CANDACE

(Can·daʹce).

A queen of Ethiopia whose treasurer became a Christian. (Ac 8:27) Instead of being a specific personal name, “Candace,” like “Pharaoh” and “Caesar,” is considered to be a title. Ancient writers, including Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Eusebius, used this designation in referring to queens of Ethiopia. Pliny the Elder (c. 23-79 C.E.) wrote that “the town [Meroë, capital of ancient Ethiopia] possesses few buildings. They said that it is ruled by a woman, Candace, a name that has passed on through a succession of queens for many years.”​—Natural History, VI, XXXV, 186.