We now come to the Queen Candace mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.
The account there given is as follows (Chapter 8):
“26th verse. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, arise
and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto
Gaza, which is desert.
“27th verse. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, an
eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to
worship.”
This is all that relates to Queen Candace, but it transpires from
subsequent verses of the same chapter, that the treasurer of Queen
Candace was baptized and went on his way rejoicing.
One queen Candace of Ethiopia, was a famous black queen, tales of whose
prowess spread as far as Greece. It appears from the monuments, that the
kingdom was ruled by successive queens each bearing the name of Candace,
which may account for the different descriptions of her, some showing
her as very beautiful, and some allowing her but one eye with the
disposition of a termagant.
These kings and queens, whose records have been deciphered, are of
comparatively recent years—not more than 2,500 or 3,000 years old. It is
expected that the results of the excavations of the older ruins will be
more interesting.