Sheba

Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen from c. 1000 BCE to c. 275 CE. Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself for much of the 1st millennium BCE. Modern historians agree that the heartland of the Sabaean civilization was located in the region around Marib and Sirwah. In some periods, they expanded to much of modern Yemen and even parts of the Horn of Africa, particularly Eritrea and Ethiopia. The kingdom's native language was Sabaic, which was a variety of Old South Arabian.

Among South Arabians and Abyssinians, Sheba's name carried prestige, as it was widely considered to be the birthplace of South Arabian civilization as a whole. The first Sabaean kingdom lasted from the 8th century BCE to the 1st century BCE: this kingdom can be divided into the "mukarrib" period, where it reigned supreme over all of South Arabia; and the "kingly" period, a long period of decline to the neighbouring kingdoms of Ma'in, Hadhramaut, and Qataban, ultimately ending when a newer neighbour, Himyar, annexed them. Sheba was originally confined to the region of Marib (its capital city) and its surroundings. At its height, it encompassed much of the southwestern parts of the Arabian Peninsula before eventually declining to the regions of Marib. However, it re-emerged from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. During this time, a secondary capital was founded at Sanaa, which is also the capital city of modern Yemen. Around 275 CE, the Sabaean civilization came to a permanent end in the aftermath of another Himyarite annexation.

The Sabaeans, like the other South Arabian kingdoms of their time, took part in the extremely lucrative spice trade, especially including frankincense and myrrh. They left behind many inscriptions in the monumental Ancient South Arabian script, as well as numerous documents in the related cursive Zabūr script. Their interaction with African societies in the Horn is attested by numerous traces, including inscriptions and temples dating back to the Sabaean presence in Africa.

The Hebrew Bible mentions the kingdom in a story describing the interactions between King Solomon of Israel and a supposed Queen of Sheba. This narrative is co-opted by the Quran (not to be confused with the Sabians). However, the historicity of the Hebrew Bible's account has been challenged by some historians due to a lack of sufficient evidence, although recent research has indicated that the kingdom was involved in the incense trade route as early in its history as the time of Solomon's reign. Traditions concerning the legacy of the Queen of Sheba feature extensively in Ethiopian Christianity, particularly Orthodox Tewahedo, and among Yemenis today. She is left unnamed in Jewish tradition, but is known as Makeda in Ethiopian tradition and as Bilqis in Arab and Islamic tradition. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Sheba was the home of Princess Tharbis, a Cushite who is said to have been the wife of Moses before he married Zipporah. Some Quranic exegetes identified Sheba with the People of Tubba.