Solomon the Magician

The Ethiopian epic Kebra Nagast tells of "flying wagons" used by Menyelek (or Menelik), the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Menyelek escapes with the stolen Ark of the Covenant: "...having loaded their wagons none of them travelled on the ground, but in wagons that were suspended in the air; and they were swifter than the eagles that are in the sky, and all their baggage travelled with them in wagons above the winds"¹. So what are these "flying wagons"?

King Solomon owned a magic carpet, according to a story in the Jewish Encyclopedia, and "When Solomon sat upon the carpet he was caught up by the wind, and sailed through the air so quickly that he breakfasted at Damascus and supped in Media. The wind followed Solomon's commands, and ensured the carpet would go to the proper destination." But it wasn't a magic carpet, explains Professor Solomon, it was Solomon's magic ring that enabled him to control the winds and thereby make the carpet fly at his command.

According to Isaac Ben Sherira, an early 13th-century Jewish scholar, there are ancient texts mentioning flying carpets as having originated around 1000 BC. He writes that the court alchemist to the Queen of Sheba produced some small rugs that could hover a few feet above the ground. Some years later the Queen of Sheba sent a magnificent flying carpet to King Solomon as a token of her love. I hunted around for more about Isaac Ben Sherira. It turns out he is a fictitious character created by Azhar Abidi. Just another wild fantasy!

Solomon is ubiquitous in occultist literature: a king, a wise man, but above all, a magician. His famous magic ring, the Seal of Solomon, gave him power over the wind, birds and animals, earth and water, and the jinn who he could summon to do his bidding. Many esoteric works are attributed to him, notably the Key of Solomon and the Lesser Key of Solomon, both on black magic, spirits and demons. If you don't believe in the supernatural then of course it's all humbug.

Like King Arthur, there's not much left of King Solomon once you strip away the myth, the magic and the hype. According to The Bible Unearthed, archaeological evidence suggests Solomon was just an obscure tribal chieftain. The period 970-931 BC reveals "no sign of monumental architecture" in Jerusalem. There is "no sign of grand-scale building activity at Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer"². So where is Solomon's Temple and the rest of Solomon's vast kingdom?

1. EA Wallis Budge, Kebra Nagast, Parenthesis Ontario 2000
2. Finkelstein & Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, Touchstone New York 2002