Candace
Can'dace
(Κανδάκη: Hiller compares the Ethiopic קני, he ruled, and דק, a slave, as the Ethiopian kings are still in Oriental phrase styled "prince of servants" [Simonis, Onom. N.T. p. 88]; but the name itself is written חנדכי, chandaki, in Ethiopic; comp. Ludolf, Hist. Eth. in, 2, 7), was the name of that queen of the Ethiopians (ἡ βασίλισσα Αἰθιόπων) whose high treasurer (εὐνοῦχος, "eunuch," 1:e. chamberlain) was converted to Christianity under the preaching of Philip the Evangelist (Ac 8:27), A.D. 30. The country over which she ruled was not, as some writers allege, what is known to us as Abyssinia; it was that region in Upper Nubia which was called by the Greeks Meroe, and is supposed to correspond to the present province of Atlara, lying between 13° and 18° north latitude. From the circumstance of its being nearly enclosed by the Atbara (Astaboras or Tacazze) on the right, and the Bahr el-Abiad, or White River, and the Nile on the left, it was sometimes designated the "island" of Meroe; but the ancient kingdom appears to have extended at one period to the north of the island as far as Mount Beikal. The city of Meroe stood near the present Assour, about twenty miles north of Shendy; and the extensive and magnificent ruins found not only there, but along the upper valley of the Nile, attest the art and civilization of the ancient Ethiopians. These ruins, seen only at a distance by Bruce and Burckhardt, have since been minutely examined and accurately described by Cailliaud (πάσης τῆς γάζης), Ruppel (Reisen in Nubien, etc.), and other travelers. Meroe, from being long the center of commercial intercourse between Africa and the south of Asia, became one of the richest countries upon earth; the "merchandise" and wealth of Ethiopia (Isa 45:14) was the theme of the poets both of Palestine and Greece; and, since much of that affluence would find its way into the royal coffers, the circumstance gives emphasis to the phrase πάσης τῆς γάζης, "all the treasure" of Queen Candace. It is further interesting to know, from the testimonies of various authors (comp. the "Queen of Sheba," who visited Solomon, and see Josephus, Ant. 8:6, 5), that for some time both before and after the Christian era, Ethiopia Proper was under the rule of female sovereigns, who all bore the appellation of "Candace," which was not so much a proper name as a distinctive title, common to every successive queen, like "Pharaoh" and "Ptolemy" to the kings of Erypt, and "Caesar" to the emperors of Rome. Thus Pliny (Hist. Nat. 6:29) says that the centurions ,whom Nero sent to explore the country reported "that a woman reigned over Meroe called Candace, a name which had descended to the queens for many years." Strabo also (p. 820, ed. Casaub.) speaks of a warrior-queen of Ethiopia called Candace, in the reign of Augustus, the same whom Dion Cassius (54:5) describes as queen of the "Ethiopians living above (ὑπέρ) Egypt." In B.C. 22 she had invaded Egypt, and soon afterward insulted the Romans on the Ethiopian frontier of Egypt. Caius Petronius, the governor of the latter province, marched against the Ethiopians, and, having defeated them in the field, took Pselca, and then crossing the sands which had long before proved fatal to Cambyses, advanced to Premnis, a strong position. He next attacked Napata, the capital of Queen Candace, took and destroyed it; but then retired to Premnis, where he left a garrison, whom the warlike queen assailed, but they were relieved by Petronius. She was still later treated favorably by Augustus. She is said to have lost one eye (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v.). This Napata, by Dion called Tenape, is supposed to have stood near Mount Berkal, and to have been a kind of second Meroe; and there is still in that neighborhood (where there are likewise many splendid ruins) a village which bears the very similar name of Merawe. Eusebius- who flourished in the fourth century, says that in his day the queens of Ethiopia continued to be called Candace (Hist. Eccl. 2:1, 10). A curious confirmation of the fact of female sovereignty having prevailed in Ethiopia has been remarked on the existing monuments of the country. Thus, on the largest sepulchral pyramid near Assour, the ancient Meroe (see Cailliaud, plate xlvi), a female warrior, with the royal ensigns on her head, drags forward a number of captives as offerings to the gods; on another compartment she is in a warlike habit, about to destroy the same group. Heeren, after describing the monuments at Naga, or Naka, southeast of Shendy, says, "It is evident that these representations possess many peculiarities, and that they are not pure Egyptian. The most remarkable difference appears in the persons offering. The queens appear with the kings; and not merely as presenting offerings, but as heroines and conquerors. Nothing of this kind has yet been discovered on the Egyptian reliefs, either in Egypt or Nubia. It may therefore with certainty be concluded that they are subjects peculiar to Ethiopia. Among the Ethiopians, says Strabo (p. 1177), the women also are armed. Herodotus (2:100) mentions a Nitocris among the ancient queens of Ethiopia. Upon the relief [on the monument at Kalabshe] representing the conquest of Ethiopia by Sesostris, there is a queen, with her sons, who appears before him as a captive" (Heeren, On the Nations of Africa, 2:399). The name Candace, or Kandahai, appears on the Egyptian monuments on a royal cartouche, followed by the determinative sign for a woman. It is singular enough, that when Bruce was at Shendy, the government of the district was in the hands of a female called Sittia, i.e. the lady or mistress. He says, "There is a tradition there that a woman, whose name was Hendaque, once governed all that country, whence we might imagine that this was part of the kingdom of Candace; for, writing this name in Greek letters, it will come to be no other than Hendaqu., the native or mistress of Chendi or Chandi" (Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, 4:529; comp. 1:505). It is true that, the name Kandaké being foreign to the Jews, it is in vain to seek with Calmet for its etymology in Hebrew, but the conjectural derivation proposed by Bruce is wholly inadmissible; nor is the attempt (see above) of Hiller to trace its meaning in the Ethiopic language much more satisfactory. De Dieu asserts, on the authority of ecclesiastical tradition, that the proper name of the queen mentioned in the Acts was Lacasa, and that of her chamberlain Judich. It is not unlikely that some form of Judaism was at this period professed to a certain extent in Ethiopia, as well as in the neighboring country of Abyssinia. Irenaeus (in, 12) and Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. 2:1) ascribe to Candace's minister her own conversion to Christianity, and the promulgation of the Gospel throughout her kingdom; and with this agrees the Abyssinian tradition that he was likewise the apostle of Tigre, that part of Abyssinia which lay nearest to Meroe; it is added that he afterward preached the Gospel in Arabia Felix, and also in the island of Ceylon, where he suffered martyrdom. (See Tillemont, Mein. Hist. Eccl. tom. 2.; Basnage, Exercitatt. anti-Baron. p. 113; Ludolf, Corn ment. ad Hist. AEthiop. p. 89; Wolf, Curce, 2:113; American Presb. Review. April, 1865.) SEE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH.
