Kandake

Kandake or Kentake was the title for queens regnant of the ancient Kingdom of Kush in the Nile Valley. It is a derivative of Candace, a Meroitic language term for "queen" or "queen-mother".

Biblical usage

In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians", returning from a trip to Jerusalem, met with Philip the Evangelist:

The queen concerned may have been Amanitore.

He discussed with Philip the meaning of a perplexing passage from the prophet Isaiah. Philip explained 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.

Alexandrian legend

A legend in 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 the strength of her armies, Alexander decided to withdraw from Nubia, heading to Egypt instead. Another story claims that Alexander and Candace had a romantic encounter.