These passages preserve a rabbinic tradition linking King Solomon's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter with the miraculous or consequential emergence of Rome, narrated through the image of a reed or stalk planted in the sea. The story appears in multiple locations across the Talmudic corpus, reflecting on the far-reaching consequences of royal conduct.
בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה יָרַד גַּבְרִיאֵל וְנָעַץ קָנֶה בַּיָּם
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What the sources say
The fullest version of the story appears in Sanhedrin 21b, where Rabbi Yitzḥak teaches that at the moment Shlomo married Pharaoh's daughter, the angel Gavriel descended and implanted a pole (קנה) in the sea, which gradually raised up a sandbar (שירטון) upon which the great city of Rome was eventually built.
The same tradition — Gavriel descending and driving the reed into the sea, producing the sandbar upon which the great city of Rome was built — appears again in Shabbat 56b, with the passage there adding the phrase identifying this land as the inauguration of Italy of Greece, showing the story circulated in at least two distinct tractates of the Babylonian Talmud.
שבת נ״ו ב
Shabbat 56b
In the context of Davidic and royal sin, this passage is among the rabbinic locations that preserve traditions about the fallout from royal misconduct and the broader historical consequences associated with Shlomo's household.
בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה יָרַד גַּבְרִיאֵל וְנָעַץ קָנֶה בַּיָּם וְעָלָה בּוֹ שִׂירְטוֹן, וְעָלָיו נִבְנָה כְּרַךְ גָּדוֹל [שֶׁל רוֹמִי].
And that was the inauguration of Italy of Greece.
סנהדרין כ״א ב — ד"ה רַבִּי יִצְחָק רָמֵי
Sanhedrin 21b:14
This sugya tells of Shlomo's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter and a reed or stalk planted in the sea that later grew and contributed to Rome's rise. It connects the episode to the consequences of improper royal conduct and the eventual emergence of Rome.
רַבִּי יִצְחָק רָמֵי: כְּתִיב ״אֵין כֶּסֶף נֶחְשָׁב בִּימֵי שְׁלֹמֹה לִמְאוּמָה״, וּכְתִיב ״וַיִּתֵּן שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת הַכֶּסֶף בִּירוּשָׁלִַים כָּאֲבָנִים״? לָא קַשְׁיָא: כָּאן – קוֹדֶם שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה, כָּאן – לְאַחַר שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה. אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק: בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה, יָרַד גַּבְרִיאֵל וְנָעַץ קָנֶה בַּיָּם, וְהֶעֱלָה שִׂירְטוֹן, וְעָלָיו נִבְנָה כְּרַךְ גָּדוֹל שֶׁבְּרוֹמִי. וְאָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק: מִפְּנֵי מָה לֹא נִתְגַּלּוּ טַעֲמֵי תּוֹרָה? שֶׁהֲרֵי שְׁתֵּי מִקְרָאוֹת נִתְגַּלּוּ טַעְמָן, וְנִכְשַׁל בָּהֶן גְּדוֹל הָעוֹלָם. כְּתִיב: ״לֹא יַרְבֶּה לוֹ נָשִׁים״. אָמַר שְׁלֹמֹה: ״אֲנִי אַרְבֶּה וְלֹא אָסוּר״. וּכְתִיב: ״וַיְהִי לְעֵת זִקְנַת שְׁלֹמֹה נָשָׁיו הִטּוּ אֶת לְבָבוֹ״.
Rabbi Yitzḥak raises a contradiction: It is written in one verse: “Silver was not worth anything in the days of Solomon” (II Chronicles 9:20), and it is written in another verse: “And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones” (I Kings 10:27), i.e., gems. The Gemara responds: It is not difficult: Here, where silver was worthless, this was before Solomon sinfully married Pharaoh’s daughter. There, where the silver was valuable, this was after Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter. Rabbi Yitzḥak says: When Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, the angel Gabriel descended from Heaven and implanted a pole in the sea. And it gradually raised up a sandbar [sirton] around it, creating new, dry land, and on it the great city of Rome was built. This shows that the beginning of the Jewish people’s downfall to Rome came with Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter. And Rabbi Yitzḥak says: For what reason were the rationales of Torah commandments not revealed? It was because the rationales of two verses were revealed, and the greatest in the world, King Solomon, failed in those matters. It is written with regard to a king: “He shall not add many wives for himself, that his heart should not turn away” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Solomon said: I will add many, but I will not turn away, as he thought that it is permitted to have many wives if one is otherwise meticulous not to stray. And later, it is written: “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (I Kings 11:4).