It began with a map in Jerusalem. The map showed a trail leading to the fabled mines of King Solomon, which have enthralled and tormented all those who have searched for them. Bewitched by the legends, Tahir Shah resolved to take up the quest. Chasing clues from past travellers' tales and local folklore to the Copper Scroll and the Kebra Negast, Shah is led to Ethiopia, whose emperors trace descent from the son born to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and where gold has been mined for millennia.In Harar he feeds wild hyenas that are said to guard Solomon's treasure. He visits an illegal gold mine where hundreds of men, women and children toil in a biblical hell and explores the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, where the 'Gold of Sheba' is kept. Shah's desire is to reach the cursed mountain of Tullu Wallel where, decades before, an English adventurer claimed to have discovered Solomon's treasure. In Search of King Solomon's Mines is an astonishing journey into the heart of one of history's greatest unsolved mysteries.