The One-Eyed #African Queen Who Defeated the #RomanEmpire

Cocky male monarchs underestimated #QueenAmanirenas for her gender, her race, and her disability. Each time, they did so at their own peril.

Adhiambo Edith Magak
Sep 22, 2021

Excerpt: "The legendary Roman emperor #CaesarAugustus was on the Greek island of Samos, preparing for an important expedition to Syria, when he received envoys from the Kingdom of #Kush, in present-day #Sudan. Journalist Selina O’Grady records in her book And Man Created God that the ambassadors presented Augustus with a bundle of golden arrows and relayed this message: 'The Candace sends you these arrows.' (Candace was the Latinized spelling of #Kandake, the Kushite term for 'queen.')

"They added that the emperor had two options for how to view the offering: 'If you want peace, they are a token of her warmth and friendship. If you want war, you will need them.'

"For an African queen to give such an ultimatum to the most powerful man in the world would have been considered a serious insult. After all, #Augustus had almost single-handedly transformed #Rome from a republic to an empire, and the territory he now reigned over stretched from as far as northern Spain, through to parts of central Europe, and all the way to Egypt. His legions wore bronze breastplates and wielded spears, swords and javelins, all much superior to the hatchets the #Kushites carried as weapons. In addition, Kush had many natural resources — such as gold mines, iron and ivory — that could have enriched the treasuries of Rome, enticing Augustus to attack, even without the insult.

"But this Kushite queen — whom the Greek geographer and historian Strabo of Amasia described as 'a masculine sort of woman and blind in one eye' — had proved to be a formidable foe for the 'son of god,' the title given to Caesar Augustus on Roman coins. He received the bundle of arrows from the envoys and promptly signed a peace treaty.

"In truth, this was not so much a treaty as it was a surrender. Augustus submitted to all of the demands made by Queen #Amanirenas, including that the Romans withdraw from all Kushite territories they had occupied and pledge that they would never again seek to collect taxes or tributes from her kingdom.

"It was a remarkable concession for the world’s most powerful man, demonstrating just how feared and respected the one-eyed queen truly was."

Read more / listen:
https://www.narratively.com/p/the-one-eyed-african-queen-who-defeated-the-roman-empire

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/PGd0v

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