Searching for the Queen of Sheba

Many people have heard of the Queen of Sheba. But do you know who she was? Where she lived? To find out, my husband and I took our 13-year-old twin daughters and their 9-year-old friend to Fernbank Museum’s Searching for the Queen of Sheba exhibit.

With lights dimmed low, the exhibit transported us to a mysterious land. An ancient map showed us we were in the Kingdom of Saba (current day Yemen in South Arabia) and a large time line put us between 950 BCE to the third century.  It’s worth noting that the exhibit is heavy on text so be prepared to read to younger children. Although scholars haven’t yet proven the queen existed, cartoon-like paintings from Ethiopia depicting stories about her and snippets from three different religious writings gave us more insight.

To show what her kingdom may have resembled, alabaster fragments from ancient thrones were displayed and a reproduction of a South Arabian throne sat on a multi-tiered pedestal. My daughter Allison asked, “You mean the Queen of Sheba had to sit on that hard thing all the time?” We learned the Kingdom of Saba’s prosperity stemmed from its location on the Incense Road. Used in perfumes and medicines, incense was loaded onto camels traveling across the Arabian Peninsula. A collection of limestone incense burners also recounted the importance of these aromatics in religious rituals.

The exhibit showcased the region’s art, language and architecture through artifacts – some over 2,000 years old – and I found the details in the carvings awe-inspiring. The girls’ favorite part was the group of large stone inscriptions. At first they couldn’t imagine life without pencils or paper, but soon they were trying to translate the ancient alphabet into our own. “That looks like the letter ‘E’,” I overheard the 9-year-old saying. All three especially enjoyed the gift shop at the conclusion where they could smell the various incense sticks for sale. Parents will love exposing children to ancient treasures while children will enjoy imagining life in a different time period.
– Rebecca Ruffin Leffler