Jewellery of Amanishakheto from her pyramid at MeroeAmanishakheto was a Kandake of Kush. She seems t

Jewellery of Amanishakheto from her pyramid at MeroeAmanishakheto was a Kandake of Kush. She seems to have reigned from 10 BC to 1 AD, although most dates of Kushite history before the Middle Ages are very uncertain.Amanishakheto is known from several monuments. Today, Amanishakheto is best known for a collection of jewelry found in her pyramid in 1834 by Italian treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini, who destroyed the pyramid in search of its burial goods. These pieces are now in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and in the Egyptian Museum of Munich.Kandake, kadake or kentake, often Latinised as Candace, was the Meroitic language term for “queen” or possibly “royal woman”. Contemporary Greek and Roman sources treat it as a title. Several ruling queens of the ancient Kingdom of Kush, with its capital at Meroë, bore the title, although it may have been a general title for women of the royal family. It is often taken to mean “queen-mother” or “mother of the reigning king”. A Kandake was a powerful position in the hierarchy of Kush. The mothers would rule and create their sons as rulers, but they also deposed their own sons too. In fact, a Kandake could order the king to commit suicide to end his rule, an order that he was required to follow.The Kingdom of Kush or Kush (/kʊʃ, kʌʃ/) was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, located at the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nileand River Atbara in what is now Sudan and South Sudan.The Kushite era of rule in Nubia was established after the Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt. Kush was centered at Napata during its early phase. After King Kashta (“the Kushite”) invaded Egypt in the 8th century BC, the Kushite emperors ruled as pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt for a century, until they were expelled by the Assyrians under the rule of Esarhaddon.During classical antiquity, the Kushite imperial capital was located at Meroe. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Aethiopia. The Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD, when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. The Kushite capital was eventually captured and burnt to the ground by the Kingdom of Aksum.Strabo describes a war between Kush and the Romans in the 1st century BC. After the initial victories of Kandake (or “Candace”) Amanirenas against Roman Egypt, the Kushites were defeated and Napata sacked. Remarkably, the destruction of the capital of Napata was not a crippling blow to the Kushites and did not frighten Candace enough to prevent her from again engaging in combat with the Roman military. Indeed, it seems that Petronius’s attack might have had a revitalizing influence on the kingdom. Just three years later, in 22 BC, a large Kushite force moved northward with intention of attacking Qasr Ibrim.Alerted to the advance, Petronius again marched south and managed to reach Qasr Ibrim and bolster its defences before the invading Kushites arrived. Although the ancient sources give no description of the ensuing battle, we know that at some point the Kushites sent ambassadors to negotiate a peace settlement with Petronius. By the end of the second campaign, however, Petronius was in no mood to deal further with the Kushites. The Kushites succeeded in negotiating a peace treaty on favourable terms and trade between the two nations increased. Some historians like Theodore Mommsen wrote that during Augustus times Nubia was a possible client state of the Roman Empire.Amanishakheto was Kandake immediately after Amanirenas. Her immediate successor, Kandake Amanitore (co-regent with King Natakamani) was likely the Queen of Ethiopia mentioned in the Christian New Testament. -- source link

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