Abstract: In Histoire de la reine du matin et de Soliman, prince des génies, Gérard de Nerval offers a syncretic and resolutely “romanticized” version of the Queen of Sheba’s arrival in Jerusalem. Combining biblical heritage, oriental fantasy, and Masonic daydream, this tale from the Voyage en Orient reflects Nerval’s different obsessions: Queen Balkis is indeed the woman who, as the narrator of Sylvie writes, mythically embodies “the sublime ideal and sweet reality.”
