New Britain Herald Newspaper, August 2, 1929, Page 25

Howte Modern Queenof Sheba Then the Strange Royal But N0l fusban Pair Staged the World’s Biggest Banquet, Lasting Seven Days, with 100,000 Hungry Guests . F tradition paints truly the ancient Queen of Sheba, she was a lady who possessed charm and beauty —also IT —in such supreme degree that every man who saw her, whether Solomon on his throne or some poor boatman of the Nile, went mad with love and offered marriage, thrones, even suicide, in return for her smiles. Today another handsome Empress who claims direct descent from Sheba finds herself less lucky. She has a orgeous throne and a fine young &'ng to sit beside her on it, but the King is not her husband. He has an- other wife whom he has no intention of abandoning. And as for the Em- press, she has no husband at all. This queen, who has a king but not a husband, is a Zudita (Judith) ruler of Abyssinia and Ethepia, a great realm in Eastern Central Africa, larger than Germany, France, Belgium and Hol- *land put together. The king, by whose side she now sits, s her cousin, Ras Tafari, a grandson of King Menelik II. For ten years this Ras Tafari had wielded great mili- tary and political power in Abyssinia as regent, and insisted finally that the actual throne should be his. . Rather than face revolt, Empress Judith agreed to let him be elevated and share the throne with him. The result is that Abyssinia is the only country in the world today whesy the emperor and empress are not at the same time husband and wife. Both of these strange rulers, since they are cou- sins, claim descent equally from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. When Ras Talfari was crowned only a few months ago, the following traditional titles, going back to the days of Solo- mon, were conferred on im: King of Kings. Conquering Lion of Ju- dah. Elect of God. Shadow of God Upon Earth. Negus of Abyssinia. Emperor of Abyssinia. At the coronation, which was a gorgeous event attended by diplo- métic envoys from all the fmportant countries of white Europe, an elaborate manifesto was read, set- ting forth all the emperor's new titles and powers. It was afterward pub. lished in the seventy-two languages and dialects which are spéken in his realm. It states, with grandiloquent poeti- cal exaggerations, that “on earth no greater power is thinkable or feasible than that exercised by the Negus of Abyssinia,” and that “through the A n, MODERN SHEBA Queen Zaudita (Judith), Empress of Abyasinia and Ethopia, Who Claims Direct Descent From the Queen of Sheba. KING Ras Tafari, Emperor of Abyssinia, Who Made Zaudita His Empress, but Not His Wife. He Claims Descent From Solomon. v ROYAL CEREMONY ) & From This Picture of the Royal Cavalcade It is Possible to [magine the ( Gorgeous Coronation Ceremonies of R afari, at Addis Ababa, Capital of Abyasinia. power of God no king, ruler, monarch, emperor or combination of earthly powers would ever be of any avail against the new Negus.” And certainly the coronation ban- quet was conducted on a scale com- mensurate with such pretensions, with a magnificent gesture ev zen of the realm was invited to i More than 100,000 hungry people actually came, so that it was probably the biggest banquet ever given in the history of the world. Furthermore, the Negus attended it in person, and 8o did the modern Queen of Sheba. For seven days and seven nights the banquet lasted, great droves of cattle, sheep and other animals passing each day through the abattoirs and great cooking ovens, while butchers worked twenty-four hours a day cutting out L the choicest steaks for the most im- portant guests. In the meanwhile nearly every car- penter, mason and engineer of the country was engaged in erecting tri- umphal arches, building roads, hanging flags and decorations to do honor to this modern “Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and his Queen of Sheba, the Empress.” The new emperor is a dark-skinned, slightly built man of medium height, with delicately chiseled features. The new empress. also dark. is heavy and handsome. Two years ago Ras Tafari made a journey through Europe with a mag- nificent retinue, and was elaborately entertained by King George in Eng- land, and by most of the kings and presidents of European countries. He also called on Mussolini, whom he greatly admires, and patched up an old bitter quarrel between Italy and byssinia, which has lasted 1896. As a matter of Abyssinia is a very powerful country, as the Abyssinians proved when they inflicted crushing de- feat on an Italian expedi- tionary force, which tried to invade and conquer them. Old Menelik, of Abyssinia, was a great warrior, and Ras Tafari, despite the mildly delicate cast of his features, and the saintlike aspect im: parted by his beard, is also a lion in his way. When he first became regent in 1916 a grandson of the Emperor opposed his power. Ras Tafari immed jately went to war, and after a battle in which 16,000 men were killed the grandson of Menelik the Great was taken prisoner, and has been kept in close captivity to this day. 1t is believed in Europe that the Empress Judith agreed to accept half a throne without a husband be cause she was faced with an armed revolt led, by the Regent and would probably have shared a similar fate if act, TP ANCIENT SHEBA Julius Kranberg's Painting Of the Queen of Sheba Bringing Gifts of Queen Judit taught in many that the Queen of Sheba was a dark - skinned beauty, that Ethiopia was her country, and that after she had visited King Solomon a son w born to her and mon was the father of the According to historic tradition arkgble a resem blance to Solomon that when later in life he visited Palestine he was rec ognized at t s of the Holy City toric udents rians have gener that the preter e o £Pshs 58 o AR T ST TR e S N B et S B HEADGEAR The Famous Crown of the Emperor Theodore, Presented to Empress Judith By King George and Queen Mary of England she had refused to be acquiescent. Those rumors of war, followed by a peaceful agreement and the gorgeous coronation with its festivals, have nat- urally revived the old historical, and ethnic problem of whether the claims of the Abyssinian royal family of de- scent from Solomon and Sheba are lit. erally true, or whether they are merely legend. The Menelik hence family, and Copyright, 1929, toternationa) Eewture Sersics, Inc. e ssinian royal family to literally true. ¥ royal family marked, despite the dark color of its skin, with very strongly Hebrew or Semitic fea ttures, but there are whole tribes in Abyssinia which this definitely Semitic cast of countenance. i the Queen of Sheba did come from Ethiopia and was actually da skinned, is based on various details of have Great Britalp Rights Heservea. Gold and Spice to King Solomon in Early Biblical Times. familiar Old Testament story, in- ling the famous Song of Solomon, Solomon has the girl heroine am black, but comely, 0, ve daughters of | lem, as thé’ tents tains of Solomon.” reference to the ternative theory is now to wit: that the Queen came nsula, and that conse s not dark-skinned but ted to the great ethnologi which both the Hebrews and the Arabs form a part, The leading exponents of this theory which would greatly annoy the Empress Judith, are the German scientists and who accompanied the Carl xpedition into southern . They came back convinced at the province of Arabia now called aba was the original Kingdom of reba’s Queen, that it enjoved a high e of civiliz; n in Biblical times, and that its inhabitants were the same racial stock as the Arabs and Hebrews, he German expedition has found inscriptions which e the theory lausible if not ce inly true. The people of Saba used the primitive mitic and worshiped among other the moon and the T pent will he recalled that Moses pent in the wil i, from which n Commandments, means ountain of the Moon in building up this etymology of the which occurs in lns, songs of rejoic: ing and hy; of praise. It has never been satisfactorily From the inscriptions discovered by the Ger. ever, it is learned that the n word for the new moon ;7 and it is argued that " may have been originally ligious exclamation in salu ation of the n oon All Bible reade will recall the scenes of great dramatic splendor in olomon when the Queen rived with her mighty trains and costly gifts. It is recounted at she brought Solomon, among other one hundred and twenty talents of gold—huge gold bars which would have totaled in value something like $5,000,000. in modern money. It is recounted also that she came “with camels that bore spices and gold in nee and precious stones.” ugh there are gold and preciou: n Abyssinia today there is prac- no spice of any sort, whereas a is the land of spices, and if the Queen of Sheba's kingdom was in cal group mann word many He! o RAZZING RAS Caricature of Ras Tafari Made In England While He Was the Guest of King George. ADOIS- ABESA ABYSSINIA Map of Abyssinia and Ethiopia Showing Their Location in East Africa. Here According to Tradition Once Ruled the Queen of Sheba. southern Arabia she could have come all the way on camel back, whereas if she had lived in Ethiopia the natural mode of voyage, even in those ancient days, would have been up and across the Red Sea by ship. While all this is speculative, one thing is deflnitely known of the an- cient Sabeans. They were great car- avan traders, and whether Sheba was their queen or not, they did send their camel caravans in those days not only into Palestine and northern Arabia, but even so far as India. The new German theory of the ori- gin of the Queen of Sheba conforms with the Arabic tradition. In Arabic legend they tell many stories of her glory, and even believe that they know the lady’s name, which they say was “Balk The Arabs will therefore be pleased to learn that Dr. Carl Jungmann agrees with their traditions. Empress Judith, the modern “Queen of Sheba,” will not be so pleased with these doubts t on her ancient lineage. How strongly she and the Emperor Ras Tafari believe that. their family is actually descended from the ancient Queen and King Solomon is indicated by the fact that at the coronation not only was the Emperor hailed as “Lion of the Tribe of Juda,” but two actual, live, chained lions, nervous and glaring like huge, restless tame cats, crouched beside him on the throne. Interest in the ethnological aspects of Ras Tafari, as a descendant of King Solomon, was recently sharply whetted by the discovery, reported in cable dispatches, of the mummy of Solo- mon's favorite wife. It was exhumed in a magnificent burial vault in Jerusa- lem, where it had lain for 3,000 years. A Cairo newspaper, Al Mokatam, is accredited with having instituted the sarch which led to the sensational find. s it afterward turned out, the paper had, innocently enough, reprinted the story of the rich find from a Palestine weekly, thinking it simply news and not realizing that it had been intended as pure and simple fiction. But, at that, it made good reading and helped to reawaken in- terest in Solomon. Following is a di- gest of the original stor; The queen’s burial chamber is sai® to be more gorgeous than that of King h-amen of ypt. It was built Solomon, whose reign began 7 years ago, for Moti Maris. Egyptian consort, who met her death in attempting to thwart a plot 1zainst het royal husband. A golden coftin, which was easily un- earthed, contained the mummy of Moti Maris. Tt had been brought by Solo- mon from Memphis to Jerusalem. The body was wrapped in rich coverings embellished with precious stones. A parchment = scroll, containing Hebrew writing, 'said to be in King Solomon’s own script, had been buried with the body. This document told the tragic circumstances of his wife’s death, and highly praised her wifely virtues. How Moti Maris met her death in the thirty-sixth year of his reign and was buried beneath the palace in which she had lived is set forth on the parch- ment. Three months before the queen’s death, her father, Amento, came from Egypt laden with gifts, but cherishing malicious plans. He was scheming to oust Solomon from the throne and seize the country for Egypt. Moti was secretly ordered to poison Solo- mon's wine, but frustrated this mur- derous attempt by drinking the lethal draught herself. While her father, with a loud cry of rage, rushed from the room, the queen fell dying into the arms of her amazed husband..