CANDACE (kan'tla-ci•), (Gr. Kavbcfkon, kirn-da• ay), more correctly Kandakt% was the name of the queen of the Ethiopians, whose high treasurer was c averted to Christianity tinder the preaching of Philip the Evangelist (Acts viii:27).
(1) Her Country. 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 ,Iferoe and is supposed to correspond to the pres ent province of Athara, lying between le and Or north latitude. From the circumstance of its being nearly enclosed by the Atbara (Astabnras or Tacazze) on the right. and the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, and the Nile on the left, it was some times 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 Berkal. The city of Meroe stood near the present Assnur. 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. Mcrae. from being long the center of commercial intercourse Africa and the south of Asia, became one of the richest countries upon earth; the 'merchandise' and wealth of Ethiopia (Is.
xlv:14) was the theme of the poets both of Pales tine and Greece; and since much of that affluence would find its way into the royal coffers, the cir cumstance gives emphasis to the phrase—"all the treasure" of Queen Candace.
(2) The Title. It. is further interesting to know, from the testimonies of .various profane au thors, 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 suc cessive queen, like 'Pharaoh' and 'Ptolemy' to the kings of Egypt, and 'Cmsar' to the emperors of Rome. Thus Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi :29) says that the centurions whom Nero sent to explore the country reported 'regnare in illeroi feminam Can dacen, (pod nonien multis jam annis ad reginas transiit,' (that a woman named Candace reigned in Illeroz, which name had descended to queens for many years). Strabo also (p. 82o, ed. Casaub.) speaks of a warrior-queen of Ethiopia called Can dace, in the reign of Augustus, the same whom Dion Cassius (liv :5) describes as queen of the Ethiopians living in Upper Egypt. Eusebius, who
flourished in the fourth century, says that in his day the queen of Ethiopia continued to be called Candace.
(3) Monumental Evidence. A curious con fit illation 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 AIeroe, a female warrior, with the royal ensigns on her head, drags forward a number of captives as offerings to the gods; on another com partment she is in a warlike habit, about to de stroy the same group. Heeren, after describing the monuments at Naga, or Naka, southeast of Shendy, says, 'It is evident that these representa tions possess many peculiarities, and that they are not pure Egyptian. The most remarkable differ ence appears in the persons offering. The queens appear with the kings; and not merely as present ing 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 (ii:too) mentions a Nito cris among the ancient queens of Ethiopia. Upon the relief [on the monument at Kalabshe] repre senting the conquest of Ethiopia by Sesostris, there is a queen, with her sons, who appears be fore him as a captive' (Heeren, On the Nations of Africa. vol. ii, p. 399).
(4) Lacasa. De Dieu asserts, on the authority of ecclesiastical tradition, that the proper name of the queen mentioned in the Acts was Laeaso, and that of her chamberlain Judieh. It is not unlikely that some form of Judaism was at this period pro fessed to a certain extent in Ethiopia, as well as in the neighboring country of Abyssinia. Irenxus (iii:12) and Eusebius (Hist. Eeel. ii:t) ascribe to Can :ace's minister her own conversion to Chris tianity, 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 Aleroe; it is added that he afterwards preached the Gospel in Arabia Felix. and also in the island of Ceylon, where he suffered martyr dom.