50 Fun Facts About King Solomon

Who was King Solomon's father?

Solomon was the second child of that marriage; his mother was the widow of Uriah the Hittite.

Who was Solomon's mother?

Her first child by the king, conceived in adultery, had died seven days after birth.

By what other name is Solomon known in the Bible?

His two names are traditionally taken to mean peaceful and friend of God.

For what quality was Solomon most famous among biblical kings?

He is also called the wealthiest Israelite king named in the Bible.

What did Solomon ask God for in his famous dream, pleasing him by not asking for self-serving rewards?

Rabbinic tradition holds that he was rewarded with riches and a glorious realm precisely because of his modest request.

In the Judgment of Solomon, what did the king order done with the baby claimed by two women?

The woman who begged him to give the child to her rival was declared the true mother.

Which foreign ruler visited Solomon bearing gold, spices and precious stones?

Sheba is usually identified with Saba, spanning the Red Sea coasts of Yemen, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

According to the biblical account, how many wives did Solomon have?

Plus 300 concubines; the only wife named is Naamah the Ammonite, mother of his successor.

Which rival of Solomon, David’s heir apparent, was outmanoeuvred by Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan?

The old king proclaimed Solomon king even though he was younger than his brothers.

Which coronation anthem, first sung in 1727, mentions the anointing of Solomon?

Its 1727 setting has been sung at every British coronation since.

How long did construction of Solomon's Temple take?

The foundation was laid in the month of Ziv in the fourth year of his reign.

How long did Solomon spend building his royal palace on Ophel?

The complex included the House of the Forest of Lebanon and a residence for his Egyptian wife.

Which Phoenician king supplied Solomon with materials and workmen for the Temple?

They also ran joint trading fleets abroad; the Temple's architect was confusingly also named Hiram.

According to 1 Kings, how many talents of gold did Solomon collect in tribute in a single year?

That is about 18,125 kilograms, an enormous sum for a small nation.

How long did Solomon reign, according to 1 Kings 11:42?

He died of natural causes at around 55, having reportedly taken the throne at about fifteen.

Which of Solomon's sons succeeded him and lost ten tribes to Jeroboam?

His harsh policies split the monarchy into Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

According to the Bible, what caused God to divide the kingdom after Solomon's death?

He built temples to Ashtoreth and Milcom for them, according to 1 Kings 11.

Which three biblical books has Solomon traditionally been considered the author of?

Rabbinic tradition adds a fourth, deuterocanonical book, and two psalms are headed 'to Solomon'.

By what Hebrew name is Ecclesiastes, one of the books attributed to Solomon, known?

Mishlei is Proverbs and Shir ha-Shirim is the Song of Songs.

Which conqueror destroyed Solomon's Temple, in 586 BCE?

Seventy years later Cyrus let the exiles return to build the Second Temple.

In Ethiopian tradition, who was the son of Solomon and his royal visitor from the south?

The Kebra Nagast says he took the real Ark of the Covenant to Axum, where a single priest still guards it.

According to Ethiopian legend, what sacred object did the son of Solomon and Sheba carry off to Axum?

The Ethiopian government and church refuse all requests to view it.

In the Quran, which small creature warns its fellows to hide from Solomon's approaching army?

Islamic tradition also gives him control of the wind and the jinn, and the ability to speak with birds.

By what name is Solomon known in Islam, where he is counted a prophet?

During the Islamisation of Iran he merged with Jamshid, a great king of Persian myth.

In rabbinic legend, what was the shamir that Solomon used to cut the Temple's stones?

His men stole it from a mountain rooster's nest by covering the nest with glass.

Which demon king, in legend, swallowed Solomon and spat him out 400 miles away before being expelled?

In other versions he disguises himself and claims the Seal of Solomon was thrown into the sea.

What is the Seal of Solomon?

It became an amulet in medieval and Renaissance magic, and frames the grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon.

In One Thousand and One Nights, who frees a genie that Solomon had sealed in a bottle?

The bottle was closed with Solomon's own seal, so the genie could not escape on his own.

According to the Targum Sheni, which bird told Solomon about a rich land in the east ruled by a queen?

Solomon was said to order animals to dance before him, a power granted by God.

What was remarkable about Solomon's throne, according to legend?

Rabbinic accounts say Pharaoh Necho was lamed by one of its lions because he did not know how it worked.

According to Druze tradition, which tree alone kept its leaves and fruit when Solomon died?

Every other tree shed its leaves in mourning.

Which Spanish navigator named the Solomon Islands after the king in 1568?

He was the first European to see the Melanesian archipelago.

Which composer wrote an oratorio titled Solomon in 1748?

Charpentier and Carissimi had already set the Judgment of Solomon to music.

Which 1885 Haggard novel sends its heroes after a biblical monarch's lost diamond workings in Africa?

H. Rider Haggard's characters find Solomon's Great Road and a treasure chamber of diamonds, gold and ivory.

Which Spanish royal palace was inspired by Solomon's Temple, with statues of Solomon and David at its basilica?

Solomon also appears in a great fresco at the centre of its library.

Which fraternal organisation's temples are an allegorical reference to King Solomon's Temple?

Masonic rituals refer to Solomon and the building of the Temple throughout.

Which three cities yielded six-chambered gates that Yigael Yadin dated to Solomon's reign?

Finkelstein and Silberman argue the structures are Omride, more than a century later.

What conventional dates are usually given for Solomon's reign?

Thiele places his death and the split of the kingdom in the autumn of 931 BCE.

How much material evidence indisputably from Solomon's reign has archaeology produced?

Excavations in Jerusalem have found no monumental architecture from the era, and the Temple Mount is barely dug.

According to the Bible, which of Solomon's wives cemented a political alliance with Egypt?

Rabbinic legend says a sandbank formed on the day of the wedding that eventually became Rome.

To which distant lands did Solomon and Hiram send joint trading fleets for gold, silver and sandalwood?

Ophir has been placed everywhere from Arabia to India; Tarshish is often linked with Spain.

Which apocryphal 1st-century text elaborates the king's control over demons?

During the Hellenistic period he had become known as a magician and exorcist, with amulets invoking his name.

How many concubines does the biblical account give Solomon, alongside his hundreds of wives?

His wives were foreign princesses from Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and the Hittites.

Which is the only one of Solomon's wives the Bible names, an Ammonite who bore his successor?

Pharaoh's daughter, his most politically important match, is never named in the text.

According to tradition, roughly how old was Solomon when he came to the throne?

He went on to expand the cavalry and chariot corps and to found colonies that doubled as trading posts.

Hadad, one of the enemies who beset Solomon late in his reign, came from which kingdom?

Rezon of Zobah and Solomon's own official Jeroboam of Ephraim rounded out the trio of foes.

Which two Psalms carry a Hebrew heading that can be read as 'to Solomon' or 'by Solomon'?

The ambiguity of the word לשלמה has led some to credit Solomon with writing both.

Along with Ashtoreth, which deity did Solomon's foreign wives build a temple to, according to the Bible?

The narrative treats this imported idolatry as the reason God split the kingdom after his death.

Which desert city does the biblical account say Solomon built as a commercial depot and military outpost?

He is also credited with creating the Red Sea port of Ezion-Geber, though no remains of it have been found.

How does the Baháʼí Faith regard Solomon?

He is grouped with David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel in that rank.