Kandake Amanirenas was a queen of the ancient African Kingdom of Kash aka Ethiopia who was best known for skillfully defending her kingdom against the armies of the Roman Empire who were attempting to expand their wealth and territory after conquering Egypt from the Greeks. Unlike cleopatra, the kushite queen was successful in defeating the Roman army.

Kandake Amanirenas was a queen of the ancient African Kingdom of Kash aka Ethiopia who was best known for skillfully defending her kingdom against the armies of the Roman Empire who were attempting to expand their wealth and territory after conquering Egypt from the Greeks. Unlike cleopatra, the kushite queen was successful in defeating the Roman army. 

Amanirenas led various attacks with thousands of soldiers into Roman territory and dethroned statues of emperor Augustus Caesar (24 B.C.). To show her distaste for the emperor, she beheaded a statue of him and “buried it under the entranceway of her palace so everyone could walk over her enemy”(History of Royal Women). This act is not only ironic, but also a slap in the face to Augustus Caesar, since the Nehesu will have to walk over the mighty emperor’s head walking into Kash.

Amanirenas was probably born between 60 and 50 B.C. and was the second of the eight Kandakes (Kandake or Candace meaning “great woman” and the equivalent of queen or queen mother) of the Kingdom of Kash which was located in modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia. These queens or queen mothers reigned as sole rulers of Kash.