Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen.

• Author: Yule, Paul
• Position: Book Review

Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen. Edited by ST. JOHN SIMPSON. London: BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS, 2002. Pp. 224, illus. [pounds sterling]24.99 (paper).

Fascination for the Queen of Sheba shows no signs of abating. The exhibition of which this book is the English-language catalogue originated in the Parisian Institut du Monde Arabe in late 1997 before going on to Vienna, Munich, Rome, Turin, La Coruna, and finally the British Museum. The different guest institutions previously complemented the core objects from the Yemen with pieces from collections in their respective lands. The British Museum exhibition catalogue contrasts with the virtual barrage of academic contributions in the weighty catalogues of previous sponsoring institutions, especially Vienna and Munich. Instead, twelve brief essays here cover essential topics.

The editor has chosen to bridge the gap between a largely specialist audience and a broader public by means of essays by L. Llewellyn-Jones ("The Queen of Sheba in Western Popular Culture 1850-2000") and F. Pennacchietti ("Legends of the Queen of Sheba"). For our young and still subaltern branch of ancient Near Eastern archaeology, this is a sensible approach. The essays allow the authors to consolidate and summarize previous written contributions, including those of the earlier catalogues.

The introductory article by C. Robin is based on his firmly founded work. The reviewer might emend one of the points which he makes (p. 54): Marib, in fact, is not "... by far the largest ancient city in southern Arabia ... an area of some 110-20 hectares." Recent mapping in Zafar (near Yarim) has revealed an urban core of the same size, although the question of how densely this city was inhabited remains. Observing that in the fifth century A.D. the Yemen had every sign of being a true nation, and explaining this development. Robin shows subtle new insights.

This is followed by R. Hoylund's concise essay on history and chronology. A Sedov's brief but authoritative catalogue of numismatics updates scattered specialist sources, especially G. E. Hill's authoritative catalogue of 1922, which is available only in larger libraries. For a more detailed treatment of Old South Arabian (OSA) numismatics the reader is referred to S. Munro-Hay, Coinage of Arabia Felix: The Pre-Islamic Coinage of the Yemen, Mare Erythraeum 6 (Milan, 2003). C. Edens' treatment of prehistoric South Arabia contains gems too numerous to mention, including still...