Taharqa -- Egypt

Taharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.  He was the son of Piankhi, the Nubian king of Napata, Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of Piankhi and Shabaka paved the way for the prosperous reign of Taharqa.  

Although Taharqa's reign was filled with conflict with the Assyrians, it was a prosperous renaissance period in Egypt and Kush. Taharqa participated in a historic battle with the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib at Eltekeh, Taharqa and the Egyptian /Kushite army managed to stop the Assyrian advance on Jerusalem, forcing Sennacherib to abandoned the siege and returned home.  Thus, Taharqa saved Jerusalem and the Hebrew society from destruction, a pivotal point in world and Hebrew history.  The might of Taharqa's forces was established at Eltekeh, leading to a period of peace and prosperity in Egypt.  

Taharqa restored existing temples, built new temples, and built the largest pyramid in the Napatan region.  Taharqa with Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, can be found in Biblical events.  It was during his reign that Assyria invaded Egypt, Esarhaddon led several campaigns against Taharqa, which he recorded on several monuments.  His first attack in 677 BC, aimed to pacify Arab tribes around the Dead Sea, led him as far as the Brook of Egypt. Esarhaddon then proceeded to invade Egypt in Taharqa's 17th regnal year, after Esarhaddon had settled a revolt at Ashkelon Taharqa defeated the Assyrians.  

Three years later in 671 BC the Assyrian king captured and sacked Memphis, where he captured numerous members of the royal family. Taharqa fled to the south, and Esarhaddon reorganized the political structure in the north.  On the Assyrian king's departure, Taharqa interfered in the affairs of Lower Egypt, and fanned numerous revolts.

Esarhaddon died on route back to Egypt, and it was left to his son and heir Ashurbanipal to once again invade Egypt.  Ashurbanipal defeated Taharqa, who afterwards fled to Thebes where Taharqa died in 664 BC and was buried at Nuri North Sudan, he was succeeded by his appointed successor Tantamani, a son of Shabaka.

It is clear from historical accounts that Taharqa was one of the greatest Ancient Egyptian pharaohs. He was described by the Ancient Greek historian Strabo, as having advanced on Europe and even as far as the Pillars of Hercules in Spain.  This feat alone would count him among the greatest military tacticians of the ancient world. Later Spanish legendary chronicles (Florian de Ocampo's Cronica General, published 1553) also identify "Tarraco" as general of an Ethiopian army that supposedly campaigned in Spain in the 7th century BC before becoming Pharaoh.  This event has also gives account for the name of the Spanish city of Tarraco (Tarragona).

In biblical depictions, he is the saviour of the Hebrew people, as they were being besieged by Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:8-9, & 2 Kings 19:8-9).  In modern times, the Sudanese people consider Piankhi and Taharqa as historical figures and regarded more than the other pharaohs from the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt.