Multiple sources in the Bavli and Yerushalmi record a narrative linking Solomon's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter with the miraculous founding of Rome through a reed planted in the sea. These accounts appear across different tractates and vary in details such as which angel performed the deed.
בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה יָרַד גַּבְרִיאֵל וְנָעַץ קָנֶה בַּיָּם
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What the sources say
The core tradition appears in two places in the Bavli: Sanhedrin 21b records Rabbi Yitzḥak's statement that when Shlomo married Pharaoh's daughter, the angel Gavriel descended and implanted a pole in the sea, which raised up a sandbar upon which the great city of Rome was eventually built, while Shabbat 56b records the same event in nearly identical Hebrew — with Gavriel planting the reed and a sandbar rising — identifying it as the inauguration of Rome.
The Yerushalmi version of this tradition appears in Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 1:2, where Rabbi Levi recounts the same story but with a significant difference: there it is the angel Michael, not Gavriel, who descends and plants a stick in the sea, causing debris to form a forest that becomes the great fortification of Rome.
The Yerushalmi passage in Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 1:2 also embeds the Rome tradition within a broader chronological sequence, linking Rome's growth to subsequent sins — Jeroboam's golden calves prompting Remus and Romulus to build two sheds in Rome, and Eliyahu's disappearance coinciding with the installation of a king in Rome — a sequential framework absent from the Bavli versions in Sanhedrin 21b and Shabbat 56b.
שבת נ״ו ב
Shabbat 56b
When Shlomo married Pharaoh's daughter, Gabriel descended and planted a reed in the sea, upon which a worm rose up, and upon it a great city of Rome was built.
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 אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק
Sanhedrin 21b:15
This daf includes the same story of Shlomo, Pharaoh's daughter, and the planting of a reed in the sea that ultimately leads to Rome. It presents the episode in the context of the dangers of royal accumulation and foreign influence.
אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק: בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁנָּשָׂא שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה, יָרַד גַּבְרִיאֵל וְנָעַץ קָנֶה בַּיָּם, וְהֶעֱלָה שִׂירְטוֹן, וְעָלָיו נִבְנָה כְּרַךְ גָּדוֹל שֶׁבְּרוֹמִי.
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.
תלמוד ירושלמי עבודה זרה א׳:ב׳
Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 1:2
Rebbi Levi states that on the day Solomon married Pharaoh Necho's daughter, the angel Michael planted a reed in the sea that accumulated debris to form a great forest, which became Rome's great fortification; on the day Jeroboam erected two golden calves, Remus and Romulus built two structures in Rome; and on the day Elijah disappeared, a king was established in Rome.
וְקָרַטֶסִיס. יוֹם שֶׁתָּפְשָׂה בוּ רוֹמֶי מַלְכוּת. וְלֹא כְבָר תַּנִּיתָהּ. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי בֵּירִבִּי בּוּן. פַּעַם שְׁנִיָיה. אָמַר רִבִּי לֵוִי. יוֹם שֶׁנִּתְחַתֵּן שְׁלֹמֹה לְפַרְעה נְכֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם יָרַד מִיכָאֵל וְנָעַץ קָנֶה בַיָּם וְהֶעֱלָה שִׁלְעֲטוּט וְנְעֲשֶׂה חוֹרֶשׁ גָּדוֹל וְזֶה הוּא כַּרַךְ גַּדוֹל שֶׁבְּרוֹמֶי. יוֹם שֶׁהֶעֱמִיד יָרָבְעַם שְׁנֵי עֶגְלֵי זָהָב בָּאוּ רוֹמֻס וְרוֹמִילֻס וּבָנוּ שְׁנֵי צְרִיפִים בְּרוֹמֶי. יוֹם שֶׁנִּסְתַּלֵּק בּוֹ אֵלִיָהוּ הוּעֲמַד מֶלֶךְ בְּרוֹמֶי. וּמֶלֶךְ אֵין בֶּאֱדוֹם נִצָּב מֶלֶךְ.
“Cratesis.” The day when Rome took hold of the Empire. Was this not stated already? Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, for the second time. Rebbi Levi said, on the day when Solomon married the daughter of Pharao Necho, the king of Egypt, Michael descended and put a stick into the Sea which attracted debris and formed a forest; that is the great fortification in Rome. On the day when Jeroboam put up two golden calves, Remus and Romulus built two sheds in Rome. On the day Eliahu disappeared a king was installed at Rome; a king, there is no king appointed in Edom.
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