In 40 BC, while Cleopatra was ruling over a stable Egypt, their southern neighbours gained a different badass lady as a ruler. The Kingdom of Kush, known to the Egyptians as Ta-Seti (Land of Bows) due to their proficiency in archery, had a long tradition of female rulers, and their second kandake (meaning queen) was Amanirenas. She was on the throne from around 40-10 BC (as consort to her husband Teriteqas until 25 BC) and, uniquely, she was able to defend her kingdom and her people from domination by the Roman Empire.
Photo by Sven-Steffen Arndt (CC BY-SA 2.0), 2008
Cleopatra and Mark Anthony were defeated by Augustus Octavian in 30 BC. With Egypt conquered, Rome set their sights further south, to the Nubian people in the Kingdom of Kush, located mainly in present-day Sudan with a relatively small patch of land in southern Egypt.
We only have limited historical sources of what is to follow. Our understanding of the Meroitic language is limited at best – it’s estimated we only know about one hundred words – so, though numerous scrolls probably describing the Kushite point of view exist, we can’t read them. Our main source is the text Geographical Sketches written by Greek historian Strabo, completed around 21 AD.
Needless to say, the Kushites didn’t take too kindly to Rome’s designs on their land. Their armies were much smaller so they decided to take the advantage by striking first, pushing north into Roman-held cities in southern Egypt in circa 27 BC. King Teriteqas was killed in battle in 25 BC, making Amanirenas the sole ruler of Kush. It was up to her and her son, Akinidad, to continue the fight.
In 24 BC, Amanirenas made her big move. She’d heard about an impending attack, so she instead sent 30,000 soldiers to launch a surprise attack on the Romans. Women in Kush were reportedly just as skilled as the men at warfare and Amanirenas was clearly no exception; she fought alongside her army and they won a resounding victory, capturing two major Roman cities, Syene – present-day Aswan – and Philae (some suggest there was a third city, but it remains unclear), thus expanding Kush’s borders. They also took numerous prisoners and destroyed or vandalised statues of Augustus.
Following Hadrian, CC BY-SA 2.0
One of these statues was decapitated and the head was taken to Meroë, the Kushite capital, in the Nubia region. There, it was buried beneath the steps of a temple to Victory; it was discovered in 1910 under a fresco of a Kush ruler – literally at the feet of Augustus’s enemies. The Meroë Head, as it has been dubbed, is the best preserved of its kind due to its burial, with even the original eyes intact – these are usually lost to time. It now resides in the British Museum, having been gifted by the Sudan Excavation Committee. The temple itself was decorated with victorious Kushite warrior queens (the figures were very clearly women, if you catch my drift) and Roman prisoners.
Rome was quick to retaliate and they successfully managed to recapture their cities. Never ones to just stop there, the Roman forces, led by Gaius Petronius, continued into Kush territory, pillaging their cities and enslaving their people. The Kushites were, according to Strabo, ‘badly marshalled’, and their army ended up scattered across cities, deserts, and islands. Amanirenas and her son were in Napata, located near modern-day Karima in Sudan. Napata used to be the Kushite capital before it was moved to Meroë in 593 BC. The city was occupied and razed and, at some point in the battles, Amanirenas lost an eye and Prince Akinidad was killed.
Kush subsequently attempted to overwhelm the Romans at Primis (Qasr Ibrim), but the attack failed. Amanirenas had lost.
Or so it seemed.
“a masculine sort of woman, and blind in one eye.”
Strabo, about Amanirenas
Incensed, Amanirenas led her army in battle against Rome, allegedly using such tactics as feeding captives to her pet lion and utilising war elephants. After long years of warring, the two exhausted armies eventually met at ad-Dakka and signed a peace treaty. Strabo, a personal friend of Augustus, painted the Romans victorious, but the terms of the treaty didn’t really bear this out. Kush was exempted from paying tax and giving resources to the Roman Empire, they were given back Primis, and the Romans withdrew to Maharraqa, restoring Meriotic dominance in Lower Nubia.
The treaty also guaranteed peace between the two sides, which more or less held until the end of the third century AD. Amanirenas lived until around 10 BC and she was succeeded by two further kandakes, Amanishakheto and, after her, Amanitore.
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