Kandake Amanirenas was born in about 60-50 BC, in the kingdom of Kush (modern day Sudan). She was the 2nd of 8 Kandakes (Candaces meaning "great women" equivalent to queen or queen mothers). These kandakes ruled Kush in their own right. Amanirenas is best known for defending her kingdom against the Roman Empire. However since most of writing of the Kush people hasen't been deciphered, historians rely on the accounts of outsiders like the Greek geographer-historian, Strabo of Amasia and Roman historians Pliny the Elder and Cassius Dio, to understand the life & legacy of Kandake Amanirenas.
The Roman conquest of Egypt in 30BC led to further advances towards Kush. An attempt by the new Roman governor of Egypt, Cornelius Gaius, to impose taxation in Lower Nubia (controlled by Kush), prompted the Kushites to storm Roman-held cities in southern Egypt, in 27BC. The Kushites won in a number of initial battles including at Philae and Syene (modern-day Aswan). During the 5 year long conflict, Amanirenas' husband, King Teritequas, was killed in battle. Leaving the reigns of the war in the hands of Amanirenas and their son, Prince Akinidad. She launched her resistance against the Romans from the capital city, Meroë, marching north to face the Romans.
The Kushite victory at Syene, in 24 BC, resulted in the city being sacked and statues of the Roman Emperor Augustus being vandalized. A bronze head of the emperor was brought to the royal palace where it was buried at the entrance, a grave insult to a once powerful enemy. The course of the war shifted when the new Roman governor, Gaius Petronius, led a force of 10,000 to reconquer new territory and advance deep into Kush. Pillaging, enslaving the natives and establishing new borders for the Roman Empire in northeastern Africa. Amanirenas lost an eye during the conflict and Petronius gave her the malicious nickname "One-Eye Candace". Amanirenas lost her son in 24 BC, while attempting to hold back Roman forces and maintain Kush's sovereignty.
After a series of defeats by Petronius' forces, who occupied and ravaged the city of Napata, Kush attempted and failed to overtake the Roman garrison at Primis. Peace offering began the same year, in the city of Dakka. But peace talks came to a stalemate between the Kushites and the Romans. Rome had successfully taken punitive action against a powerful adversary on the southern border by reasserting it's superiority in the region. But alternately, Amanirenas, had spared her people centuries of oppression by resisting complete conquest by Rome. Unlike other kingdoms on the edge of the empire, she did not hand over large portions of land and was never forced to pay tribute or send resources to Rome.
Kandake Amanirenas died in 10 BC.
https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/kandake-amanirenas-10-bc/
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