In the story of Sheba, the queen of Ethiopia, and Solomon, the king of Jerusalem, I think that Ethiopia is represented in a very interesting fashion. What I find the most interesting is that although the queen is seduced by a man who has been with so many women, and converts to his religion, and basically worships the words that come from his mouth, her honor is never questioned. From another perspective, she would have lost her title because of what she had done.
As far as the representation of Ethiopia in general, I think it isn't shown in the best light. They are clearly very loyal to their queen, and they worship the sun god. But she says that they worship the sun god because other people told them that it was the most powerful of the gods. And when she decides to convert her country to christianity, it is because Solomon told her that she should. The story says she was a great leader, but it seems to me that she was a great follower.
And the fact that she looked up to Solomon so much, and let him trick her into sleeping with him, undermines her power even more. Overall, she isn't presented as the most respectable of women, it seems to me. She does have much dignity, and is obviously intelligent, but I think her people don't really care, and they would follow her just as much even if she wasn't. They seem to just blindly follow her, possibly because of her beauty, as the story mentions repeatedly.
It just seems as though Ethiopia was not shown as an independent nation, that they rely not on the intelligence and knowledge of themselves, but their queen, who follows the wisdom and beliefs of a king from a different country.
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