Did King Solomon die a pauper?

Answer 1

The Bible credits Solomon as ruling a magnificent empire from opulent palaces that won the admiration even of the legendary Queen of Sheba. According to the Bible, he was still king at the time of his death, so surely not a pauper.

History can add nothing to the biblical account, because there is no evidence that Solomon ever existed. Archaeologists say that at the time of Solomon, Israel and Judah were still sparsely populated and impoverished regions, and that Solomon could not have been the wealthy king portrayed in the Bible. They say that, if he did exist, he would have been more like a warlord than a king - not a pauper, but not the extravagant monarch of an opulent empire.