Kandake , kadake or kentake ( Meroitic : 𐦲𐦷𐦲𐦡 kdke ), often Latinised as Candace ( Ancient Greek : Κανδάκη , Kandakē ), was the Meroitic term for the sister of the king of Kush who, due to the matrilineal succession, would bear the next heir, making her a queen mother . She had her own court, probably acted as a landholder and held a prominent secular role as regent. Contemporary Greek and Roman sources treated it, incorrectly, as a name. The name Candace is derived from the way the word is used in the New Testament ( Acts 8:27 ).
59-458: A kandake who ruled in her own right bore in addition the title qore , the same title carried by male rulers. The Kandakes of Meroe were first described through the Greek geographer's Strabo account of the "one-eyed Candace" in 23 BCE in his encyclopedia Geographica . There are at least ten regnant Meroitic queens during the 500 years between 260 BCE and 320 CE, and at least six during
118-461: A consequence it has long been disputed whether the Kushite succession was mainly patrilineal (inherited through male lines) or matrilineal (inherited through female lines). Further uncertainties would exist within either system; a patrilineal system can for instance be based around successions that are mainly father→son or mainly brother→brother. No ruling Kushite queens are known from before
177-561: A few royal tombs of Kushite women have been found at Meroe's cemetery and in Egypt at Abydos (Leahy 1994). At El Kurru, six pyramids belong to royal women of the 25th Dynasty and a pyramid for queen Qalhata of the Napatan period. At Nuri, the tombs of royal women are located on the west plateau, with more inscriptional information available at the site, linking the roles that the kings' mothers played in succession and their importance during
236-530: A large shawl was wrapped around the body with an additionally decorated cloak worn over the first; typically, a small tab-like element hanging below the hem touches the ground and has been interpreted as a little tail. The first association with this element of dress is with Tarharqo's mother during his coronation ceremony. It was not until George Reisner excavated the royal cemeteries at El Kurru and Nuri in 1917-19 that archaeological material became available for studying Kushite queenship. Additionally,
295-446: A realm may be indicated by later burials of elites at Ferkeh , Gemai , Qustul and El-Hobagi . Török suggested that these elites were non-royal deputies of a monarch residing in the south. The southern cemetery of Ballana , where seven generations of post-Kushite but pre-Christian rulers are buried, has sometimes been suggested to belong to a successor state of Kush, though the burials share few ideological similarities with those of
354-466: A single kingdom until the beginning of the later Middle Napatan period. During the Early Napatan period, political authority in the region slowly coalesced around Napata. The original royal cemetery of Napata (El-Kurru) contains several (unnamed) burials that are earlier in age than the later Middle Napatan period, perhaps the burials of local chieftains. These have sometimes been interpreted as
413-466: Is often assumed to have been Kashta's son, though neither relation is supported by any direct evidence. Based on succession in Egypt during the New Kingdom ( c. 1550–1069 BCE) and Third Intermediate ( c. 1069 –664 BCE) periods, it is conceivable that female lines of descent were just as important as male ones for establishing legitimacy. According to the archaeologist Robert Morkot ,
472-427: Is often disputed. Pyramids thought to belong to rulers have sometimes been reinterpreted: Beg. S 10 was once attributed to King "Bartare-(Kalkai)" but is now recognised as the tomb of a non-ruling queen consort. These additional tombs should not be interpreted as on their own indicating additional Kushite rulers. In addition to possible misinterpretation, some tombs could match rulers whose burials are 'unidentified' in
531-419: Is possible that Meroë served as the residence of the Kushite kings from as early as the fifth century BCE. From the 2nd century BCE onwards, Kush is noteworthy for a large number of queens regnant (queens ruling in their own right). Queens regnant retained their earlier style (often kandake ) when becoming rulers, though they also adopted the kingly title of qore to indicate their new authority. Due to
590-561: The Alexander romance claims that "Candace of Meroë " fought Alexander the Great . In fact, Alexander never attacked Nubia and never attempted to move further south than the oasis of Siwa in Egypt . The story is that when Alexander attempted to conquer her lands in 332 BC, she arranged her armies strategically to meet him and was present on a war elephant when he approached. Having assessed
649-722: The Elephantine in Egypt, but Petronius defeated them and took Napata, their capital, and other cities. Four African queens were known to the Greco-Roman world as the "Candaces": Amanishakheto , Amanirenas , Nawidemak , and Malegereabar . In the New Testament, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians", returning from a trip to Jerusalem , met with Philip the Evangelist : Now an angel of
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#1732766179651708-780: The King James Version and the Catholic Douay-Rheims Version , the Ethiopian says, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (verse 37), but this is omitted in most modern versions . D.A. Hubbard suggests that confession is "not supported in the better manuscripts [i.e. the Alexandrian text-type ])", although the Ethiopian is still "one of the outstanding converts in Acts ." After this, Philip
767-516: The 140 periods between 60 BC and 80 AD. The iconography of the Meroitic queens often depicts them alone and at the forefront of their stelae and sculptures, wearing regal clothing. Early depictions of Kushite queens typically do not have Egyptian elements, making their appearance drastically different from their Kushite male and Egyptian counterparts. As seen in the Dream Stela of Tanawetamani ,
826-674: The Axumite King Ezana may well provide the historical fiction for the Ethiopian dynastic claim to the Nubian Kandakes and their kings, as it was from this point onwards that the Axumites began calling themselves "Ethiopians", a Greco-Roman term previously used largely for the ancient Nubians. For example, Makeda, Queen of Sheba , in the Kebra Nagast , is also recognized as Candace or " Queen Mother ". A legend in
885-659: The Ballana cemetery. There are many Kushite pyramids in addition to those listed above, built for individuals such as consorts, princes, and high officials. Because of the size and the number of chambers, some pyramids without preserved names have been suggested to have belonged to monarchs. Some such pyramids are included in the list above, with tentative and hypothetical attributions put forth by researchers. Other pyramids sometimes identified as belonging to rulers are listed below. There are no unattributed royal burials from El-Kurru or Nuri. Whether these pyramids belong to monarchs
944-464: The Ethiopian eunuch in the " intermediate position between Jew and Gentile ." Scott Shauf suggests that the "primary point of the story is about carrying the gospel to the end of the earth, not about establishing a mission to Gentiles ," and thus Luke "does not bring the Gentile status of the Ethiopian into the foreground." However, "the suggestion that the eunuch is or at least might be a Gentile in
1003-563: The Ethiopian, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He said he did not ("How can I understand unless I have a teacher to teach me?"), and asked Philip to explain the text to him. Philip told him the Gospel of Jesus , and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized . They went down into a water source, traditionally thought to be the Dhirweh fountain near Halhul , and Philip baptized him. In
1062-536: The Kingdom of Kush is not well understood. There are no known administrative documents or histories written by the Kushites themselves; because very little of the royal genealogy can be reliably reconstructed, it is impossible to determine how the system functioned in theory and when or if it was ever broken. Royal women were prominent in Kushite society, especially in the Meroitic period ( c. 270 BCE–350 CE). As
1121-490: The Kushite dynasty. The most important event that Kushite women participated in was kingship's ensured continuity, where royal women were mentioned and represented in the royal ceremony. The lunettes of the stelae of Tanawetamani , Harsiyotef , and Nastasen all provide iconographic and textual evidence of these kings' enthronement. In all of these stelae , the king is accompanied by a female member of his family, mother, and wife. The king's mother played an essential role in
1180-444: The Kushite rulers beyond the presence of silver crowns in a similar style. The existence of a unified post-Meroitic state is not universally accepted. Josefine Kuckertz, for instance, instead dates the disintegration of the kingdom to already in the middle fourth century CE, at the same time as the fall of the Meroitic dynasty. Around 420 CE, the aforementioned elites or deputies began assuming royal insignia of their own, resulting in
1239-532: The Lord said to Philip , "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch , a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship He discussed with Philip the meaning of a perplexing passage from the Book of Isaiah . Philip explained
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#17327661796511298-497: The Meroitic period (c. 270 BCE–350 CE). There are no preserved Kushite lists of rulers and the regnal sequence is instead largely reconstructed based on evidence such as royal inscriptions and burials. Surviving sources are at several points scant, meaning that parts of the chronology and sequence are approximate and tentative. The list of rulers might also be incomplete given that future discoveries of additional royal names and burials are possible. The system of royal succession in
1357-546: The Meroitic period, suggesting that they may have been excluded from holding office during earlier periods. Despite this, there are numerous royal inscriptions from pre-Meroitic kings, for instance Aspelta , that place emphasis only on their female ancestors. This is on its own generally not considered sufficient evidence for purely matrilineal succession and patrilineal relations are often assumed between rulers even when unsupported by evidence. As examples, kings Alara and Kashta are often assumed to have been brothers and Piye
1416-449: The burials of around five generations of kings earlier than Alara , the earliest Kushite king known by name. Alara is however generally considered the founder of Kush by historians since he was referenced in the writings of later monarchs as a dynastic founder, in contexts suggesting that he also established the kingdom. The Middle Napatan period began with the rule of the earliest known named Kushite monarch, Alara, and encompassed
1475-569: The case of the especially limited material available for large parts of the Meroitic period, this in cases led to the assumption that any figure mentioned as the father of a ruling monarch must also have been a king, even if they are never attested in that role or mentioned elsewhere. Examples of such fathers of monarchs include Pisakar, Adeqetali, Teritnide, Arotnide, and Teritedakhetey, who sometimes still figure in modern reconstructed regnal lists (though most reconstructions omit them ). In addition to not being directly attested as monarchs themselves,
1534-520: The chronological scheme proposed by Emberling (2023), which divides Kushite history into the following four periods: Early Napatan (coalescence of Kushite political authority in Napata ), Middle Napatan (from Alara to the end of Kushite dominion over Egypt), Late Napatan (after the loss of Egypt while royal burials continued at Napata), and Meroitic (royal burials at Meroë ) periods. Precise regnal dates are not known for any Kushite monarchs after
1593-421: The disintegration of the supposed successor state (if one existed) into the later kingdoms of Nobatia (north), Makuria (center), and Alodia (south). Out of these three, Nobatia is in particular sometimes considered a small post-imperial remnant of Kush, maintaining some aspects of Kushite culture but also exhibiting Hellenistic and Roman influences. The early stage of Nobatia is conventionally associated with
1652-453: The end of Kushite dominion over Egypt. This list thus only includes approximate timeframes, cited to modern sources. Some older sources provide precise dates for each ruler. These dates usually derive from a speculative 1923 chronology by George Andrew Reisner , who based the dates on a handful of synchronisms with Egyptian history, used a wholly hypothetical average reign length of 15 years, and assigned longer reigns and shorter reigns based on
1711-399: The end of the dynasty ruling from that city. Circumstantial and indirect evidence also dates the end of Meroitic political authority to the middle decades of the fourth century CE. László Török hypothesised that a unified ( Nubian ?) 'Post-Meroitic successor state' ruled a territory roughly corresponding to the Kushite kingdom for several decades after the end of the Meroitic period. Such
1770-501: The eunuch as "the first baptized gay Christian," while Jack Rogers writes that "the fact that the first Gentile convert to Christianity is from a sexual minority and a different race, ethnicity and nationality together" calls Christians to be radically inclusive and welcoming. "Candace" was the name given in Greco-Roman historiography to all the female rulers or consorts of the Kingdom of Kush (now part of Sudan). The capital city
1829-646: The eventual establishment of the Kingdom of Kush under Alara c. 780 BCE . Kush reached the apex of its power c. 739 –656 BCE, when the Kushite kings also ruled as the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt . The kingdom remained a powerful state in its heartland after Kushite rule in Egypt was terminated and it survived for another millennium until its collapse c. 350 CE . Egyptian culture heavily influenced Kush in terms of its royal and monumental iconography, though indigenous elements were also used and became increasingly prominent in
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1888-536: The fourth century. The first writer to call it Ethiopia was Philostorgius around 440. Some scholars, such as Frank M. Snowden, Jr. , interpret the story as emphasizing that early Christian communities accepted members regardless of race: "Ethiopians were the yardstick by which antiquity measured colored peoples." Others, such as Clarice Martin, write that it is a commentary on the religion rather than on its adherents, showing Christianity's geographical extent; Gay L. Byron goes further, saying, "The Ethiopian eunuch
1947-444: The heir who succeeded in claiming the throne might simply have been the strongest eligible royal descendant, instead of there being a clear succession system. Some successions, such as Taharqa to Tantamani to Atlanersa (seventh century BCE), are difficult to explain under either pure patrilineality or pure matrilineality. It was in older scholarship on Kush assumed that all monarchs were direct descendants of earlier monarchs. In
2006-462: The high number of ruling queens in the Meroitic period, absent in earlier times, the gender of each monarch is here indicated by a gender symbol (♀ or ♂). In cases where the gender is unknown, no symbol is included. The royal succession, sequence, and chronology of Kushite rulers is especially uncertain in the Meroitic period. By necessity this list shows only one interpretation, though noteworthy alternate ideas are featured in footnotes. Given that
2065-437: The king's accession to the throne. Bas-reliefs dated to about 170 B.C. reveal the kentake Shanakdakheto , dressed in armor and wielding a spear in battle. She did not rule as queen regent or queen mother, but as a fully independent ruler. Her husband was her consort. In bas-reliefs found in the ruins of building projects she commissioned, Shanakdakheto is portrayed both alone as well as with her husband and son, who would inherit
2124-448: The later period of Kushite rule over Egypt (as Ancient Egypt 's 25th dynasty). This list includes the conventional speculative patrilineal relationships between some of the rulers; these are not accepted by all scholars and it is possible that as many as three intermarrying families were involved in the early stages of the kingdom. The Late Napatan period encompasses Kushite history after the loss of Egypt, for as long as Napata remained
2183-406: The legitimacy of her son as the king; textual evidence from Taharqo's coronation stelae represents inscriptional evidence suggesting that the king's mother traveled to her son's coronation. During the Kushite 25th Dynasty, the office that was known as God's Wife of Amun was established. The royal women in this role acted as the primary contact with the Kushite god Amun. They played a decisive role in
2242-537: The list above and some of the tentative and hypothetical attributions listed above could be wrong. Viceroy of Kush Ethiopian eunuch The Ethiopian eunuch ( Ge'ez : ኢትዮጵያዊው ጃንደረባ ) is a figure in the New Testament of the Bible. The story of his conversion to Christianity at the preaching of Philip the Evangelist is recounted in Acts 8 . Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to
2301-435: The names of these individuals do not fit with the known type of Kushite royal names, and counting them as kings ignores the prospect of succession through indirect and/or female lines, both of which are believed to have transpired. There were Kushite rulers in the Meroitic period who can be confidently established to have had non-ruling fathers. There is no universally used periodisation of Kushite history. This list uses
2360-567: The narrative, Cornelius and his followers form another church in Judea , and speculates that this reflects a desire to focus on Peter rather than Philip. Robert O'Toole argues that the way Philip is taken away parallels the way Jesus disappears after he has been talking to the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. There are literary parallels between the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts and that of Ebed-Melech , an Ethiopian eunuch in
2419-484: The northern and southern cemeteries of Meroë, respectively. El-Kurru, Nuri, and Jebel Barkal are all located by the ancient city of Napata; Meroë was a different city further south. The Early Napatan period began with Kush becoming autonomous or independent in the wake of the collapse of the New Kingdom of Egypt , c. 1069 BCE. The material from Kush during this time is extremely scant. There may have been several local Kushite political units, not properly unified into
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2478-409: The overthrow of the last Menelik emperor, Haile Selassie . The Ethiopian monarchy's official chronicle of dynastic succession descends from Menelik I includes six regnant queens referred to as Kandake. The following queens from the king list have "Kandake" added to their name: Twenty-one queens are recorded as sole regent in the kingdom of Ethiopia until the 9th century CE. The conquest of Meroe by
2537-466: The road from Jerusalem to Gaza , and there he encountered the Ethiopian eunuch , the treasurer of Candace , Queen of the Ethiopians (Ancient Greek: Κανδάκη, "Candace" was the Meroitic term for "queen" or possibly "royal woman"). The eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home. Sitting in his chariot , he was reading the Book of Isaiah , specifically Isaiah 53:7–8 . Philip asked
2596-521: The scripture to him and he was promptly baptised in some nearby water. The eunuch 'went on his way, rejoicing', and presumably therefore reported back on his conversion to the Kandake. Evidence outside of Nubia that shows additional links to Kushite's queenship concept are found in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a long dynastic history claimed to be over three millennia from before 1000 BC to 1973, the year of
2655-551: The site used for royal burials. In third century BCE, the royal burial ground was moved from Napata to Meroë for the burial of Arakamani . This marked the final step in a more gradual transfer of political authority and wealth to Meroë and is regarded as the beginning of the Meroitic period. The change in capital should not be misinterpreted as indicating a break in historical or cultural continuity; Napata continued to function as an important religious centre and evidence suggests that Meroë had been important from very early on. It
2714-463: The size and richness of burials. This list includes the tomb of each monarch (in the 'burial' column) and names them using abbreviations. The abbreviations are shorthands for the different Kushite burial pyramid complexes, with the numbers indicating a particular pyramid or temple. "Kur." stands for Kurru (i.e. El-Kurru ) ,"Nu." stands for Nuri , "Bar." stands for Jebel Barkal , and "Beg." stands for Begrawiyah ( Meroë ). "Beg. N" and "Beg. S" refer to
2773-413: The story, by both his ethnic and possibly physical description" may leave more formative possibility than if he had been explicitly categorized. Ernst Haenchen builds on Ferdinand Christian Baur 's work (1792–1860) in concluding that "the author of Acts made the eunuch's religious identity ambiguous intentionally" so as to preserve the tradition that claimed Cornelius as the first Gentile convert as well as
2832-494: The strength of her armies, Alexander decided to withdraw from Nubia , heading to Egypt instead. Another story, as evident in the literary retelling of the life of Alexander provided by the Middle High German epic Straßburger Alexander from ca. 1150, claims that Alexander and Candace had a romantic encounter. These accounts originate from Alexander Romance by an unknown writer called Pseudo-Callisthenes , and
2891-451: The throne appears to have been able to pass through male, female, and indirect lines, this list simply records the parents (if known) of each monarch in the 'filiation' column, without speculation on their overall relations. The use of the ♔ symbol in this column indicates that the parent of a monarch was also a monarch. Beg. N 25 is the last known royal burial in Meroë and is assumed to mark
2950-701: The throne upon her death. Pliny writes that the "Queen of the Ethiopians " bore the title Candace , and indicates that the Ethiopians had conquered ancient Syria and the Mediterranean . In 25 BC the Kush kandake Amanirenas , as reported by Strabo , attacked the city of Syene, today's Aswan , in territory of the Roman Empire ; Emperor Augustus destroyed the city of Napata in retaliation. Cassius Dio wrote that Kandake's army advanced as far as
3009-800: The tradition that claimed the Ethiopian Eunuch as the first Gentile convert. Commentators generally suggest that the combination of "eunuch" together with the title "court official" indicates a literal eunuch, who would have been excluded from the Temple by the restriction in Deuteronomy 23:1. Some scholars point out that eunuchs were excluded from Jewish worship and extend the New Testament's inclusion of these men to other sexual minorities; gay Catholic priest John J. McNeill , citing non-literal uses of "eunuch" in other New Testament passages such as Matthew 19:12 , writes that he likes to think of
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#17327661796513068-513: The traditional sites of the baptism is the Dhirweh fountain , near Halhul . Others place the traditional site of baptism at the Ein Hanya Spring . The Ethiopian eunuch's religion of origin is significant because of the subsequent implications of his conversion to Christianity. There are many competing theories for the eunuch's pre-conversion religious status in relation to Judaism and Christianity. Modern scholarship tends to place
3127-521: The work is largely a fictionalized and grandiose account of Alexander's life. It is commonly quoted, but there seems to be no historical reference to this event from Alexander's time. The whole story of Alexander and Candace's encounter appears to be legendary. John Malalas has mixed the Pseudo-Callisthenes material with other and wrote about the affair of Alexander with Kandake, adding that they got married. Malalas also wrote that Kandake
3186-532: Was Meroë , and the title of "Candace" derives from a Meroitic word, kdke , that referred to any royal woman. "Ethiopian" was a Greek term for black-skinned peoples generally, often applied to Kush (which was well known to the Hebrews and often mentioned in the Hebrew Bible). The eunuch was not from the land today known as Ethiopia, which corresponds to the ancient Kingdom of Aksum , which conquered Kush in
3245-409: Was a woman. List of monarchs of Kush The monarchs of Kush were the rulers of the ancient Kingdom of Kush (8th century BCE – 4th century CE), a major civilization in ancient Nubia (roughly corresponding to modern-day Sudan ). Kushite power was centralised and unified over the course of the centuries following the collapse of the New Kingdom of Egypt c. 1069 BCE , leading to
3304-418: Was an Indian queen and Alexander met her during his Indian campaign . At least eleven kandakes also ruled in their own right as monarchs (i.e. queen regnants ) of Kush: Based on the reading of a single inscription, some lists give two later kandakes named Maloqorebar (266–283 AD) and Lahideamani (306-314 AD). A recently discovered inscription corrects this earlier reading, however, showing that neither
3363-476: Was one God preached by the prophets, but that the Son of this (God) had already made (His) appearance in human flesh, and had been led as a sheep to the slaughter; and all the other statements which the prophets made regarding Him." In Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo tradition he was referred to as Bachos and is known as an Ethiopian Jew with the name Simeon also called the Black , a name used in Acts 13:1 . One of
3422-598: Was suddenly taken away by the Spirit of the Lord , and the eunuch "went on his way rejoicing" (verse 39). Church Father St. Irenaeus of Lyons in his book Adversus haereses ( Against the Heresies , an early anti- Gnostic theological work) 3:12:8 (180 AD), wrote regarding the Ethiopian eunuch, "This man (Simeon Bachos the Eunuch) was also sent into the regions of Ethiopia, to preach what he had himself believed, that there
3481-459: Was used by Luke to indicate that salvation could extend even to Ethiopians and Blacks." David Tuesday Adamo suggests that the word used here (Αἰθίοψ, aithiops ) is best translated simply as "African." C. K. Barrett contrasts the Ethiopian eunuch's story with that of Cornelius the Centurion , another convert . He notes that while the Ethiopian continues on his journey home and passes out of
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