Person
Solomon
Also called: King Solomon
Son of David who led the Hebrew kingdom at its height (10th century BC) and, according to the Bible, built the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem
Where they went
5 related events
The Hebrews settled in Palestine and built a prosperous kingdom centred on Jerusalem under David and Solomon. Their faith in the one God Yahweh, Judaism, became the root of Christianity and Islam.
A story told in the First Book of Kings: when two women each claimed the same baby as her own, Solomon ordered the child cut in two and so found the true mother.
A story told in the First Book of Kings: with the help of King Hiram of Tyre, who sent cedars of Lebanon, Solomon spent seven years building the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem.
A story told in the First Book of Kings: the queen of Sheba in the south came with spices and gold to test Solomon’s wisdom with hard questions. Ethiopia traces a royal dynasty to the meeting.
- 1
Around 930 BC, after Solomon died, the Hebrew kingdom split in two: the ten northern tribes made Jeroboam king of Israel, while the south formed the Kingdom of Judah at Jerusalem under Solomon’s son Rehoboam.
People who appear alongside
- David
Second king of the Hebrew kingdom (c. 1000 BC), who made Jerusalem his capital
- Hiram I
King of Tyre in Phoenicia (r. c. 980 – 947 BC), said to have sent cedars of Lebanon and craftsmen for Solomon’s Temple
Queen of ShebaQueen of a southern land who, the Bible says, came to test Solomon’s wisdom; called Makeda in Ethiopia and Bilqis in Islam (legendary)
- Rehoboam
Son of Solomon and first king of Judah (r. c. 930 – 913 BC), in whose reign the kingdom split in two
- Jeroboam I
First king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (r. c. 930 – 909 BC), who led the ten northern tribes away
Themes this person appears in
- Early Civilizations and Empires3500 BC – 486 BC
From the first civilizations in the great river valleys to the first empires of the Near East, India and China — comparing their writing, law, religion and rule