Taharqa

The Full Profile

Taharqa, Kushite Pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty, expanded monumental building across the Nile Valley and defended Kushite-Egyptian power during Assyrian expansion. Taharqa ruled as a pharaoh of Egypt and king of Kush during the 25th Dynasty. He sponsored major construction and restoration projects from Nubia to Egypt and fought repeated campaigns against Assyrian armies. Later memory preserved him as one of the best-known rulers of the Kushite era. His builders left temples from Karnak to Jebel Barkal, and his wars against Assyria were remembered as far away as Jerusalem, where the Hebrew Bible records him as 'Tirhakah king of Cush.' He lies buried at Nuri in the largest pyramid of the Kushite heartland.