Taharqa (Khunefertemre)

Taharqa (throne-name Khunefertemre) was the greatest of the Kushite pharaohs of Dynasty 25, reigning in the Late Period around 690-664 BCE (Shaw's conventional dates). He was a vigorous builder, leaving major monuments at Karnak in Egypt and at sites across his Nubian homeland, and his early reign was a period of prosperity and ambitious construction. His later years were dominated by the climactic wars with the rising Assyrian empire: the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and then Ashurbanipal invaded Egypt and sacked Memphis, driving the Kushites south. He is widely identified with 'Tirhakah king of Cush' named in the biblical account of Sennacherib's campaign; this cross-stream identification is broadly accepted but is offered here as a scholarly proposal rather than a settled fact. His reign marks both the height and the beginning of the end of Kushite power in Egypt.