Solomon & Sheba (1995)

Starring Halle Berry and Jimmy Smits, "Solomon & Sheba" is one of two 1995 biblical TV movies produced by Showtime, Dino De Laurentiis and directed by Robert M. Young, the other one being "Slave of Dreams" (1995). Both films were shot in 1994 in Morocco. The Queen of Sheba is only mentioned twice in the Bible, in 1 Kings 10:1–12 and 2 Chronicles 9:1–13. However she appears as a prominent figure in the text known as the Kebra Nagast ("Glory of the Kings" or better, "Nobility of the Kings"), the Ethiopian national epic and foundation story. According to this tradition, the Queen of Sheba (called Makeda) visited Solomon's court after hearing about his wisdom. She stayed and learned from him for six months. On the last night of her visit, he tricked her into his bed, and she became pregnant. She returned to her kingdom, where she bore Solomon a son, Menilek the First. Menilek I was made king by his father, thus founding the royal Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia, which ruled until the deposition of the 225th successor, Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1974. "The Imperial dignity shall remain perpetually attached to the line of Haile Sellassie I, descendant of King Sahle Sellassie, whose line descends without interruption from the dynasty of Menelik I, son of the Queen of Ethiopia, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of Jerusalem." Art. 2, The Revised Constitution of Ethiopia, 1955, Proclamation No. 149, Negarit Gazeta, year 15, no. 2, p. 4. The Ethiopian Zagwe dynasty claims direct descent from King Solomon's Israelite brother, Adil (see Fiaccadori, Gianfranco. "Zagwe." Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, vol. 5, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2014, p. 112).