JOSH BERNSTEIN:
This week, join me as I go in search of one of
the most enigmatic women in all of history, the Queen of Sheba. The Bible says she
appeared from the desert, leading a caravan of
riches to the court of King Solomon in Jerusalem. Many cultures claim
her as their own. But what's the truth
behind the stories? To find out, I'll explore
ruined temples in Ethiopia, follow ancient caravan routes
through biblical lands, and head into the
dangerous tribal no man's land of modern Yemen. We're digging for the truth,
and we're going to extremes to do it. [music playing] Exotic romance surrounds the
legend of the Queen of Sheba. In folk tales and
scripture, she's described as beautiful
and captivating, sophisticated and powerful,
and very, very wealthy. Hi, I'm Josh Bernstein. My quest is to determine if the
Queen of Sheba really existed. And if so, where she came from. My first stop is the
Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. The library here has one
of the greatest collections of religious texts
in the United States. Most of what's known
about the Queen of Sheba comes from just a few short
passages in the Bible. And I'm hoping that
one of the scholars here can help me
flesh out her story. According to 1 Kings, the
queen journey to Jerusalem at the head of a long caravan
of gold, precious stones and spices, which she presented
as gifts to King Solomon. But what the Bible doesn't
say is where the land of Sheba actually was. Dr. Doug Gropp is an expert
in Middle Eastern texts. And I've asked him to help me
decipher other passages that may offer some
interesting clues. DOUGLAS GROPP: Jeremiah chapter
6, verse 20, the Lord says-- [speaking in hebrew] What is frankincense to
me which comes from Sheba? JOSH BERNSTEIN: Doug tells
me that the spice the queen brought to King Solomon
was frankincense, an aromatic resin that was
one of the most prized goods of the ancient world, more
precious than even silver or gold. What makes this
clue so useful is that frankincense comes from a
very limited geographic area. This means I should be able
to trace the trade routes back to the queen's homeland
fairly easily, or so I hope. DOUGLAS GROPP: In
the ancient world, it came from South Arabian
area, and on the other side of the Red Sea, AND
the horn of Africa. And that's it? That's pretty much it. So Sheba could be that region? Right. Somewhere, OK. Somewhere in that region. Is there any place else in the
Bible we can learn about Sheba? Well, there's a few other
places that mentioned Sheba, but there's also a related term,
a term that most scholars think is related that has just the
different 's' sound, Siba. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Doug
explains that Sheba sometimes appears with a slightly
different spelling and pronunciation. He shows me a passage from the
Old Testament Book of Isaiah that speaks to a land called
Siba, and more importantly, gives a pretty precise clue
about where it may have been. OK, so Siba is a region
either south of Sudan or in that area, the
horn of that area? Right. Which again is
that Ethiopia area. Right, then we have one more. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Another
passage from Isaiah describes the people I'm looking
for and even gives them a name. DOUG GROPP: And the Sabaeans,
who are described as "an-se- mid-dah", men of stature. Ha. Tall, tall men. Ethiopians are pretty tall. Yeah, they are. I have a picture here of
Solomon and Sheba's meeting. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Doug tells
me that the Ethiopian story of the queen of Sheba is
one of the most elaborate. And that it plays an important
role in the country's history. So Ethiopia definitely has
a very historical and even tangible connection
with the queen of Sheba? Yeah, it's absolutely
central to their whole national consciousness. [music playing] So the queen of Sheba may
have been from Ethiopia. She may have been
from South Arabia. But based on what I just
heard, sounds like Ethiopia has a slight advantage. So looks like I'm
going to Africa. I hop an Ethiopian Airlines
flight across the Atlantic to the horn of Africa. [music playing] I've been to Ethiopia
before looking for the Ark of the Covenant, and
I'm really excited to be back. [music playing] [singing tribal songs] I start my search for
evidence of the queen in the northern
highlands of a country, in a sleepy village with a
very promising local nickname. This is the town of Lalibela. It's also called
the New Jerusalem, and it's considered by
many to be the holiest place in Ethiopia. But is there a connection
between this Jerusalem and the Jerusalem visited
by the queen of Sheba? Let's go find out. [music playing] At first glance, the town
doesn't bear much resemblance to Solomon's capital. But there is an elaborate
complex of churches here that give the place its holy
status and famous nickname. To help me learn
the lay of the land, I'm meeting up with Asnake
Wubete of Addis Ababa University. OK, so I've heard
that this place is called the New Jerusalem Yes, you see, in
Ethiopian tradition, [inaudible] King Lalibela in
order to minimize the journey of Ethiopians to Jerusalem. He was-- JOSH BERNSTEIN: Asnake explains
that Lalibela is a pilgrimage site modeled on holy
Jerusalem, the same city where King Solomon first impressed the
queen of Sheba with his wisdom. Could this place be
part of that legacy? As we come upon the
first of the churches, it becomes clear just how
inspired Lalibela was. This site is made
up of 11 churches, all carved seamlessly
from the mountain bedrock, complete with windows and doors. Over the centuries, hundreds
of thousands of souls have come to pray here. Even now, it's a
thriving center of faith. Everywhere we go, we
pass monks and nuns who are immersed in prayer,
oblivious to our presence. As we pass through one
of the dozens of tunnels and passageways on our
way to the most sacred of the churches, Asnake
fills in the details of the Ethiopian version of
the queen of Sheba legend. ASNAKE WUBETE:
Ethiopians believed that from northern
Ethiopia, queen of Sheba, she went to Jerusalem
to visit King Solomon. JOSH BERNSTEIN: The
story that Asnake tells me begins the same way as
the biblical tale I heard in Washington. The queen, at the head of a
caravan of jewels and incense, journeys to Jerusalem to
pay her respects to Solomon. Once in Jerusalem though,
the Ethiopian version takes a very different turn. ASNAKE WUBETE: King Solomon
went to sleep with her because of her beauty and her
femme, but she refused. JOSH BERNSTEIN:
According to the legend, the queen resisted Solomon's
efforts to seduce her. He promised to leave her be, so
long as she agreed not to take anything belonging to him. He then set a trap. Solomon served the
queen a lavish feast of spicy, salty food, but
offered her no water to drink. Forbidden from asking
him for anything, she went to bed with
her thirst unquenched. Solomon's trap was set. In the dead of night, the queen
awoke desperately thirsty. She searched the
palace for water, but the only pitcher had been
placed next to the King's bed. The queen had
broken her promise, and Solomon felt
entitled to break his. According to the legend,
the queen bore Solomon a son as a result of that night. Named Menelik I, he
founded the Solomon dynasty in Ethiopia, a dynasty
that lasted 3,000 years and ended only with the
death of the emperor Haile Selassie in 1975. Drawing such a connection
is a critical part of Ethiopian history
and identity. By tracing their descent to
Solomon, through the queen of Sheba, the Ethiopians thus
become children of Israel, and among God's chosen people. The spiritual importance
of this New Jerusalem is even more apparent once we
reach our destination, the most dramatic church in
all of Lalibela. Carved into the
shape of a cross, Bete Giyorgos, or the
House of Saint George, was the last of the
churches to be constructed. The elegant workmanship
and fine detail speak to the extra care that
was taken in carving it. As we descend through
the winding trench towards the entrance,
I can't get over how incredible this place is. What's amazing is that a lot
of the stone that they had to remove to make those temples. Let's talk about
these narrow quarters. Look at how narrow this is. Once we're inside, it's clear
that other visitors here have been even more affected
by the magic of this place. Some of the monks spent years
living like hermits in holes carved in the wall to be as
close as possible to the church and to god. ASNAKE WUBETE: Some of them
would never leave the church and pray all the time here
throughout their life. A whole lifetime? Yes. Living in [inaudible]. And some of them never
leave this holy place. JOSH BERNSTEIN: So
people really did everything they could to
be close to this place? Yes, and this is one
example for in a sense, these are skeletons of people
who were believed to have come from Jerusalem, Jewish people. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Asnake shows
me the skeletons of pilgrims that the local folklore says
came all the way from Jerusalem to pray here at Lalibela. Wow, it's a little
bit creepy, huh? Yeah. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Their
piety was so great that they were
left here in death to continue their devotion. Yes. They came here to pray? Yeah. And then, they spent
their whole lives here? After they came here,
they decided to remain here throughout their life. And they died here-- It's clear that
Jerusalem and the queen have a profound
spiritual influence here. But what does this tell me
about where to find her? ASNAKE WUBETE: This
is a very nice quest-- JOSH BERNSTEIN: Asnake says
that Lalibela was completed only 700 years ago. Scholars believe
the queen of Sheba would have ruled in
the 10th century BC, nearly 3,000 years ago. So, I clearly need to
go further back in time to find a tangible
connection to the queen. But Asnake tells me there is a
civilization in Ethiopia that could date back far enough. I just have to travel a bit
farther north to find it. Could this be the
Sabaean kingdom that Doug told me about
back in Washington? I'd come to the horn
of Africa searching for the queen of
Sheba, and learned that one of the gifts
she brought to Solomon was frankincense, which
comes from only a few places around the Red Sea. In Ethiopia, I visited a place
called the New Jerusalem, where I learned how
important the queen is to Ethiopian national identity. Now, I'm following a
lead that's brought me into Tigray Province, the
heart of frankincense country. I've hooked up with my old
friend, Misgana Gananew to learn more about
this precious commodity. So frankincense has
been used in Ethiopia for thousands of years? Just from thousand
and thousand years ago. The land of frankincense. The Bible says the queen brought
Solomon quantities of incense that would never be equal. Learning the history of
frankincense in Ethiopia could shed light on whether
the queen might have started her journey here. So frankincense is used
throughout Ethiopia in all types of
religious ceremonies? MISGANA GANANEW: All
type of religious, when we have the church
mass, the service, we should not be
without incense. No incense, no service. No incense, no life. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Now, we're going
to go see how it's actually-- MISGANA GANANEW: How it
is the same way of they're doing from old
tradition until now. JOSH BERNSTEIN: So the process
hasn't changed too much? MISGANA GANANEW: Not too much,
every thing has been by hand. It is here. JOSH BERNSTEIN: We've
come to this town of Shire where frankincense
is still processed in the traditional way
for sale throughout Africa and the Middle East. MISGANA GANANEW: What King
uses for building this site. JOSH BERNSTEIN: As
soon as we walk in, I can see why he said
things haven't changed much. MISGANA GANANEW: This is how
they're preparing for market, for selling. Everyone here is
working on frankincense? Here in Tigray
Province, frankincense is a major part of
the local economy, just as it's been for millennia. Production involves every
member of the community. So the mothers work here,
the fathers are out there collecting this? MISGANA GANANEW: They're
collecting the [inaudible].. And the kids don't really
have any place to go, so they come here and help them? They come here and help
these families, elder, parents. Won't you show me what's
happening right here? She is cutting in separately
the best quality incense. JOSH BERNSTEIN:
Frankincense is harvested as a resin that oozes from cuts
made into the Boswellia tree. Frankincense is
actually in the bark. The process isn't actually
that different from tapping maple trees to make syrup. Only with
frankincense, the resin is allowed into
harden on the trees. The resin encrusted bark is then
sliced off and brought here, where these women separate the
hardened incense from the wood. That's not so good, we want-- MISGANA GANANEW: Not
so good, check around. JOSH BERNSTEIN: OK. I decide to give it a try. She's happy. She says, "Hey,
he's helping me." Or she's like, "Hey, he's
messing up all my hard work." We'll find out soon. Is that a good piece? No? OK. See that? The little speck there? That's got to come off. I want to make it as clean, as
clean a resin as possible, eh? Cleaner resin? MISGANA GANANEW: Yes. Cleaner resin. She's got to have a really
good eye for that, you know. What happens next? You got short you know OK OK. Thank you. (SPEAKING IN
AMHARIC) Amesegnalaw. OK. [winnowing sounds] JOSH BERNSTEIN: So this
is the second phase? MISGANA GANANEW: This
is the second phase because [inaudible]. And now she's
separating, you know. Yeah, but she's basically
winnowing these pieces of bark, small bits of bark. At each stage of
processing, the incense is refined until it's
ready for market. The highest grades are
exported throughout Africa, the Middle East, and beyond,
continuing a trade that began thousands of years ago. So this is the product
of all their hard work? Yep. So, the queen of Sheba
went to Solomon with this? That was an offer. MISGANA GANANEW: Of course. There's nothing to give
more than this, you see? JOSH BERNSTEIN: So
it's worthy of a King? MISGANA GANANEW: It is
a wonderful present. It is more than gold. Wow. If frankincense has been such
an integral part of the economy and culture here for so
long, perhaps Tigray Province could have been
the land of Sheba. [music playing] We head on to the tiny village
of Yeha, just a couple of hours away, to check out a temple. I've been told it dates back to
the beginnings of civilization in Ethiopia. Misgana tells me that Yeha was
the center of the first state to arise in Ethiopia between
2,500 and 3,000 years ago. This puts it around the right
time for the queen of Sheba. Could there be any
relationship between this place and the mysterious
Sabaean civilization? The temple is now little
more than a shell. But with its high
well-built walls, it must have been quite a
sight in its day, perhaps even suitable for
a legendary queen. The complex has
since been converted into a Christian church. But the shrine's pagan past
is apparent everywhere. Elements from the
original temple, like these antelope heads
built into the church wall, are still revered. Inside, the monks showed me
their most prized artifacts, inscriptions removed
from the temple. Unfortunately, no one
here can read them. In fact, the language
they're written in doesn't even come from Ethiopia. What the monks can
tell me, though, is that the language they're
written in is Sabaean. And that it comes
from South Arabia. This is exciting information. Doug Gropp told
me that the queen might have come from either the
horn of Africa or South Arabia. The evidence here at Yeha
indicates that her people may have immigrated to
Ethiopia from Arabia, which means I'm hot on the trail. [music playing] JOSH BERNSTEIN: I traced
the frankincense trail to the horn of Africa in
search of the queen of Sheba. I learned how the
incense is processed. And I explored the ruins of
the first Ethiopian state. Now, despite the warnings
of the US State Department, I'm heading 100 miles
east, across the Red Sea to the South Arabian
country of Yemen, to track the queen
and her civilization. My first stop is Sana, the
ancient capital of Yemen. So, I've come from
Ethiopia, where I've learned that the Sabaean
culture has roots here in Yemen. Of course. What is the relationship-- Dr. Hussein al-Amri is a
professor at Sana'a University. The Yemen in that time
was a center of merchants, and Sana'a, their
capital, especially, was one of the oldest
troupe of Arabs. Really? So this city is one
of the oldest markets? Yes, they were. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Hussein believes
that the queen civilization was based here in Yemen, and
was built on commerce. He explains that the Yeha
temple I saw in Ethiopia was actually a Sabaean colony
established when they extended their trade networks
into the horn of Africa. So people, they're meeting
here for thousands of years? Of course. Yes, buying, selling. Yeah. Watching, spending their time. Beautiful thing. The Sabaean civilization lay
at the crossroads of trade and antiquity, controlling the
movement of goods between East and West. Spices from India, gold
and ivory from Africa, silks from China, and of
course, frankincense all pass through the kingdom of
Saba before heading north on the caravan routes to the
markets of Egypt Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. Seemed to sell everything. Special price today,
just for you, my friend. But Sana'a wasn't
the Sabaean capital. If I'm to find the queen,
I need to head to a city called Marib, just 100 miles
east over the mountains. But it might as well
be a world away. It's in a very
conservative tribal area of the country that's
known for its animosity towards outsiders. I'm told in no uncertain terms,
I should postpone my visit. In order to even
make the trip, I need to find the right escort. Hussein sends me to the
former governor of Marib and the present governor of
Sana'a, Abdulwahed Al-Bukhiti. Abdulwahed tells me that the
Bedouin who live in Marib highly value their
traditional Customs. He suggests that
before we head out, I should pick up a jambiya,
one of the large daggers that I've seen nearly all the
men wearing here in Sana'a. If participating in
the local traditions is the best way to gain
acceptance and keep me safe, I'm all for it.
Can I touch this one? It's OK? HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
Yeah, yeah, you can. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Now,
which is more important, the blade or the handle? HE ABDULWAHED
AL-BUKHITI: The handle. JOSH BERNSTEIN: The handle. HE ABDULWAHED
AL-BUKHITI: Yeah, you can recognize anyone in the
street through his jambiya. You'll know he is from this
area, he's from that area. This one from this tribe, this
one that tribe by his jambiya. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Jambiyas have
been an important status symbol in Yemen going back
to Sabaean times, and they communicate a lot
about their owners, history and personality count. The older the jambiya handle,
the more prized it is. Abdulwahed tells me
that one sheik recently paid a million dollars for
an especially prized jambiya. [inaudible] It's
pretty nice, huh. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI: Jamil,
in Arabic, Jamil means nice. Nice. Good? HE ABDULWAHED
AL-BUKHITI: Very good. Like this?
So I-- HE ABDULWAHED
AL-BUKHITI: Vey good, OK. It's OK. So this is just
straight up, yeah? Yeah. [speaks in arabic] (SPEAKING IN ARABIC) Shukraan. All right, this is fun. Now that I've got my
jambiya, Abdulwahed gives me a lesson in another
time-honored Yemeni tradition, qat. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
We chew it, like this. Yeah. You can use it here, exactly. How do you taste it? Yeah, it's got a weird
taste, kind of tangy-bitter. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
It's not sweet. Very dry. What happens when you chew a
lot of it like these guys are? Make you comfortable. Like mellow? Makes you work a lot. You can read a lot,
and you can't sleep. Can't sleep? Yeah. Keep you up. - Interesting.
- Yeah. And this is a
tradition where-- Qat is a natural
stimulant chewed by over 80% of the
population each afternoon. It feels like about
six shots of espresso. You can eat it. No, I'm good. Oh, no, no, one more. [interposing voices] OK, he swear in god
for you to eat it. JOSH BERNSTEIN: It's not
enough just to taste it. I have to have more. I've got to sign on for
the full experience. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI: He
swear in god for you to eat it. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Oh, my god. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
So you can do it like this. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Really?
HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI: Ahuh. JOSH BERNSTEIN: So I
wouldn't want to offend him. [inaudible] HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
Nothing will happen, it's fine. It's fine. [chuckles] I wish I could tell you
what this tastes like. It's like nothing
else I've ever had. It's really bitter. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
Metallic, I guess. Like maybe if you ate a whole
bunch of dandelion greens, but, wow, bitter, bitter. OK. Shukraan. I'm going to wait until I
get some sort of effect. And I'll just float away. OK, now, we can be here-- JOSH BERNSTEIN: Now that I've
had my crash course in Yemeni culture, I'm ready to head
into the tribal desert. So, I'll settle up
with this man here? OK. [islam prayers] JOSH BERNSTEIN: I
don't know if it's my excitement or the
lingering effects of the qat, but the next morning, as the
call to prayer signals dawn, I can't wait to hit the road. Good morning. It's a beautiful day. I've got my jambiya. And now, I've got to
meet up Abdulwahed, we're going to Marib. Shukraan. Yalla. [music playing] The road to Marib takes me
from the mountainous highlands of Sana'a through some
spectacular scenery to the flat, dusty edge
of the vast desert known as the empty quarter. I'm going to meet Abdulwahed
ahead along the route. He's traveled ahead to guarantee
my safety in this lawless zone. Over the years, this
road has developed a well-earned reputation
for highway robbery. Good morning. Some of the tribes have been
known to kidnap travelers and hold them for ransom. It's been good. Traveling with Abdulwahed
should make things go smoothly, but even he takes precautions. [music playing] I gotta admit. This is my first time
traveling in a car with three armed guards carrying
machine guns. It's a little unsettling. You always travel with guards? Huh? You always travel with guards? With armed guards? Yeah. When you come to Marib,
you need to have guards. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Things have
gotten better in recent years, but the 14 checkpoints we
pass through along the way speak to the still
volatile conditions. One hundred miles
later, we arrived safely at the outskirts of the city. HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
The old city, old Marib. JOSH BERNSTEIN: As we
approach the ancient town, I see buildings rising
in the distance. When we get closer though, it
becomes clear that what I see is a city of ruins. Abdulwahed explains that
these buildings date back some 300 years, but that the
city's foundations go back nearly 3,000 to the time
of the queen of Sheba. After so many centuries
of civilization, it was a modern war in the 1960s
that finally left old Marib a crumbling relic, inhabited
by only a few lonely squatters. As we move on, I can only
hope that the rest of Marib's ancient past hasn't
met a similar fate, and that something of the
queen can still be found. I've traveled from the horn of
Africa to the deserts of Arabia in search of the queen of Sheba. In the old city of Sana'a, I was
welcomed by the local governor Abdulwahed al-Bukhiti,
who's escorting me through the lawless
tribal desert of Yemen. The Bedouin are famous
for their hospitality, but hostility can also arise
at a moment's notice, which we soon found out. After we left the
ancient city of Marib, heavily armed tribesmen
surrounded our camp in the middle of the night. We were literally
under house arrest. In a place where foreigners
are routinely kidnapped, the stakes were very high. [islamic music playing] Thankfully, Abdulwahed
has taken pains to help me navigate the terrain. [islamic music playing] Drawing on his contacts from
his days as governor here, Abdulwahed has called a meeting
of the local tribal sheiks, so that I can pay my respects
and prove my intentions. I make sure to do
all the right things. I'm dressed appropriately
with my new jambiya and a traditional
tribal skirt the a futa. And I pay close attention
to all the local customs. I noticed customs says we eat
with the right hand only, yeah? HE ABDULWAHED
AL-BUKHITI: Mm-hmm, yeah. And then the rice, you
just kind of grab the rice? Abdulwahed explains my
quest to the sheiks, and the famous Bedouin
hospitality quickly takes the place of the
hostility, at least for now. [inaudible] So all
this type of gathering hasn't changed much over the
thousands of years, right? Not a lot. No? This water in the
bottles, sharings, it's new. And some of the foods maybe? The rice, it's new. Cell phones? - Cell phones.
- Cell phones are new. Yeah. OK. After dinner, we sit around
the fire to share stories about the queen of Sheba
that have been handed down through generations
here in Marib. [speaking in arabic] It's OK? [speaking in arabic] Very nice, he said. Yemeni. Yemeni, yes. My new jambiya goes over well. [speaking in arabic] In Ethiopia, the legends I
heard about the queen of Sheba were very detailed,
and played a big part in defining Ethiopian
national identity. Now that I'm here
in Yemen, I want to hear the Yemenis
tell her story, and find out about the place
she occupies in their history and culture. [speaking in arabic] HE ABDULWAHED
AL-BUKHITI: We believe she came from the far desert. And she is for sure from Marib. They feel honored because queen
of Sheba's from their land, from their hometown. JOSH BERNSTEIN: I hear tales of
a beautiful young woman named Bilqis, who appeared
from the dunes to assume the throne
of the kingdom of Saba. To the sheiks, there's no doubt
that this kingdom here in Marib and the biblical land of
Sheba are one and the same. [speaking in arabic] HE ABDULWAHED AL-BUKHITI:
And the holy books-- Yes, and the Quran. The Quran also tells vivid
stories about the kingdom that Bilqis rule. And what's more? Where to find its remains. It was a heaven. Saba have two heavens. [speaking in arabic] JOSH BERNSTEIN: The sheiks
explained that the land of Saba is described in the Quran as
land of the two paradises. The name comes from
two oases created by a massive dam the
Sabaeans built here in Marib. A dam whose ruins they tell
me can still be seen nearby. Sounds like I need
to go to see this dam and to explore Marib further. Do I have the permission
of the sheiks to do so? [speaking in arabic] [interposing voices] [speaking in arabic] This jambiya, it's like
a permission for you to go anywhere. Ah, OK. So, if I have their
permission that's all I need. Shukraan. And thank you for this. This was very special. [speaking in arabic] [music playing] My evening with the sheiks
went over very well. Not only did I gain
their permission to explore their
land, but the stories they told me about the queen
of Sheba have inspired me. Now, my goal is to search
for archaeological evidence to support their stories. I've arranged to meet
archaeologist, Zaydoon Zaid, at the Marib Dam
to tell me more. So this is one of the
towers at the Dam of Marib? Yeah, this is the
north tower right. Where's the other one? ZAYDOON ZAID: The south tower? Just ahead of your eyes. That part, you see it? There. The south one. JOSH BERNSTEIN: There
was a wall going-- The dam's wall
stretched from where we're standing all the
way to the South Tower over 2,000 feet away. That made it about twice
as wide as the Hoover Dam. The water it controlled was used
to irrigate the valley below, supporting an estimated
35,000 to 50,000 people. This really must have
been a lush green valley. Well, as you can see
you now, it's still green. And you can imagine
at that time, it was much, much,
much more, yeah. The water was which
was coming out of here was supporting the two sides
of it, something like paradise, two side of him, one on
the right, one of the left. I heard about this. So, this is the left paradise
and the right paradise? ZAYDOON ZAID:
Exactly, that's it. Wow. The dam worked by collecting
runoff from the mountains, and then channeling the
water into sluice gates on either side of
the two towers. The gates, in
turn, led to canals that branched into the valley
below creating the oases that gave Saba the name "Land
of the Two Paradises". As Zaydoon and I make our
way to the South Tower, I ask him what led
to the collapse of this incredible structure and
the civilization that built it. ZAYDOON ZAID: There's
two theories about it. One which would say that
the dam was destroyed by a strong earthquake. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Zaydoon says
that an earthquake may have toppled the dam, or an unusually
heavy rainy season could have damaged it beyond repair. ZAYDOON ZAID: Caused
to other factor-- JOSH BERNSTEIN: In either
case, the march of history also played a part. ZAYDOON ZAID:
--from land to sea. JOSH BERNSTEIN: A shift
in trade routes away from their territory had
already dramatically weakened the kingdom, and they
were unable to recover from the loss of the dam. What I've seen so far
supports what I've heard about a
flourishing civilization, but what about the queen? It thought she would have
reigned in the 10th century BC ZAYDOON ZAID: And here we are. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Shukraan. Does the archaeological evidence
here date back far enough? ZAYDOON ZAID: Well, the
construction of the dam went through different phases,
and what we are looking in far are the latest of it. JOSH BERNSTEIN:
Inscriptions on the tower are written in the same Sabaean
script I first saw in Ethiopia. Though they date this phase of
the dam to the 7th century BC after the time of
the queen, Zaydoon tells me that this is only
the latest construction. Its origins go back far earlier. The Sabaeans continually
updated and improve their dam over centuries. ZAYDOON ZAID: The
Sabaean civilization managed to block this
canyon in 1,500 BC So, they finished building
the dam at that point. But the history of damming using
water goes back up to 3,200 BC JOSH BERNSTEIN: If this is
true, the Sabaean civilization in Marib would have existed
at the time the queen made her journey to Jerusalem. In fact, it would
have been thriving. All that remains is to find her. And Zaydoon has an
answer for that, too. It would make sense that
somewhere in this region is a palace, and
perhaps a queen? A queen with a temple. And is that true? Is there someplace around
here where that exists? Yeah, exactly, the temple
of the queen of Sheba. Right here? Right here. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Next, I head to
the very center of the Sabaean My search for the queen
of Sheba has taken me across the world and thousands
of years back in time. In a religious archive, I heard
the stories of her journey to Jerusalem to
visit King Solomon. In Ethiopia, I learned
that frankincense could have provided her with
the wealth she was famous for. Here in Yemen, I discovered
that she and her civilization appear in the Quran, and
in the oral traditions of the local people. I've now come to the possible
seat of her civilization, a sand-swept temple that
bears her name, Mahram Bilqis, the sanctuary of
the queen of Sheba. To learn what it
reveals of the queen, I'm meeting up with another
extraordinary woman. Merilyn Phillips Hodgson
of the American Foundation for the Study of Man
has been excavating here for nearly a decade. It's a pleasure to be here. Before we explore the
temple, Merilyn and I must pay our
respects to the sheik who watches over the site. Sheik Marzuk and his
sons keep a close eye on the Mahram Bilqis, the
centerpiece of their heritage. And they want to be
sure of my intentions. I'm grateful the sheik is
welcoming me because he's packing a lot of heat. My explorations here in Marib
have attracted some attention. And while I have the blessing
of the tribes to be here, I still have to tread carefully. After some friendly diplomacy,
we're given the go-ahead to explore the temple grounds. [inaudible] So these walls, this was the
first thing discovered here? Well, sure because everything
else was covered by sand. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Merilyn tells
me that the entire complex encompasses 37 acres, making
it the largest ancient temple in the entire Arabian peninsula. But only a small percentage of
it has actually been excavated. Working here is a
never ending battle against the blowing sands,
which we bury much of the site between digging seasons. I asked Merilyn how
she came to work in such a forbidding place. MERILYN PHILLIPS
HODGSON: I came here because I wanted to fulfill my
brother's unfinished dreams. But now it's my passion. JOSH BERNSTEIN: The
Mahram Bilqis was first excavated by Merilyn's
brother, Wendell Phillips, in the early 1950s. When he began, the site
was almost entirely covered in sand. And though his dig
lasted only one season, he uncovered a
wealth of artifacts. So your brother brings his
archaeological team here. They start excavating. What happened? They found many, many
exciting wonderful treasures. One of the greatest is, I
happen to have a picture here to show you. Oh, yeah. MERILYN PHILLIPS HODGSON: Every
Yemeni has a picture of it, because it's on
the 50 real note. JOSH BERNSTEIN: So this was
such an exciting find that they actually put it on their money? That's right, more than
four feet high warrior, one of the rulers
of this great area. That's impressive. It is. JOSH BERNSTEIN: The statue
that Wendell Phillips found is considered to be one
of the masterpieces of Sabaean art. It depicts a ruler
called the Madikarib, complete with a
jambiya at his waist. This statue from
the 6th century BC helped put a face to the
queen's glorious civilization. Unfortunately, Wendell was
never able to finish his work. Tribal strife forced him to flee
Marib after just four months on the site. MERILYN PHILLIPS HODGSON:
He didn't want to leave. It was a terrible heartbreak. He left all their cars, all
the artifacts, everything remained behind. JOSH BERNSTEIN: So, after making
these world-class discoveries, he has to flee for his life? Yes. So what happens to this site? It filled up with sand,
and only the great pillars showed there, and the Awwam
enclosure, the great wall. JOSH BERNSTEIN: This space
that we're sitting in now, 18 feet above us, was all sand? MERILYN PHILLIPS
HODGSON: All sand. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Wow. Nearly 50 years past
before Merilyn and her team were able to return to Marib. Since work has
resumed, the foundation has unearthed much
more of the site. This is like the
Library of Congress now? Yes. JOSH BERNSTEIN: We're joined
by the assistant site director, Yemeni archaeologist, Abdu
Ghaleb, who shows me some of their recent discoveries. So anything that had
to do with daily life or was important to them,
they put on these stuff? They put it here. JOSH BERNSTEIN: The
Mahram Bilqis is literally covered in inscriptions
from top to bottom. The elegant South
Arabian script that I've seen throughout my journey
adorns nearly every surface of the temple. ABDU GHALEB: These inscription
talking about social, economic and about the tribes, the names,
and what they plea, you know. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Abdu tells me
that all aspects of daily life were recorded here
from ritual dedications to social and
economic histories. But the lower part of the
temple for different kings. JOSH BERNSTEIN: And
the foundations team has only scratched the surface. ABDU GHALEB: So--
- Below this? Below this. Yeah. You know, this goes
back to the 8th century BC but is covered
now by sand again. So if you were to dig down-- ABDU GHALEB: If you dig down,
you will go down, down, down, down, down 50 meters. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Like
the Great Dam of Marib, the Mahram Bilqis was
improved and expanded over successive generations. To date, they have yet to find
any inscriptions referring to the queen of Sheba. But the deeper they dig,
the further back in time they go, and thus, closer
to the time of the queen. I ask Abdu and Merilyn
if what they found can shed any light
on the legends I've heard throughout
my journey. This is the main
gate of the temple. JOSH BERNSTEIN: They take me
to a newly discovered area of the temple, where they show
me a grand staircase decorated with antelope heads. I've seen these
before in Ethiopia. And both cultures claim
to have this belief that the queen of Sheba
is from their homeland. Yeah, because the queen of
Sheba is the queen of Saba. You know, she's Sabaean queen. And the people who live in
Ethiopia, service the kingdom of Ethiopia are Sabaean people. JOSH BERNSTEIN: This helps
explain the Ethiopian's beliefs that they are descended
from the queen of Sheba. In a way, they are, or at
least, from her civilization. ABDU GHALEB: Why you see
the similar declaration-- [interposing voices]
ABDU GHALEB: Yeah, and writings. JOSH BERNSTEIN: So
this was the center and actually we're standing
at the center of the Sabaean civilization? Yes. And if the queen of
Sheba, which sounds like if the queen
of Sheba lived here, then her influence would
spread throughout her domain and that you said,
went into Ethiopia? Exactly. And that's why they believe
that she was their queen as well? Yeah, that's right. It is you know-- JOSH BERNSTEIN: Marilyn and
Abdu have one last thing they want me to see. At the top of the
staircase, they bring me to a wall
covered in sand, and invite me to help them dig. OK. Abdu explains that they
reburied this treasured artifact after each season to protect
it from the elements. Look at that. That's a face. As we clear away the sand, I can
see why they take so much care. Who found this? ABDU GHALEB: Me and Merilyn,
when were digging here in 2001. That must've been
pretty exciting. Yeah, it was. It was very exciting, yeah. JOSH BERNSTEIN: Every time
you see it, what do you think? ABDU GHALEB: It just
became more beautiful. JOSH BERNSTEIN: More beautiful? Yes. MERILYN PHILLIPS HODGSON:
This is my favorite discovery. Even though it's not as early as
the time of the queen of Sheba, I'm sure that when we do see the
statue of the queen of Sheba, she will be something like this. JOSH BERNSTEIN: It's clear
that the Mahram Bilqis is an incredible
archaeological site. Every season of
digging reveals more about the remarkable
Sabaean civilization, and brings Merilyn and
Abdu closer to finding the real queen of Sheba. She speaks to you. She says keep digging. Yeah, we'll keep digging. And to think that just by
digging another 10 meters, you could come face to face
with the most famous queen in the world. Yeah, somewhere, we are going
to find the queen of Sheba. So you don't believe
it's a question of if, but just a question of when? It's a question of time
and a question of work. So we're going to find her here. [music playing] JOSH BERNSTEIN: My mission
to uncover the real story of the queen of Sheba
has been a success. I haven't found her, yet, but
I have found her civilization, and learned firsthand how she
became so important to cultures in both South Arabia
and the horn of Africa. Perhaps Merilyn and
Abdu will find her here, and perhaps very soon. What is certain is that the
story of this legendary queen will continue to captivate. [music playing]
