KANDAKE

About Kandake

Rome took a hundred children from Kush. Queen Amanirenas swore to bring them home. Inspired by a true story.

1. Episode 1: Rome Came for the Children. Rome demands gold and one hundred Kushite children to be raised in Rome. When a mother begs for her seven-year-old daughter Nyala, Queen Amanirenas tears up Caesar's terms and makes a promise: I will bring her home.
2. Episode 2: Fire at Syene. With Rome's army away in Arabia, the queen strikes the frontier city of Syene by night. Her son Akinidad finds the prisoners' carts empty, and the Roman officer Lucius is one step ahead.
3. Episode 3: The River North. Lucius takes Nyala north toward Philae. Prince Akinidad wants to row all night; the queen chooses patience, and the fleet of Kush moves as one. But Rome's general Petronius is already waiting.
4. Episode 4: A Queen's Price. Petronius offers a trade: return Caesar's statues and the girl comes home. Against the priestess's warning, the queen answers by burying Caesar's bronze head beneath her temple steps, and ten thousand Romans march south.
5. Episode 5: The Queen's Eye. Rome's legions break the Kushite line. The queen refuses to retreat, loses an eye in battle, and learns that Napata is burning. Her answer: Rome can take her eye, but never her sight.
6. Episode 6: The Eye of Apedemak. At the temple of the lion god Apedemak, the priestess tells the queen she now sees with the god's eye. Ambushed by Roman archers, Amanirenas sees every blade before it falls, and Lucius finally learns what he is facing.

The real history

• The Meroë Head: why Kush buried Augustus under a temple’s steps
• Apedemak: the lion-headed war god of Kush
• Kush vs. Rome: the forgotten war on the Nile (25 to 21 B.C.)
• Amanirenas: the one-eyed queen of Kush who fought Rome