Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Jillian Stinchcomb and comedian Sadia Azmat to learn all about the legendary Queen of Sheba. From her first appearance in the Hebrew Bible, the Queen of Sheba has fascinated Jewish, Muslim and Christian writers. But do we know anything about her as a historical figure? And how has her story been told, used and reinterpreted throughout history? This episode traces the legends written about the Queen of Sheba across Europe, Africa and the Middle East from 600 BCE to today, exploring the ambiguous and contradictory depictions of her as a wise and powerful ruler, an exoticised and seductive woman, the founding member of an Ethiopian royal dynasty, and a possible half-demon! This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed. Research by: Jon Mason Written by: Jon Mason, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse
My name's Joe Wilkinson and I've managed to force Patrick Bamford to come on a podcast with me and he's gonna slowly fall in love with me.
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And everyone looked like sausages.
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Hello and welcome to you're dead to me, the radio four comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
My name is Greg Jenner.
I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster.
And today we are trekking all the way back to ancient Yemen, or is it Ethiopia?
To learn all about the wealth, wisdom and womanly wiles of the legendary queen of Sheba.
And to help us, we have two very special guests in history corner.
She's a research associate at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
She specialises in religious, biblical and jewish studies, especially the literary dynamics of biblical figures.
And lucky for us, she's especially interested in issues of gender and power.