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Iran: Miniature painting from the Shah Nama showing King Solomon, 16th century.

Iran: Miniature painting from the Shah Nama showing King Solomon, 16th century.

Late-16th-century illustration of a scene of the Shahnameh, showing King Solomon.

Solomon was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a King of Israel and in the Qur'an, a Prophet, son of Dawood and known as Sulaiman. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David. The Hebrew Bible credits Solomon as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power, but ultimately as a king whose sin, including idolatry and turning away from God, leads to the kingdom being torn in two during the reign of his son Rehoboam. Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends.

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