Candace

• a queen of Meroë, Plin. 6, 29, 35, § 186; gen. is, Vulg. Act. 8, 27.

CANDACE(Κανδάκη, Isid. Char. p. 8), a town placed by Isidore in Asia. Nothing is known about it, nor is it mentioned elsewhere. Forbiger thinks it without doubt the same as Cotace (Κοτάκη) in Ptolemy (Ptol. 6.17.8), but gives no reason for this supposition, which is a mere conjecture.

(Κανδάκη). A name given to the queenmothers in Meroë in Aethiopia. Some women of this name appear in history, but they seem to have been merely queen-regents, governing during the minority of their sons. Some ancient authors, however, state that it was customary for the Aethiopians to be governed by queens called each by the name of Candacé. Suidas speaks of a Candacé who was made prisoner by Alexander the Great, but this appears to be a mere fable. A Candacé, blind of one eye, made an irruption into Egypt during the reign of Augustus, B.C. 22. She took and pillaged several cities, but Petronius, the prefect of Egypt, pursued her and penetrated into her dominions, which he pillaged in turn, until she restored the booty which she had carried off from Egypt, and sued for peace (Dio Cass. lxiv. 5; Plin. H. N. vi. 29). Mention is also made in the sacred writings of a queen of Aethiopia named Candacé (Acts, viii. 27).