Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/806

792 The gold, the myrrh, cassia, and frankincense, which she brought as presents to that great prince, were all the produce of her own country.

Whether she was a Jewess, or a Pagan, is uncertain; Sabaism was the religion of all the East. It was the constant attendant and stumbling block of the Jews; but considering the multitude of that people then trading from Jerusalem, and the long time it continued, it is not improbable that she was a Jewess. She likewise appears to have been a person of learning, and that sort of learning which was then almost peculiar to Palestine, not to Ethiopia. For we see that one of the reasons of her coming, was to examine whether Solomon was really the learned man he was said to be. She came to try him in allegories, or parables, in which Nathan had instructed him.

The annals of Abyssinia say she was a Pagan when she left Azab; but, being full of admiration at the sight of Solomon's works, she was converted to Judaism in Jerusalem, and bore him a son, whom she called Menilek, and who was their first king.

She returned home with her son, and, after keeping him some years, sent him back to his father to be instructed. Solomon did not neglect his charge, and he was anointed and crowned King of Ethiopia, in the temple of Jerusalem, and at his inauguration took the name of David. After this he returned to Azab, and brought with him a colony of Jews, among whom were many doctors of the law of Moses. All Abyssinia was thereupon converted, and the government of the church and state modelled according to what was then in use in Jerusalem. The magnificence of the latter court, and the good order there established, formed a very seductive example, and