Amanirenas
The one-eyed queen who fought Rome tooth and nail c.60-c.10 BCE
In the early 1900s, archaeologists in Sudan uncovered a temple belonging to the ancient kingdom of Kush. To the surprise of everyone, resting inside the temple, hundreds of miles from the borders of the Roman Empire, lay a well-preserved head of Emperor Augustus, separated from the rest of the statue.
The story of this decapitated head dates back to the time of Cleopatra where, in the wake of her death, certain
Roman factions set their aims south of Egypt. Countering them was a fearsome one-eyed Nubian queen, Amanirenas. Seeing her neighbours attacked, she pre-emptively sacked two major Roman cities, took captives and defaced many of Augustus’ statues. Rome’s counter-attack was swift and brutal, destroying the Kushite capital city, but Amanirenas fought on, likely using some terrifying tactics: other Kushite rulers were known to have fed captives to lions, or bringing war elephants to battle. Perhaps Amanirenas did the same. In the end, Rome agreed to lasting peace, without making them pay tribute. Never again did Rome venture south of Egypt.