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Bible Dictionaries
Candace
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or Candace (Κανδάκη) is mentioned in Acts 8:27 as ‘queen of the Ethiopians,’ i.e. of Meroë (see Ethiopia and Ethiopian Eunuch). It appears from various ancient authorities that this was a name always borne by the queen-mother of the Ethiopians, and that in many cases she reigned still as dowager: e.g. we read Κανδάκην Αἰθίοπες πᾶσαν τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως μητέρα καλοῦσιν (J. A. Cramer, Catena in Acta Apostolorum, 1844, p. 143), an extract from an anonymous author who proceeds to quote Bion (of Soli) thus: Αἰθίοπες τοὺς βασιλέων πατέρας οὐκ ἐκφαίνουσιν, ἁλλʼ ὡς ὄντας υἱοὺς ἡλίου παραδιδόασιν· ἑκάστου δὲ τὴν μητέρα καλοῦσι Κανδάκην; cf. Athen. xiii. 566 and Pliny, Historia Naturalis (Pliny) vi. 29. The name in its Egyptian form is said to occur on the monuments, and a queen so named tried conclusions with the Romans during the reign of Augustus 24-21 b.c. and obtained some measure of success. The expression in Acts 8:27 that the εὐνοῦχος δυνάστης, whom Philip baptized, ‘was over all her treasure’ suggests that this monarch was powerful and wealthy.
C. L. Feltoe.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Candace'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/c/candace.html. 1906-1918.
