Third Intermediate Period
Taharqa (Khunefertemre)
25th Dynasty (Kushite/Nubian) · 747-656 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Full profile
The builder king
Taharqa was a son of Piye and is arguably the most famous of all Kushite pharaohs. He enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity during his first 15 years on the throne. He launched massive construction projects across Upper and Lower Egypt, earning him the reputation of a prolific builder. He is also recorded as sponsoring long-distance night races for his troops from Saqqara to the Fayum.
The Assyrian invasions
His peaceful reign ended violently when the Assyrian king Esarhaddon invaded Egypt in 671 BCE. The Assyrians inflicted multiple defeats on Taharqa, eventually sacking Memphis and capturing the royal family, including the crown prince. Taharqa fled south and briefly retook Memphis after Esarhaddon's death, but the subsequent Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal, launched a devastating counter-invasion. Taharqa was driven out of Egypt entirely, fleeing first to Thebes and then to Nubia, where he died in 664 BCE.