The Roman Empire was stretching its influence into Africa long before Cleopatra was born. However, after the death of the iconic ancient Egyptian queen in 31 BCE, a different woman stood in the way of Roman expansion deeper into Africa. Her name was Amanirenas, and she was the leader of the Kingdom of Kush which was centered along the Nile River Valley in modern day southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
From Amanirenas to Kandake
Though her past prior to her battle with Rome is shrouded in mystery and perhaps lost to time entirely, what is known is that Amanirenas was born over 2,000 years ago (c.57 BCE) and rose to power at the age of 17 (c.40 BCE). She was the second Kandake (“great woman/ queen”) who had been the sole ruler of the Kingdom of Kush. She was described as a strong female warrior, one proficient in archery and dual blades, with a scar running down the side of her face. Some accounts say that she lost her eye in a battle while other scholars suggest that the scar was a mark of beauty - a cosmetic feature common among the people of Kush. With the discovery of the Meroitic Stela, a 1st century sandstone text found in 1914 near modern-day Dumat Hamadab, Sudan, Amanirenas’s name has also been associated with Teriteqas and Akinidad. Scholarship is still unclear over the relationship of these names to Amenirenas but it is widely accepted that Teriteqas was her husband while Akinidad was her son.
The Battle for Africa: Kush vs Rome
Rome and the Kingdom of Kush had been in opposition for years. Teriteqas, Amenierenas’s husband, was killed fighting to protect his homeland. After Rome took over the province of Egypt following the death of Cleopatra, Augustus (the first emperor of Rome) set his sights southward to the fertile lands of Nubia (modern day Sudan). The Romans enforced high taxation on the citizens of Meroe, the capital city of Kush.
Enraged by this occupation and the death of her husband, Amenirenas strategically led an army of 30,000 soldiers to capture the Roman-occupied cities of Aswan, Philae, and Elephantine before withdrawing to El-Dakkeh (south-east Egypt). Amenirenas, along with her son, then moved to Napata, the main Kushite cult center to the god Amun, where they planned their next attack.
Utilizing the resources of her kingdom, Amenirenas deployed psychological warfare by trampling her enemies with waves of elephants, feeding those she defeated to her own pet lions, and decapitating the statues of Augustus. One such statue head, inlaid with glass, metal, and crystal eyes was buried under a Kushite temple in their capital city so that her people could literally walk over the “body” of their enemy.
The war between these two superpowers lasted for five years. Sadly, Amenirenas’ son died during one of these campaigns. However, Amenirenas and her army were unrelenting and thus pushed Rome to a unique peace treaty which granted Kush the upper hand.
Unlike other kingdoms at the edge of the Roman Empire, Amanirenas never relinquished large areas of her territory and never paid the Romans any tribute (neither of monetary value or of material resources). Rome was permitted to continue a military border at Dodekashoinos between Aswan and Lake Nasser. Roman-occupied areas such as Primis (modern-day Qasr Ibrim) had to be evacuated and returned to Kush.
Through this unique peace treaty, which lasted over 300 years, Kandake Amanirenas has become notorious for effectively halting Roman expansion further into Africa.
Text: Megan Kumorek. MENAM Archaeology. Copyright 2023.
Image 1: Kandake Amanirenas Stela. Located in Diop, Cheikh (2000). Nations Nègres et Culture. Présence Africaine
Image 2: Head of Augustus, Emperor of Rome (“The Monroe Head”): Found 1910 by Professor John Garstang.
Further Reading:
Ajani, K.Y., 2022. “The Converging Streams of Afrikan War and Resistance” in the Afrikan World. Journal of Black Studies, 53(7), pp.639-659.
Ashby, S. 2021. “Priestess, Queen, Goddess: The divine feminine in the Kingdom of Kush” in The Routledge companion to Black Women’s Cultural Histories. Routledge, pp 23-34.
Geographical Sketches by the Greek historian Strabo: Translations available at Gutenberg.org
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