2. Biblical Notices. — Besides the mention of Seba as the first in the list of the sons of Cush ((Jen. x, 7; 1 Chron. i, 9), there are but three, or, as some hold, four, notices of the nation. In Psalm Ixxii, which has evi- dentl)^ a first reference to the reign of Solomon, Seba is thus spoken of among the distant nations which shoidd do honor to the king: "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts" (ver. 10). This mention of Sheba and Seba togetlier is to be compared with the occur- rence of a Shel)a among the descendants of Cush (Gen. X, 7), and its fidtilraent is found in the queen of Sheba's coming to Solomon. Tliere can be little doubt that the Arabian kingdom of Sheba was Cushite as well as Jok- tanite; and tins occurrence of Sheba and Seba together certainly lends some support to this view. On the other hand, the connection of Selia with an Asiatic kingdom is important in reference to the race of its people, which, or at least the ruling class, was, no doubt, not Nigritian. In Isaiah xliii, Seba is spoken of with Egvpt, and more particularly with Cush, apparently with some reference to the Exodus, where we read, " I gave Egypt [for] thy ransom, Cush and Seba for thee" (ver. 8). Here, to ren- der Cush by Ethiopia, as in tlie A. V., is perhaps to miss the sense of tlie passage, which does not allow us to in- fer, though it is by no means impossible, that Cush, as
a geographical designation, includes Seba, as it would do if here meaning Ethiopia. Later in the book tliere is a passage parallel in its indications : '• The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush, and of the people of Seba, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine" (xlv, 14). Here there is the same mention together of the three nations, and the same spe- cial association of Cush and Seba. The great stature and beauty of the Ethiopians are mentioned by Herod- otus, who speaks of them as by report the tallest and handsomest men in tiie world (iii. 20; conip. 114); and in the present day some of the tribes of the dark races of a type intermediate between the Nigritians and the Egyptians, as well as the Caucasian Abyssinians, are remarkable for their fine form, and certain of the former for their height. The doubtful notice is in Ezekiel, in a difficult passage: "and with men of the multitude of Adam [were] brought driuikards [CNIl'O ; but the Keri reads C^NSp, ' people of Seba'J from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads" (xxiii, 42). The reading of the A. V. in the text is, "with the men of the common sort," and in the margin, "with the men of the multi- tude of men." The first clause would seem to favor the idea that a nation is meant, but the reading of the text is rather supported by what follows the mention of the " dnnikards." Nor is it clear why people of Seba should come from the wilderness.
3. Identijicatiun. — The list of the sons of Cush seems to indicate the position of the Cushite nation or country Seba. Nimrod, who is mentioned at the close of the list, nded at first in Babylonia, ami apparently alterwards in Assyria : of the names enumerated between Seba and Nimrod, it is highlv probable that soine belong to Ara- bia. We may thus conjecture a curve of Cushite ser- tlements, one extremity of which is to be placed in Bab- ylonia; the other, if prolonged far enough in accordance with the mention of the African Cush, in Ethiopia.
The other passages we have examined seem to show (if we omit the last) that Seba was a nation of Africa, bordering on or included in Cush, and in Solomon's time independent and of political importance. We are thus able to conjecture the position of Seba. No ancient Ethiopian kingdom of importance could have excluded the island of Meroe, and therefore this one of Solomon's time may be identified with tluU which must have arisen in the period of weakness and division of Egypt that fol- lowed the empire, and have laid the basis of that jiower that made Shebek, or Sabaco, able to conquer I'^gypt and found the Ethiopian dynasty which ruled that country as well as Ethiopia,
Josephus says that Saba (ra/So) was the ancient name of the Ethiopian island and city of Meroe {Ant.W, Id, 2), but he writes Seba, in the notice of the Noachian settle- ments, Sabas (ibid, i, 6, 2). So, too, Strabo and Diodo- rus Sicuhis (see Mannert, Geocjr. p. 199). But the name Meroe is more probably Ethiopic, meaning the watered land (see Tuch, Gen. p. 222; comp. Knobel, Isa. p. 122, who gives Seba a similar meaning). This view of Seba, as identical with Meroe, has been adopted by all the moderns as suited to every passage where it is men- tioned (comp. IMichaelis, Spicil. i, 180 sq.). Certaiidy the kingdom of Meroe succeeded that of Seba; and the ancient city of the saine name may have been the cap- ital, or one of the capitals, of Seba, though we do not find any of its monuments to be even as early as the 2oth dynasty. There can be no connection between the two names. According to Josephus and others, Meroe was named after a sister of Cambyses ; but this is extremely unlikely, and we prefer taking it from the an- cient P^gyptian Mem, an island, which occurs in the name of a part of Ethiopia tiiat can only be this or a similar tract, Aferii-pet, "the island of pet (Phut ?) = the bow," where the bow may have a gcograjjhical refer- ence to a bend of the river, and the word island to the country enclosed by that bend and a tributary. See