Taharqa was a son of Piye, the founder of the 25th dynasty of Kushite pharaohs, that ruled Egypt in the 8th century BCE and arguably its most important king. The pharaoh is depicted here in the regalia common to Kushite kings with the ram’s head pendant representing the god Amun and double nereus crown symbolising dominion over Egypt and Nubia.
This portrait is based on the features of contemporary statues and reliefs including the granite sphinx at the British Museum dated to around 680BCE identified by Tarahqa’s cartouche on its chest. These works combine traditional Egyptian forms with Nubian motifs. Taharqa styled himself as the son of Amun and his consort Mut and also commissioned ram-headed sphinxes showing himself under the god’s protection. A head held at the Nubia Museum, Aswan, depicts a similar synthesis of Egyptian and Kushite styles. These images consistently portray the king with a roundish head, short, straight nose and wide mouth above a small chin. When his tomb at Nuri was discovered, over one thousand shabti figures were found bearing his image. Statues of Taharqa and other Kushite kings have recently been discovered as far south as Sudan indicating the extent to which the Egyptian empire was extended during his rule. Taharqa was described by the Ancient Greek historian Strabo as having ‘advanced as far as Europe’, and even the Pillars of Hercules in Spain.
He is thought to have deposed his brother Shabaka to gain the throne. Taharqa defended Egypt and Nubia from Assyrian expansion and broke their siege of Jerusalem. In the Bible he is recognised as the saviour of the Hebrew people (Isaiah 37:8-9). Thereafter Egypt flourished with an abundant harvest. Like his father, Taharqa was a devotee of Amun. The king made use of this period of peace and prosperity to restore and build new temples at Karnak and Jebel Barkal. He fended off an Assyrian invasion in the 17th year of his reign. Three years later the Assyrians returned to sack Memphis, forcing Taharqa to flee to the south. After instigating revolts against the Assyrians Taharqa was eventually defeated by Ashurbanipal and died at Thebes in 664BCE and was buried at Nuri in North Sudan.
Taharqa was to be the last Kushite king of Egypt. He was succeeded by Shabaka’s son, Tantamani, who continued to fight against Assyrian rule before retreating to the Nubian state of Napata. Under Piye, the Nubian kings had revived the Ancient Egyptian practice of pyramid internment with their own tradition of steep-sided structures. Taharqa built and occupied the largest and most elevated pyramid at the royal acropolis at Napata.