Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: Historical and Theological Issues in the First Book of Kings and in the Paintings of Piero della Francesca

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

See attached review.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Comments 1:

Review of “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: theological and devotional issues in the first book of Kings and in the paintings of Piero della Francesca.”
This article promises a highly original comparison between the theological and devotional issues of I Kings 10:1-13 and a narrative fresco program of Piero Della Francesca in Arezzo's Basilica of San Francesco. In fact it is a fairly competent and lengthy exegesis of the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon in I Kings 10, together with a few pages of comments (3 of 16) on Piero's frescoes that are not really integrated with the extensive exegesis of I Kings 10.
The exegesis offers a detailed description of the central themes of the 13 verse passage of the Queen of Sheba’s visit, within the larger context of the narrative of I Kings. The article develops the judicial function of the royal office as this is displayed in the images of (God’s) Temple, throne, and Temple—with the focus being the King’s judicial wisdom dispensed from the throne, a wisdom and its resulting splendor that particularly impresses the Queen of Sheba. As an aside the author mentions the riddles (or testing) the Queen poses to test Solomon’s wisdom.
But as this is described in Voragine’s account of the event in The Golden Legend, it is the wisdom of the Queen in her discovery (and honoring) the wood that would eventually constitute the true cross of Christ, and not the judicial function of Solomon that serves as the connection with Piero’s work in Arezzo. It is the Queen not Solomon who is the protagonist of Voragine’s narrative which serves as the inspiration for Piero’s paintings.
Thus what is significant for the comparison of Piero and I Kings is not the detailed exegesis the author offers, but the historical interpretation of this passage that is recorded in The Golden Legend, as the author acknowledges in passing on page 10 of the article. As it stands the article comprises two sections that do nothing to develop this potentially interesting connection.
Suggestion: After a much abbreviated analysis of this passage, the author could consider the question of how this interpretation of the passage developed over time, and what this meant for the medieval understanding of the bible and medieval devotion more generally? The author’s reference to the split between Eastern and Western Church suggests one answer to this question, as Sheba has traditionally been associated with Ethiopia and to this day the Queen of Sheba is seen as the founder of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (despite the author’s insistence that Sheba is today’s Yemen). A further source could be the interpretation of the Queen’s search for the true faith being a type of peoples’ journey from Paganism to Christianity, something the author also mentions briefly but does not develop. How is that Voragine came to be such a critical source for biblical interpretation and for medieval religious practice? I Kings and Piero serves as a very interesting case study of this question.

Answer 1: 

We have incorporated most of the comments made by the reviewer.

In particular, we have ensured that the two parts of the article are better articulated, i.e. that there is more dialogue between them. It may be useful to point out to our reviewer that we are two authors, an exegete and an art historian.

The exegetical section has been shortened, retaining only those elements that seem essential for a better understanding of the demarcations between the biblical text, the Golden Legend and the Arezzo frescoes.

The way in which the Bible was interpreted in the Golden Legend has been explained in greater detail, from a typological perspective. The historical re-reading of della Francesca in the context of the 15th century has also been further developed.

On the other hand, we don't think it's necessary to talk about the very specific situation of the church in Ethiopia, as this is a long way from della Francesca's project.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript presents a promising topic with interdisciplinary potential, but it lacks a clear methodological framework, underdevelops key conceptual elements (e.g., mise en abyme), and offers only a superficial treatment of Piero della Francesca’s iconography. It also references political dimensions without theoretical support. I recommend: Reconsider after major revisions.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

The manuscript presents a promising topic with interdisciplinary potential, but it lacks a clear methodological framework, underdevelops key conceptual elements (e.g., mise en abyme), and offers only a superficial treatment of Piero della Francesca’s iconography. It also references political dimensions without theoretical support. I recommend: Reconsider after major revisions.

Answer:

We restated the objective of this contribution, as well as the method, in the introduction, as follows: 

It is precisely this supposed distance between the initial narrative and one of its reinterpretations that this contribution wishes to highlight. The reception of the Queen of Sheba’s episode is extremely wide-ranging. We will confine ourselves to exploring this aspect through the work of one of the major artists of the Renaissance, Piero della Francesca.  In the first part (I), we will attempt to give an account of the historical and theological issues underlying the biblical episode (1 Kgs 10.1–13). In the second part (II), we will consider the same episode through Piero della Francesca, whose frescoes in Arezzo offer a stimulating synthesis between the biblical source and Jacques de Voragine’s The Golden Legend raising new historical and theological issues. This study will highlight the demarcations between the initial episode and its reception, revealing the polysemy of a narrative while being updated in a new historical and theological context.

 

We don't think we need to develop the expression ‘mise en abyme’ any further, since it is used here in its literary sense as a figure of speech.

As regards the Arezzo frescoes, we have concentrated solely on those (figs. 2 and 3) that depict the Queen of Sheba and allow comparison with the biblical narrative. We have deliberately not commented on the entire cycle of the True Cross, which would require far too much elaboration for the limits of this contribution.

Finally, we have supplemented the references concerning the political aspect.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a well researched paper.  One note though is that at note two you write

In this sense, it will be observed that in the Greek text of the Septuagint, the mention ‘of the kings of Sheba and Seba’ (וּסְ†בָ†שְ†בא†מַלְכֵי†) of Ps 72.10 is transformed into ‘of the kings of the Arabs and Seba’ (βασιλεῖς Ἀράβων καὶ Σαβα), clearly making the choice to locate Sheba in Arabia.

You mention the Greek text and then cite the Hebrew text.  Perhaps in the first line change 'Greek text' to Hebrew, and then reword the sentence so that it is clear that the LXX has done the change-  as such

In this sense, it will be observed that in the Hebrew text, the mention ‘of the kings of Sheba and Seba’ (וּסְ†בָ†שְ†בא†מַלְכֵי†) of Ps 72.10 is transformed by the Greek text into ‘of the kings of the Arabs and Seba’ (βασιλεῖς Ἀράβων καὶ Σαβα), clearly making the choice to locate Sheba in Arabia.

Author Response

Reviewer 3

This is a well researched paper.  One note though is that at note two you write

In this sense, it will be observed that in the Greek text of the Septuagint, the mention ‘of the kings of Sheba and Seba’ (וּסְ†בָ†שְ†בא†מַלְכֵי†) of Ps 72.10 is transformed into ‘of the kings of the Arabs and Seba’ (βασιλεῖς Ἀράβων καὶ Σαβα), clearly making the choice to locate Sheba in Arabia.

You mention the Greek text and then cite the Hebrew text.  Perhaps in the first line change 'Greek text' to Hebrew, and then reword the sentence so that it is clear that the LXX has done the change-  as such

In this sense, it will be observed that in the Hebrew text, the mention ‘of the kings of Sheba and Seba’ (וּסְ†בָ†שְ†בא†מַלְכֵי†) of Ps 72.10 is transformed by the Greek text into ‘of the kings of the Arabs and Seba’ (βασιλεῖς Ἀράβων καὶ Σαβα), clearly making the choice to locate Sheba in Arabia.

Answer

We have incorporated this remark. Thank you very much.