Ergamenes
Erga'menes
(Ἐργαμένης), a king of Meroe, an Ethiopian by birth, but who had received a Greek education. He was the first who overthrew the power of the priests, which had been paramount to that of the sovereign, and established a despotic authority. He was contemporary with Ptolemy Philadelphus, but we know nothing of the relations in which he stood towards that monarch. His name has been discovered in the hieroglyphics at Dakkeh, whence it is inferred that his dominions extended as far north as that point. (Diod. 3.6; Droysen, Hellenismus, vol. ii. p. 49, 278.) [E.H.B]