Canda´ce, or, more correctly, Kandake, was the name of that queen of the Ethiopians whose high treasurer was converted to Christianity under the preaching of Philip the Evangelist (). The country over which she ruled was not, as some writers allege, what is known to us as Abyssinia: it was that region in Upper Nubia which was called by the Greeks Meroë, and is supposed to correspond to the present province of Atbara, lying between 13° and 18° north latitude. The city of Meroë stood near the present Assour, about twenty miles north of Shendy; and the extensive and magnificent ruins found not only there, but along the upper valley of the Nile, attest the art and civilization of the ancient Ethiopians. Meroë, from being long the center of commercial intercourse between Africa and the south of Asia, became one of the richest countries upon earth; the 'merchandise' and wealth of Ethiopia () was the theme of the poets both of Palestine and Greece; and since much of that affluence would find its way into the royal coffers, the circumstance gives emphasis to the phrase—'all the treasure' of Queen Candace. It is further interesting to know, from the testimonies of various profane authors, that for some time both before and after the Christian era, Ethiopia Proper was under the rule of female sovereigns, who all bore the appellation of 'Candace,' which was not so much a proper name as a distinctive title, common to every successive queen, like 'Pharaoh' and 'Ptolemy' to the kings of Egypt, and 'Caesar' to the emperors of Rome.
A curious confirmation of the fact of female sovereignty having prevailed in Ethiopia has been remarked on the existing monuments of the country. Thus, on the largest sepulchral pyramid near Assour, the ancient Meroë, a female warrior, with the royal ensigns on her head, drags forward a number of captives as offerings to the gods; on another compartment she is in a warlike habit, about to destroy the same group. Heeren, after describing the monuments at Naga, or Naka, south-east of Shendy, says, 'It is evident that these representations possess many peculiarities, and that they are not pure Egyptian. The most remarkable difference appears in the persons offering. The queens appear with the kings; and not merely as presenting offerings, but as heroines and conquerors. Nothing of this kind has yet been discovered on the Egyptian reliefs, either in Egypt or Nubia. It may therefore with certainty be concluded, that they are subjects peculiar to Ethiopia. It is singular enough, that when Bruce was at Shendy, the government of the district was in the hands of a female called Sittina, i.e. the lady or mistress. Irenæus and Eusebius ascribe to Candace's minister her own conversion to Christianity, and the promulgation of the Gospel throughout her kingdom: and with this agrees the Abyssinian tradition, that he was likewise the apostle of Tagré, that part of Abyssinia which lay nearest to Meroë; it is added that he afterwards preached the Gospel in Arabia Felix, and also in the island of Ceylon, where he suffered martyrdom.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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