CANDACE, or, more correctly, KANDAKE (both the c's being hard), was the name of that queen of the Ethiopians (Kapbarm i7 Ai8i6rcov) whose high treasurer was converted to Christianity under the preaching of Philip the Evan gelist (Acts viii. 27). 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 literal; and is supposed to correspond to the present province of Atbara, lying between 13° and 18° north latitude. From the circumstance of its being nearly enclosed by the Atbara (Astaboras or •acazze) 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 Berkal. Meroe, from being long the centre of commercial intercourse between 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 Palestine and Greece ; and since much of that affluence would find its way into the royal coffers, the circumstance gives emphasis to the phrase—ircians rfs 'all the treasure' of Queen Candace. It is further interesting to know, from the testimonies of various profane authors, 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 Can dace,' 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 Egypt, and Cxsar' to the emperors of Rome. (Pliny, hist. Nat. vi. 29; Strabo, p. 82o, ed. Ca saub., comp. Dion Cassius, liv. 5. Eusebius, who flourished in the fourth century, says, that in his day the Queens of Ethiopia continued to be called Candace.
A curious confirmation of the fact of female sovereignty having prevailed in Ethiopia has been remarked on the existing monuments of the coun try. Thus, on the largest sepulchral pyramid
near Assour, the ancient Meroe (see Cailliaud, plate xlvi.), a female warrior, with the royal en signs 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 tq de stroy the same group. Heeren, after describing the monuments at Naga, or Naka, south-east of Shendy, says, It is evident that these representa tions possess many peculiarities, and that they are not pure Egyptian. The most remarkable diffe rence 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 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' (Hereen, On the Nations of Africa, vol. ii. p. 399). Irenseus (iii. 12) and Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. ii. r) ascribe to Candace's minister her own conversion to Christianity, and the promulga tion 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 afterwards preached the Gospel in Arabia Felix, and also in the island of Ceylon, where he suffered martyrdom. (See Tillemont, diem. Hist. Eccl. torn. ii. ; Basnage, Exercitatt. anti Baron. p. 113 ; Ludolph, Comment ad Hist.
p. 89). [ETHIOPIA ; ABYSSINIA.] N. M.