not the Queen of the South, because she did not come from the Ends of the Earth.)

Qur'anic and other Middle Eastern accounts[link]

The Queen of Sheba, Bilqis, shown in a Persian miniature reclining in a garden - tinted drawing on paper c. 1595

The Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam, mentions the kingdom of the Queen by name (Sheba) in the 34th Chapter. Arab sources name her Balqis, Bilqis or Bilquis. The Qur'anic narrative, from sura 27 (An-Naml),^[5] has Suleiman (Salomon) getting reports from the Hoopoe bird about the kingdom of Saba (Sheba), ruled by a queen whose people worship the sun instead of God. Suleiman sends a letter inviting her to submit fully to the One God, Allah, Lord of the Worlds according to the Islamic text. The Queen of Sheba is unsure how to respond and asks her advisors for counsel. They reply by reminding her that they are "of great toughness" in a reference to their willingness to go to war should she choose to. She replies that she fears if they were to lose, Suleiman may behave as any other king would: 'entering a country, despoiling it and making the most honorable of its people its lowest'. She decides to meet with Suleiman in order to find out more. Suleiman receives her response to meet him, and asks if anyone can bring him her throne before she arrives. A jinn under the control of Suleiman proposed that he will bring it before Suleiman rises from his seat. One who had knowledge of the "Book" proposed to bring him the throne of Bilqis 'in the twinkling of an eye' and accomplished that immediately.^[6] The queen arrives at his court, is shown her throne and asked: does your throne look like this? She replied: (It is) as though it were it. When she enters his crystal palace she accepts Abrahamic monotheism and the worship of one God alone, Allah.

Ethiopian accounts[link]

An Ethiopian fresco of the Queen of Sheba travelling to Solomon.

The imperial family of Ethiopia claims its origin directly from the offspring of the Queen of Sheba by King Solomon.^[7] The Queen of Sheba (ንግሥተ ሣብአ nəgəśtã Śāb'ã), is named Makeda (ማክዳ Mākədā) in the Ethiopian account.

Story[link]

An ancient compilation of Ethiopian legends, Kebra Negast ('the Glory of Kings'), is dated to seven hundred years ago and relates a history of Makeda and her descendants. In this account King Solomon is said to have seduced the Queen of Sheba and sired her son, Menelik I, who would become the first Emperor of Ethiopia.

The narrative given in the Kebra Negast - which has no parallel in the Hebrew Biblical story - is that King Solomon invited the Queen of Sheba to a banquet, serving spicy food to induce her thirst, and inviting her to stay in his palace overnight. The Queen asked him to swear that he would not take her by force. He accepted upon the condition that she, in turn, would not take anything from his house by force. The Queen assured that she would not, slightly offended by the implication that she, a rich and powerful monarch, would engage in stealing. However, as she woke up in the middle of the night, she was very thirsty. Just as she reached for a jar of water placed close to her bed, King Solomon appeared, warning her that she was breaking her oath, water being the most valuable of all material possessions. Thus, while quenching her thirst, she set the king free from his promise and they spent the night together.

Other Ethiopian accounts make her the daughter of a king named Agabo or Agabos, in some legends said to have become king after slaying the mythological serpent Arwe; in others, to have been the 28th ruler of the Agazyan tribe. In either event, he is said to have extended his Empire to both sides of the Red Sea.^{[citation needed]}

The tradition that the Biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, in ancient Israel, is supported by the first century CE. Roman (of Jewish origin) historian Flavius Josephus, who identified Solomon’s visitor as a "Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia".^[8]

While there are no known traditions of matriarchal rule in Yemen during the early first millennium BC, the earliest inscriptions of the rulers of Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea mention queens of very high status, possibly equal to their kings.^[9]

Etymology of Makeda[link]

The etymology of her name is uncertain, but there are two principal opinions about its Ethiopian source. One group, which includes the British scholar Edward Ullendorff, holds that it is a corruption of "Candace", the Ethiopian queen mentioned in the New Testament Acts; the other group^[who?] connects the name Makeda with the Ethiopic version of the Alexander romance, which, like other translations, holds that 'Iskinder' (Alexander the Great) of Macedonia (Ethiopic Meqédon) met with Queen Candace (Kandake) of Nubia (c. 332 BCE), and that she dissuaded him from invading her realm.

The Italian scholar Carlo Conti Rossini, however, was unconvinced by either of these theories and, in 1954 stated that he believed the matter unresolved.^[10]

Other traditions[link]

In addition to the above cited accounts, at least one other traditional reference to the queen exists. The Yoruba Ijebu clan of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, claim that she was actually a noblewoman of theirs known as Oloye Bilikisu Sungbo. They also assert that a medieval system of walls and ditches, known as the eredo, that was built by their ancestors over the course of the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, was a monument to the greatness of this personage by her people. After excavations in 1999 the archaeologist Patrick Darling was quoted as saying "I don't want to overplay the Sheba theory, but it cannot be discounted...The local people believe it and that's what is important...The most cogent argument against it at the moment is the dating."^[11]

Later receptions[link]

Christian interpretations[link]

Christian interpretations of the scriptures mentioning the Queen of Sheba in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, typically have emphasized both the historical and metaphorical values in the story. The account of the Queen of Sheba is thereby interpreted by Christians as being both a metaphor and an analogy: the Queen's visit to Solomon has been compared to the metaphorical marriage of the Church to Christ where Solomon is the anointed one or the messiah and Sheba represents a Gentile population submitting to the messiah; the Queen of Sheba's chastity has also been depicted as a foreshadowing of the Virgin Mary; and the three gifts that she brought (gold, spices, and stones) have been seen as analogous to the gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense, and myrrh). The latter is emphasized as being consistent with a passage from Isaiah 60:6; And they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring forth gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.^[12] This last connection is interpreted^[who?] as relating to the Magi, the learned astronomers of Sheba who saw a new star and set off on a journey to find a new ruler connected to the new star, that led them to Bethlehem.

Medieval depictions[link]

Art in the Middle Ages depicting the visit of the Queen of Sheba includes the Portal of the Mother of God at the 13th century Amiens Cathedral, which is included as an analogy as part of a larger depiction of the gifts of the Magi.^[13] The 12th century cathedrals at Strasbourg, Chartres, Rochester and Canterbury include artistic renditions in such elements as stained glass windows and door jamb decorations.^[12]

Renaissance account[link]

Renaissance relief of the Queen of Sheba meeting Solomon - gate of Florence Baptistry

Boccaccio's On Famous Women (Latin: De Mulieribus Claris) follows Josephus in calling the Queen of Sheba, Nicaula. Boccaccio goes on to explain that not only was she the Queen of Ethiopia and Egypt, but also the queen of Arabia. She also is related to have had a grand palace on "a very large island" called Meroe, located someplace near the Nile river, "practically on the other side of the world." From there Nicaula crossed the deserts of Arabia, through Ethiopia and Egypt, and up the coast of the Red Sea, to come to Jerusalem to see "the great King Solomon".^[14]

Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies continues the convention of calling the Queen of Sheba, Nicaula. Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo (ca 1466) on the Legend of the True Cross, contain two panels on the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. The legend links the beams of Solomon's palace (adored by Queen of Sheba) to the wood of the crucifixion. The Renaissance continuation of the metaphorical view of the Queen of Sheba as an analogy to the gifts of the Magi also is clearly evident in the Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi (c. 1510), by Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch chooses to depict a scene of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon in an ornately decorated collar worn by one of the Magi.^[15]

Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus refers to the Queen of Sheba as Saba, when Mephistopheles is trying to persuade Faustus of the wisdom of the women with whom he supposedly shall be presented every morning.^[16]

Theories concerning the origin of the account[link]

Possible Egyptian derivation[link]

Josephus says in his Antiquity of the Jews, book 8 chapter 6, that it was the "queen of Egypt and Ethiopia" who visited King Solomon.

Recent archaeological discoveries[link]

Recent archaeological discoveries in Mareb, Yemen support the view that the Queen of Sheba ruled over southern Arabia, with evidence suggesting that the area was the capital of the Kingdom of Sheba.

A team of researchers funded by the American Foundation for the Study of Man (AFSM) and led by University of Calgary archaeology professor, Dr. Bill Glanzman, has been working to "unlock the secrets of a 3,000-year-old temple in Yemen." "We have an enormous job ahead of us," said Glanzman in 2007. "Our first task is to wrest the sanctuary from the desert sands, documenting our findings as we go. We're trying to determine how the temple was associated with the Queen of Sheba, how the sanctuary was used throughout history, and how it came to play such an important role in Arab folklore."^[17]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Queen of Sheba

Look up Queen of Sheba in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Sheba
• Minaean
• King Solomon
• Old Testament
• Teleportation in Islam
• Bilocation
• Biblical narratives and the Qur'an

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

• Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Queen of Sheba and her only son Menelik, London 1932.
• Jankowski, A., Die Königin von Saba und Salomo, Hamburg 1987.
• Joseph, Antiquitates iudaicae, viii.6.2.
• Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, vi.32.154.
• Makeda, Queen of Sheba by Torrey Philemon.
• Queen of Sheba Temple restored (2000, BBC)
• The Queen Of Sheba by Michael Wood and the BBC.
• The Queen of Sheba, web directory with thumbnail galleries
• Jewish Encyclopedia with information on Jewish and Muslim traditions
• "Queen of Sheba mystifies at the Bowers" — Gladys Rama's review of a museum exhibit for UC Irvine's 'New U' publication
• Alessandro de Maigret. Arabia Felix, translated Rebecca Thompson. London: Stacey International, 2002. ISBN 1-900988-07-0
• Andrey Korotayev. Ancient Yemen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-922237-1.

Footnotes[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2009)

David Baldacci (born August 5, 1960^[1] in Richmond, Virginia) is a bestselling American novelist.

David Baldacci at Bouchercon 2010 in San Francisco.

Biography[link]

Baldacci received a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Virginia. As a student, Baldacci wrote short stories in his spare time, and later practiced law for nine years near Washington, D.C.. While living in Alexandria, Virginia, Baldacci wrote short stories and screenplays without much success. He turned to novel writing, taking three years to write Absolute Power. When it was published in 1996 it was an international best seller.

David Baldacci serves as a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and participates in numerous charities as well as founding his own foundation for literacy, Wish You Well Foundation. Baldacci was raised in Virginia and still resides there (in Vienna, Virginia) with his wife, Michelle Baldacci (Mikki), and two children. His second cousin, John Baldacci, was the Democratic Governor of Maine from 2003 to 2011.

In 1997, People magazine named him one of the 51 most beautiful people in the world.^[2]

He is of Italian descent.^[3]

Works[link]

In 1996, his first novel Absolute Power was published and became an immediate best seller. It tells the story of a fictional American President and his Secret Service agents who are willing to murder people in order to cover up the accidental death of a woman with whom the President was having an affair. It was made into a film, Absolute Power (1997), starring Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.

Baldacci has gone on to publish twenty more novels: Total Control, The Winner, The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, Last Man Standing, The Christmas Train, Split Second, Hour Game, The Camel Club, The Collectors, Simple Genius, Stone Cold, The Whole Truth, Divine Justice, True Blue, Deliver Us From Evil, Hell's Corner, and his latest King and Maxwell thriller, The Sixth Man, and two young adult novels in the Freddy and the French Fries series. He has also published a novella for the Dutch entitled Office Hours, written for the Netherlands' Year 2000 "Month of the Thriller". Baldacci also authored a short story, "The Mighty Johns", as part of a 2002 mystery anthology.

Baldacci's works have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, Men's Health, Richmond Magazine, and The Strand Magazine. He is also a contributing editor to Parade Magazine.

Baldacci has authored seven original screenplays and his works have been published in magazines, newspapers, and journals throughout the world. All of his books have become national and international bestsellers, translated into over 45 languages and sold in more than 100 countries. Over 110 million copies of Baldacci's books are in print worldwide making him one of the bestselling writers in history.

Baldacci will write the sixth final book in the second series of The 39 Clues, Cahills v.s. Vespers, which will be published in March 2013.^[4] This will be his third book for children after the two Freddy and the French Fries series.

Baldacci has also appeared on numerous TV shows, including episodes airing on The History Channel, The Discovery Channel and "ID Discovery".

Fifteen of Mr. Baldacci's novels have been number one bestsellers. He is also a bestseller in over 25 countries.

Bibliography[link]

[edit] Camel Club

1. The Camel Club (novel) (Warner Books, 2005)
2. The Collectors (Warner Books, 2006)
3. Stone Cold (Grand Central Publishing, November 2007), which reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.
4. Divine Justice (Grand Central Publishing, November 2008)
5. Hell's Corner (Grand Central Publishing, November 9, 2010), which reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell[link]

1. Split Second (Warner Books, 2003) reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.
2. Hour Game (Warner Books, 2004) reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.
3. Simple Genius (Warner Books, May 2007) reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.
4. First Family (Grand Central Publishing, April 2009) reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.
5. The Sixth Man (Grand Central Publishing, April 2011)

Shaw and Katie James[link]

1. The Whole Truth (Grand Central Publishing, April 2008)
2. Deliver Us From Evil (Grand Central Publishing, April 2010)^[5]

John Puller[link]

1. Zero Day (Grand Central Publishing, November 1, 2011)

Will Robie[link]

1. The Innocent (Grand Central Publishing, April 17, 2012)

Freddy and the French Fries[link]

1. Freddy and the French Fries: Fries Alive! (Little, Brown and Company, 2005), Baldacci's debut novel for young readers
2. Freddy and the French Fries: The Mystery of Silas Finklebean, 2006

Standalone Novels[link]

• Absolute Power (Warner Books, 1996) was made into a major motion picture by Castle Rock Entertainment and starred Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.
• Total Control (Warner Books, 1996).
• The Winner (Warner Books, 1997) sales topped those of Baldacci's first two novels and received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, its highest rating.
• The Simple Truth (Warner Books, 1998) was his first novel in which part of the plot was based upon an actual event. President Bill Clinton selected The Simple Truth as his favorite novel of 1999.
• Saving Faith (Warner Books, 1999) reached #1 on both The New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists and was selected for People Magazine's "Page Turner of the Week".
• Wish You Well (Warner Books, 2000) received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was the inaugural book for All America Reads, a national reading promotion program.
• Last Man Standing (Warner Books, 2001) features the Federal Bureau of Investigation's elite Hostage Rescue Team and reached number one on The New York Times Bestseller List.
• The Christmas Train (Warner Books, 2002) shows how we do get second chances to fulfill our dreams during the season of miracles and instantly became a bestseller.
• True Blue (Grand Central Publishing, October 2009)
• One Summer (Grand Central Publishing, June 2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• David Baldacci at the Internet Movie Database
• Freddy and the French Fries website
• David Baldacci Books

Interviews[link]

• Interview on Fox News Radio
• Audio interview with National Review Online
• Profile in Newsweek, March 2009