| Taharqa I the Great | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 23 June 690 - 9 November 664 |
| Predecessor | Shabaka I |
| Successor | Tanutamani I |
| Born | March 12, 723 Napata, Kush |
| Died | November 9, 664 (aged 59) |
| Spouse | Arty |
| Issue | Takahatenamun, Atakhebasken, Naparaye, Tabekenamun |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Qekhau Nebty Name: Qekhau Golden Horus Name: Khutawy Praenomen: Nefertemkhura Nomen: Taharqa | |
| House | Napata |
| Dynasty | Nubia |
| Father | Piye |
| Mother | Abar |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Taharqa is a king of Napata, pharaoh from 23 June 690 - 9 November 664 BCE. He is the son of Piye and Abar, and the brother of Shebitku. He is generally represented with the skullcap specific to the Kushite kings, on which stand the two uraeus, insignia of the dual royalty of Nubia and ancient Egypt.
Sphinx of Taharqa
Kushite Prince[]
Expedition under Shebitku[]
Taharqa, then a prince under the reign of his elder brother Shebitku and during the Inamani affair, led an expedition in 706 BCE to the Levant with the aim of countering the Assyrian army of Sargon II. Once king, he would say of himself that he was his brother's favorite among the latter's brothers and sons. This may have been propaganda, unless he wished to show that he was his brother's designated heir.
Campaign under Shabaka[]
In the Bible, the Second Book of Kings precisely, Taharqa ( Tirhakah ) is mentioned as king of Kush, or Ethiopia, and as an ally, at least objectively, of the king of Judah, Hezekiah (died in 687 BCE), or even of his son and successor Manasseh, against the advice of the Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, and of course against that of the king of Assyria Sennacherib (or Sennacherib ) himself, whom he moreover undertakes to attack,.
This passage from the Bible corresponds to the confrontation between the armies of Sennacherib and Shabaka around 701 BCE. Taharqa not being yet king, either he acted as a prince, as he had done under the reign of his brother Shabaka and the Bible would have wrongly qualified Taharqa as king, or it is a confusion on the part of the Bible between the two events, always with an erroneous qualification of king.
Accession to the throne[]
Taharqa explicitly states in Kawa Stela V, line 15, that he succeeded Shebitku after the latter's death, stating: "I received the crown in Memphis after the falcon flew into the sky." The reference to Shebitku was an attempt by Taharqa to legitimize his rise to power. However, Taharqa never mentions the identity of the royal falcon and completely fails to mention Shebitku's reign between Shebitku and Taharqa, perhaps because he ousted Shebitku from power.
Therefore, Taharqa relates that King Shebitku, who loved him very much, took him with him to Egypt and that during this journey he had the opportunity to see the deplorable state of the temple of Amun at Kawa, an event he remembered after he became king. But about Kawa Stela V, Taharqa says that some time after his arrival in Egypt under another king whom he this time chooses not to name, this monarch (here Shebitku) died and that it was then that he ascended the throne. Taharqa's silence on the identity of his predecessor suggests that he assumed power irregularly and that he chose to legitimize his kingship by conveniently stating the possible fact or propaganda that Shebitku favored him "more than all his brothers and all his children",.
Statue of Taharqa. His name appears on the center of his belt: 𓇿𓉔𓃭𓈎 (tꜣ-h-rw-q, "Taharqa"). The statue is 2.7 meters tall. Taharqa has a striding pose, the arms held tight, and holds the mekes staff. He wears a shendyt or pleated kilt and on his head is a double-uraeus skullcap, possibly signifying his rule over Nubia and Egypt.
Reign[]
Although Taharqa's reign was marked by conflict with the Assyrians, it was also a period of prosperous renaissance in Egypt and Kush., The empire flourished under Taharqa, partly because of a particularly large Nile flood, abundant harvests, and the intellectual and material resources released by an effective central government. Taharqa's inscriptions record that he gave large quantities of gold to the temple of Amun at Kawa. The Nile Valley empire was as large as it had been under the New Kingdom. Religion, the arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious forms of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. During the reign of Taharqa, the central features of Theban theology were merged with the Egyptian imperial ideology of the Middle and New Kingdoms, and the cultural integration of Egypt and Kush reached such a point that it could not be reversed even after the Assyrian conquest.
Architectural activities[]
Taharqa restored existing temples and built new ones. His additions to the temple of Ipetisut, the new temple of Kawa, and the temples of Djuamun are particularly impressive. Taharqa continued the ambitious program of the 25th Dynasty to make Djuamun a "monumental complex of sanctuaries... centered around the great temple of Amun." Djuamun's similarity to Ipetisut "seems to be at the heart of the concerns of the builders of Djuamun." The remainder of Taharqa's buildings were used to create "temple cities" that were "local centers of government, production, and redistribution. "
Nubia[]
Taharqa was very active in Nubia, easily eclipsing the achievements of his predecessors Shebitku and Shabaka. In addition to his tomb at Nuri, he built on many sites. Thus, he was the sponsor of a boat rest in the temple of Amun (a temple essentially built by his father Piye ) at Napata. He was also the sponsor of a temple on the deified Napata rocky peak, the latter having the shape of a uraeus. He also had the hemispeos temple built and decorated located at the foot of this rocky peak. Still at Napata, he also had the temple of Hathor built and decorated.
Taharqa also intervened in Kawa. He restored the temple built at the time of Tutankhamun and built, with Memphite workers and architects, a second temple dedicated to Amun, Anuket and Satet. A series of statues of the king, sphinxes and criosphinxes adorn this temple. In a second phase, Taharqa had a small chapel erected in the hypostyle hall of this second temple. The influence of the art of the Old Kingdom is felt both in the palmiform columns and in the themes covered, typical of the funerary temples of the Egyptian Vth Dynasty and VIth Dynasties.
At Sanam, Taharqa had the temple of Amun, the Nubian Bull, decorated on the model of that of Kawa, with a chapel added later in the hypostyle hall. The location of Sanam in relation to Djuamun would indicate that this temple had a similar role to the temple of Djamet in relation to the temples of Thebes : the cult of the royal ancestors associated with the cult of Amun-Kamutef.
At Kerma, Taharqa probably commissioned secondary rooms in the main temple of Amun and a side chapel in the eastern temple. At Tabo, on the island of Argo, not far from Kerma, a temple has so many similarities with those of Kama and Sanam that it was probably commissioned by Taharqa. At Philae, Taharqa dedicated boat-rests to Amun of Takompso and Amun of Akh-Menu.
Finally, the ancient fortresses of Buhen, Semna and Primis and their temples were reoccupied and restored, the temple of Semna was dedicated to the deified Sesostris III.
Egypt[]
Taharqa gave great importance to Thebes, the northern counterpart of Napata. Thus, he built four propylaea colonnades intended to ritually protect the four cardinal points of the sanctuaries of Montu and Amun. The most important, in the first courtyard called Bubastite, also served as a resting place during the solemn outings of the god. He also restored the enclosure of Amun, an event recorded on a stele erected in the year 24, in the middle of the Assyrian invasion. He also had a chapel built for Osiris Nebankh and Osiris Paushebiad, where two statues of the king were found (Cairo JE 39403 and 39404). The pylon and a sanctuary of the temple of Opet are also the work of Taharqa, who also made a donation in honor of Osiris Unnéfer and Opet, a donation recorded on a stele found on site. Taharqa also commissioned a building near the sacred lake, associated with a nilometer (this building could be a substitute place of worship for the temple of Djamet ). Taharqa also commissioned the chapel of Osiris Nebdjet/Padedânkh located to the west of the enclosure of Montu and two others in the enclosure this time. He added to the east of the propylaeum colonnade, which he had built in front of the temple of Montu, a chapel for the son-god Horparê.
Montuemhat, the fourth prophet of Amun, also had a small chapel built on behalf of Taharqa in the sanctuary of Mut at Ipetisut. In this chapel are described some of the works undertaken by the king: development of the enclosure of Mut, counter-temple and entrance colonnade. To the east of the temple of Mut is located the small temple of Khonsu the child that Taharqa had redecorated. In front of the temple of Opet, a chapel with Hathoric capitals was built and dedicated to Opet-Ouret and a counterpart of the temple of Opet at Ipetisut. The construction is recorded on a stele on site dated to the year 13. On the other bank, to the west, Taharqa developed the courtyard and the pylon of the small temple of Djamet, a sanctuary dedicated to the worship of the primordial gods.
Elsewhere in Upper Egypt, Taharqa is present without the architectural activity being as developed as in Thebes: Tasenet, Nekheb, Setmaat, Coptos and Hermopolis. In the latter city, it is attested only by a private stele dated to the year 7, which nevertheless allows us to understand that no local leader came to interfere between the Kushite monarchy and the local administration. While in Coptos and Tasenet, it is a stele relating the exceptional flood of the year 6.
Regarding the north of the country, Taharqa is the best attested of the Kushite kings. However, since the king's power had greatly eroded in this region from around 680 BCE, it is likely that all these attestations are prior to 680 BCE and therefore date from his first decade of reign. A stele from the southern dromos of the temple of Ptah in Memphis indicates that the king made a major foundation towards a sanctuary of Amun-who-presides-over-the-temples and major restoration work on this temple. A stele found in Tanis again relates the exceptional flood of the year 6 but also the reunion between Taharqa and his mother Abar. In Athribis, the king is attested by architectural elements later usurped by Psamtik II. In the northwest of the Delta, the king is attested only by a weight on which is inscribed "Taharqa, the beloved of Osiris who resides in Sais".
A stele found in Djeserkhau commemorates the activities of his army in the region, notably training, which serves to highlight the divine favour enjoyed by the sovereign.
War with the Assyrians[]
The Victory Stele of Esarhaddon was made after the king's victory in Egypt and depicts Esarhaddon in a majestic posture, a war mace in his hand, with royal captives kneeling before him. One of them is Ushankhuru, the son of Taharqa, chained with a rope around his neck, but wearing the Kushite crown. The other is possibly Abdi-Milkutti, king of Sidon.
Taharqa began to cultivate alliances with kings of Phoenicia and Philistia who were willing to take a more independent stance against Assyria. Taharqa's army undertook successful military campaigns, as attested by the "list of conquered Asiatic principalities" from the temple of Mut at Ipetisut and the "conquered peoples and countries (Libyans, Shasu nomads, Phoenicians?...)" from the inscriptions at the temple of Sanam. The details of these operations are, however, not known.
In retaliation for these operations and the Kushite support for the Levantine rulers, the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, after a first campaign in 679 BCE during which he took Jorsha in the north-east of the Delta, launched a second campaign in 674 BCE, which was a failure and in which Taharqa and Nekau I involved. By this rapid military operation, the Assyrians did not seek to create a new province of their empire, which would have been too distant, but, in order to return the Egyptian kingdoms to their impotence.
Esarhaddon again launched a campaign, this time better documented, in 672 BCE. The military confrontation between Taharqa's forces and the Assyrian forces took place in three places, the first two of which are not clearly located: Magdala, Ishupri and Memphis. The pillage by the Assyrian army is said to have brought back an incredible booty of 50,000 horses, 120 golden diadems and divine statues, according to Assyrian sources. Esarhaddon, who wanted to eradicate the Kushite presence in Egypt, then proclaimed himself powerful king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the kings of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt and Kush. He also claims to have appointed new governors and kings (about twenty), but the list provided at the beginning of the reign of his successor Ashurbanipal indicates rather that he left in place the local powers, including Nechao I, listed first on the list as king of Memphis and Sais.
Taharqa, whose son and crown prince Ushankhuru (or Nesinheret) and wives had been captured and deported to Nineveh, had taken refuge in Napata, from where he prepared a counterattack. After a rapid recapture of the Theban region, at least from 670 BCE (a stele shows him with the divine worshipper of Amun Shepenupet II ), he retook control of Memphis from which he drove out the Assyrian officials from 669 BCE. In order to once again drive the Kushites from northern Egypt, Esarhaddon began preparations for a new campaign and launched his army in 669 BCE but died unexpectedly. Thus, his successor Ashurbanipal relaunched this aborted campaign towards the end of 667 BCE. After the new submission of northern Egypt, a part of the kinglets and chiefs of the Delta, including Nechao, accompanied Ashurbanipal towards the South and conquered Thebes again. It is on a lintel of a Theban chapel of Osiris that are depicted the divine worshipper of Amun Shepenupet II and a princess named Meres amun whose father seems to be Nechao, which would show the influence and prestige that the latter had on Egypt at that time.
Following the departure of the Assyrians after this campaign in 666 BCE, the northern kings and chieftains, supported by Taharqa, created unrest and revolted against the Assyrian power by driving out the Assyrian officials left behind by Ashurbanipal. The Assyrians severely repressed these revolts and several of these chieftains and kings ended up deported to Nineveh. Ashurbanipal chose Nechao, despite his participation in the unrest, as the representative of the Delta kings and chieftains in order to facilitate control of this region through an intermediary, Nechao, rather than a multitude of interlocutors. Furthermore, his son, the future king Psamtik I, was installed as prince in Athribis, after his predecessor had been deported to Assyria following the aforementioned repression.
In 664, Taharqa, still a refugee in Napata, died and his cousin, Tanutamun, succeeded him. The latter, from this year of accession to the throne, resumed the conquest of the north of Egypt.
Burial[]
Taharqa built the largest pyramid (about 52 square meters at the base) in the Nubian region at Nuri (opposite Djuamun, near Men-Qore ) with the most elaborate Kushite rock-cut tomb. He thus inaugurated a new necropolis where most of the kings of Napata were buried. Taharqa was buried with "more than 1070 shabtis of various sizes and made of granite, green ankerite and alabaster. "
Another tomb topped by a pyramid associated with blocks in the name of Taharqa was discovered in the 1960s at Sedeinga, and it was long thought that the king had been buried there. But these blocks were in fact late reuses taken from the neighboring temple dedicated to Queen Tiye (the wife of Amenhotep III ), where Taharqa had added a colonnade during his reign. At the beginning of the 20th century, the excavation of pyramid N1 at Nuri had led to the discovery of bones and ushabtis in his name, confirming, if need be, that the royal burial had indeed taken place on site.