The Queen of Sheba’s gold

The Bible and the Quran both tell of the Queen of Sheba arriving before Solomon with camels loaded with gold, spices and gems. Archaeology has found the real civilization behind the legend: the Sabaean kingdom of southern Arabia and its trading cousins at Aksum in Ethiopia, with monumental temples, the great Marib dam, and control of the incense roads that made it fabulously rich. Excavations near Aksum have turned up gold-working and a site claimed as her palace. The queen may be legend; the wealth was real.