QUEEN OF THE ETHIOPIANS · NEW TESTAMENT

Candace. Her treasurer met Philip on the road to Gaza.

REIGNEDi

Not given Scripture gives no length of reign and no date.

CAPITAL

Ethiopia

HOUSE

Not stated

SCRIPTURE SAYS

“Philip met “a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had…”

PROPHETS

None named

THE NATIONS: 4 RULERS HIRAM → CANDACE

ON THE WORLD STAGE

The powers of the day

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · ABOUT AD 77, REPORTING EXPLORERS SENT BY NERO

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 6.35

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · STRABO WRITES OF A QUEEN “IN OUR TIME”, IN AUGUSTUS'S REIGN

Strabo, Geography 17.1.54

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · ABOUT AD 180

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.12.8

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · ABOUT AD 325

Eusebius, Church History 2.1.13

SUCCESSION

Before and after

THE REALM

Ethiopia and the places of the account

The nations. Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS

What Scripture says of her

  • Philip met “a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship”. Acts 8:27
  • From the textShe does not appear in the story herself; Acts names her only to say whose officer he was. Acts 8:26–39

DEALINGS

Dealings with God's people

  • Her treasurer had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was reading the book of Isaiah. Acts 8:27–28
  • He “had the charge of all her treasure”. Acts 8:27

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

DATES DIFFER

When was it?

SCRIPTURE

No years given

No year is given. Acts tells the story after Stephen's death and the scattering of the church from Jerusalem (Acts 8:1–5). Which queen reigned then is not known from the sources used here.

A title borne by a line of queens

Pliny, Natural History 6.35 (about AD 77); ISBE (1915), “Candace”

Pliny reports that the name had “passed from queen to queen for many years”; the ISBE (1915) follows him: the name had “already been borne for many years by the queens of Ethiopia”.[33][20]

Acts uses it as a name

Our reading of Acts 8:27

Acts writes “Candace queen of the Ethiopians”, as one would a name with a title, and gives no other name. Acts 8:27

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 1

Acts 8

PASSAGES · 1

Acts 8:26–40

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Scripture does not give her own name, if “Candace” is a title, nor her dates.
  • Scripture does not say whether she heard of her treasurer's baptism.
  • Acts does not say where in “Ethiopia” she reigned; Meroë and Napata come from Pliny and Strabo.
  • What the eunuch did on returning home is not in Scripture; Irenaeus and Eusebius report it, Eusebius with “is said”.

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • From the textScripture names her once, to say whose treasurer the eunuch was. Whether “Candace” was her own name or a title is a question below. Acts 8:27

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • Rodger C. Young, Chronological tables: Table 1, Chronology of the Kings of Israel; Table 2, Chronology of the Kings of Judah (Thiele's system as revised by McFall and Young; dates cited as facts only) (undated web tables, read 2026-10-07), Tables 1 and 2.
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §553 (Shalmaneser III, 858–824 BC), §§568, 571, 575, 578 (Black Obelisk, years 11, 14, 18 and 21), pp. 199–206.
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §611, p. 223 (Monolith Inscription from Kurkh, the battle of Karkar).
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §§658–659 and 663, pp. 240–241 (annals from Calah, years 14 and 18).
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §§679–681, pp. 245–246 (the statue inscription from Assur).
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §735, p. 261 (the Saba’a stele) and §740, pp. 262–263 (the Nimrud slab) of Adad-nirari III.
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §761, p. 269 (on the order of the annal fragments); §769, p. 273; §772, p. 276 (Tiglath-pileser III's tribute lists).
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 1 (Shalmaneser III to Tiglath-pileser III) (1926), §§776–779, pp. 278–280 (Tiglath-pileser III's annals: the war on Aram; Samsi, queen of Arabia).
  • D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. 2 (Sargon to the end) (1927), §1198, p. 436 (the eponym list with notes, 733 and 732 BC).
  • R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), p. 296, note 1 (the reading “Bir-idri”); p. 299 with note 1 (the statue inscription); pp. 305–306 (Adad-nirari III and Mari’).
  • A. Biran and J. Naveh, “An Aramaic Stele Fragment from Tel Dan” (1993) and “The Tel Dan Inscription: A New Fragment” (1995), Israel Exploration Journal 43 and 45 (facts only; copyrighted) (1993, 1995), IEJ 43 (1993) 81–98; IEJ 45 (1995) 1–18 (the articles were not read; facts taken from published summaries).
  • S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel (Appendix: the Inscription of Mesha) (1890), pp. lxxxv–lxxxvi (introduction), lxxxvii–lxxxviii (translation), lxxxviii–xcii and xciv (Driver's notes).
  • A. H. Sayce, “Moabite Stone”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 3 (1915), pp. 2071–2072 (discovery of the stone; “forty” and the date of the revolt on p. 2072).
  • W. Ewing, “Mesha”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 3 (1915), pp. 2037–2038, section (3).
  • T. Nicol, “Benhadad”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 1 (1915), pp. 435–437.
  • T. Nicol, “Hazael”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 2 (1915), pp. 1345–1346.
  • T. Nicol, “Rezin”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 4 (1915), p. 2588.
  • David Francis Roberts, “Queen of Sheba”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 4 (1915), s.v. (sections 1 and 4).
  • Thomas Hunter Weir, “Sheba” (1), International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 4 (1915), p. 2752, sections 1 and 3.
  • (unsigned article), “Candace”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 1 (1915), p. 552.
  • Edward Mack, “Chronology of the Old Testament”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. 1 (1915), pp. 639–640 (Menahem's tribute in 738 BC).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of the Kings (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), pp. 221 (1 Kgs 15:18), 259–260 (1 Kgs 19:15), 261 and 266–267 (1 Kgs 20), 307 (2 Kgs 3:27), 334–336 (2 Kgs 8:10–15), 402–403 (2 Kgs 16:6); read in the archive.org scan text.
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (Clark's Foreign Theological Library; translation first published 1866, this printing 1876) (1866), pp. 318–321 (Hiram).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on 2 Kgs 3:27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on 2 Kgs 3:27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • J. R. Lumby, The Second Book of the Kings (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1887), note on 2 Kgs 3:27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on 2 Kgs 3:27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on 2 Kgs 8:15 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on 2 Kgs 8:15 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on 2 Kgs 16:6 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on 2 Kgs 16:6 (read on Bible Hub).
  • E. A. Wallis Budge (tr.), The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (the Kebra Nagast) (1922), Introduction, pp. xxx (the colophons date the Arabic version AD 1314–1344) and xxxiv (the names Makeda and Balkis; Saba “far more probable”).
  • Pliny the Elder, tr. John Bostock and H. T. Riley, The Natural History (1855), book 6, chapter 35 (Bostock and Riley's numbering; 6.29 in older editions).
  • Strabo, tr. H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer, The Geography of Strabo (1854–1857), book 17, chapter 1, section 54.
  • Eusebius, tr. A. C. McGiffert, Church History (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1) (1890), book 2, chapter 1, section 13.
  • Irenaeus, tr. A. Roberts and W. H. Rambaut, Against Heresies (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1) (1885), book 3, chapter 12, section 8.
  • Geneva Bible translators, Geneva Bible marginal notes (1599), note on 2 Chr 8:2 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897), note on 2 Chr 8:2 (read on Bible Hub).
  • W. E. Barnes, The Books of Chronicles (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1899), note on 2 Chr 8:2 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on 2 Chr 8:2 (read on Bible Hub).

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