Ethiopian eunuch

The chief officer or prime minister of state of Candace (q.v.), queen of Ethiopia. He was converted to Christianity through the instrumentality of Philip (Act 8:27). The northern portion of Ethiopia formed the kingdom of Meroe, which for a long period was ruled over by queens, and it was probably from this kingdom that the eunuch came.

ETHIOPIAN EU'NUCH, THE, the Jewish proselyte who, returning from some feast in Jerusalem, was met by Philip the evangelist and baptized. Acts 8:26 ff. He was a eunuch in the strict sense, not in its official sense of "courtier," and the treasurer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. Candace was the name of a dynasty, and not of individual monarchs.