Taharqa — The Kushite Pharaoh
In the seventh century BC, from Napata, capital of Kush, emerged a king who led a kingdom stretching from the heart of Sudan to Egypt and the Levant: Taharqa, the fourth king of the Kushite Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, who ruled from about 690 to 664 BC. He was the son of King Piye, and succeeded his cousin Shebitku to the throne, uniting under his authority the kingdoms of Kush and Egypt in one of the most thrilling moments of ancient history.
His reign witnessed what is described as the kingdom's golden age: record Nile floods and abundant harvests. Contrary to the image of the invader, Taharqa was a great builder: he renewed and built temples in Egypt and Nubia in the Egyptian style, erecting a temple to the goddess Mut at Jebel Barkal, adding an entrance to the great Temple of Amun at Karnak, worshipping the god Amun, and adopting hieroglyphic writing in the administration of his state.
But his glory collided with a rising power from the east: Assyria. Taharqa supported the resistance of the kingdoms of Palestine against the Assyrian king Sennacherib, but his army was defeated in 671 BC by Esarhaddon, who entered Memphis and toppled the capital. With Esarhaddon's withdrawal, Taharqa returned from his refuge in Upper Egypt and expelled the Assyrian garrisons, regaining control temporarily — until the decisive defeat at the hands of Ashurbanipal, and he withdrew southward to Nubia.
Taharqa died in 664 BC and was buried in the cemetery of Nuri at the Fourth Cataract, in the largest of Sudan's pyramids (Pyramid No. 1 at Nuri). An academic study in the University of Khartoum Journal indicates that Taharqa realized that Assyrian iron weapons were behind the defeat of his armies, and that he was planning to exploit iron ore in Kush before death overtook him.
His monuments remain as witnesses: the granite sphinx statue bearing his features in the British Museum, and a huge statue weighing one ton discovered at Dongola north of Khartoum — which, according to British Museum scholars, is the southernmost statue of a pharaoh ever found.
📚 Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica (biography of Taharqa); The British Museum (sphinx statue of Taharqa, and the Dongola expedition — Dr. Julie Anderson) and Archaeology magazine; University of Khartoum Journal, College of Education (academic study on Taharqa). — Editorial Team