Candace of Meroe was the queen of Nubia at the time of the conquests of Alexander the Great. According to legend, Alexander encountered her when he invaded Nubia.^[1] In fact, Alexander never attacked Nubia, and never attempted to move further south than the oasis of Siwa in Egypt.^[1]

The story is that when Alexander attempted to conquer her lands in 332 BC, she arranged her armies strategically to meet him and was present on a war elephant when he approached. Having assessed the strength of her armies, Alexander decided to withdraw from Nubia, heading to Egypt instead. Another story claims that Alexander and Candace had a romantic encounter.

These accounts originate from "The Alexander Romance" by an unknown writer called Pseudo-Callisthenes, and the work is largely a fictionalized and grandiose account of Alexander's life.^[1] It is commonly quoted, but there seems to be no historical reference to this event from Alexander's time. The whole story of Alexander and Candace's encounter appears to be legendary.^{[1] [2]}

References to this warrior queen are among the earliest made to the Nubian Kentakes. The name "Candace" is actually a form of the title "Kentake", and not the actual name of a person.

[edit] References

This Sudanese biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This biographical article related to an African military person is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e