Ethiopia : Candace Queen Of the Ethiopians

[cherryblossom]

Candace of Meroe
(3rd century BCE-2nd Century CE)

In the kingdom of Kush (called Ethiopia by classical authors), particularly during the Meroitic period, women played prominent roles in affairs of the state, occupying positions of power and prestige, the natural outgrowth of which was the development of a line of queens. Unlike the queens of Egypt who derived power from their husbands, the Queens of Kush were independent rulers, to the extent that it was often thought that Meroe never had a king. Four of these queens—Amanerinas, Amanishakhete, Nawidemak and Maleqereabar—became distinctively known as Candaces, a corruption of the word Kentake.

The word is a transcription of the Meroitic ktke or kdke, which means "queen mother. " All royal consorts were by definition Kdkes. The queen mother played two important roles, which ensured the line of succession and also consolidated her power. She played a prominent role in the choice and coronation of the new king and, unique to Meroitic society, she officially adopted her daughter-in-law. Basically, some of the traits of the matriarchs of Meroe correspond to those of the queen mother in matrilineal societies in other parts of Africa.

What little is known of the Candaces was learned primarily from Roman sources and more recently from excavations, iconography, and inscriptions on monuments. Classical writers have attested to their power and leadership. One of them is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (8:28-39) where, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, Philip converted "an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury..." Pliny, who provided valuable details of the great city of Meroe, which have been borne out by subsequent excavations, states that, "The queens of the country bore the name Candace, a title that had passed from queen to queen for many years."

http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/candace.php

 

[Omowale Jabali]

Candace of Meroe
(3rd century BCE-2nd Century CE)

In the kingdom of Kush (called Ethiopia by classical authors), particularly during the Meroitic period, women played prominent roles in affairs of the state, occupying positions of power and prestige, the natural outgrowth of which was the development of a line of queens. Unlike the queens of Egypt who derived power from their husbands, the Queens of Kush were independent rulers, to the extent that it was often thought that Meroe never had a king. Four of these queens—Amanerinas, Amanishakhete, Nawidemak and Maleqereabar—became distinctively known as Candaces, a corruption of the word Kentake.

The word is a transcription of the Meroitic ktke or kdke, which means "queen mother. " All royal consorts were by definition Kdkes. The queen mother played two important roles, which ensured the line of succession and also consolidated her power. She played a prominent role in the choice and coronation of the new king and, unique to Meroitic society, she officially adopted her daughter-in-law. Basically, some of the traits of the matriarchs of Meroe correspond to those of the queen mother in matrilineal societies in other parts of Africa.

What little is known of the Candaces was learned primarily from Roman sources and more recently from excavations, iconography, and inscriptions on monuments. Classical writers have attested to their power and leadership. One of them is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (8:28-39) where, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, Philip converted "an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury..." Pliny, who provided valuable details of the great city of Meroe, which have been borne out by subsequent excavations, states that, "The queens of the country bore the name Candace, a title that had passed from queen to queen for many years."

http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/candace.php

The following link might help clear some thing up that I mentioned in another thread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Kush

Listed under the Kus hite Kings of Kerma is:

Kandake Makeda (c. 1005 BCE- 950 BCE)

This is a similar list which can be cross-referenced.

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/232609

Of course Kandake Makeda is also known as "The Queen of the South" and the "Queen of Sheba."

Where is this southern land from which the first kandake (Makeda) reigned?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerma

Kerma (now known as Doukki Gel—a Nubian term which can be roughly translated as "red mound") was the capital city of the Kingdom of Kerma, in present day Egypt and Sudan, an archaeological site as old as 5,000 years. 'Kerma' is also used to describe the early Sudanese kingdom, of which Kerma was capital. This was one of the first black African civilizations, commanding an empire that c.1600 BCE rivalled Egypt - stretching from the First to Fourth Cataracts. It became a real Nubian state during the 3rd millennium BC. Kerma was about 435 miles (700 km) away from Aswan.

Most references to Kandake Makeda do not speak concerning her reign centered in Kerma but it is part of the historical record of Kush, which was later recorded by the Arwe line which later ruled Ethiopia.

http://bafsudralam.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.htm

Kerma is the area which was known in antiquity as Ta-Sety (The Land of the Archer's Bow) and is perhaps Africa's earliest known civilization.
http://wysinger.homestead.com/kerma.html


What’s clear is that Kerma’s civilisation emerged out of an ancient pastoral culture that had flourished in that part of Sudan since at least 7000 B.C. when the first settlements were established. Nearby Kerma archaeologists have discovered one of the two oldest cemeteries ever found in Africa – dating back to 7500 B.C. – and the oldest evidence of cattle domestication ever found in Sudan or, indeed, in the Egyptian Nile Valley. Around 3000 BC a town grew up not far from the Neolithic dwellings place.


http://www.theancientegyptians.com/Kerma.htm

What then was the biblical "land of Sheba"?


Shaat and the Island of Sai, was the main trading centre, north of the Third Cataract, for the Kingdom of Kerma.

 

[Corvo]

Thank you brother, this is great information!

AXE!

 

[cherryblossom]

Of course Kandake Makeda is also known as "The Queen of the South" and the "Queen of Sheba."

The first label I am familiar with, but please direct me to some sources which call her by "Queen of Sheba."

 

[Omowale Jabali]

The first label I am familiar with, but please direct me to some sources which call her by "Queen of Sheba."

http://www.ethiopianhistory.com/Solomonic_Dynasty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebra_Nagast

http://www.cafleurebon.com/makeda-i...pian-queen-the-wife-of-king-solomon-of-judea/

http://www.fhi.net/fhius/ethiopiafamine/christian.html

http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/EthiopiaMakeda.html

http://www.sankofaworldpublishers.com/sankofawpethiopia2008-tehutinews.htm

http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/ethiopia2.html

In addition to historian J.A. Roger's World's Great Men of Color I also recommend the following by Leo Hansberry.

PILLARS IN ETHIOPIAN HISTORY,The William Leo Hansberry African History
Notebook, Volume I Edited by Joseph E. Harris
Taken from William Leo Hansberry's private papers the four essays in
Volume I, better described as narrative histories, decipher and remove
from the entanglement of myth, legend and spurious historical
documentation the pillars of Ethiopia's unity. The editor, Joseph Harris,
is the former chairman of the Department of History at Howard University.

I used to have both volumes but they are no longer in my posession.