Taharqa: Pharaoh Who Defied Assyria

I bet you didn’t know Egypt was once ruled by an African king who fought the most brutal

empire on Earth. Around 700 BCE, Taharqa ruled Egypt as part of the Nubian Twenty Fifth Dynasty.

This wasn’t symbolic rule. This was power. At the same time, the Assyrian Empire

was tearing the ancient world apart. Cities erased. Kings executed. Entire regions crushed.

Assyria marched into Egypt expecting another conquest. They didn’t get one.

Taharqa fought back. When Assyrian king Esarhaddon invaded, Taharqa resisted along the Nile.

Cities changed hands. Armies clashed. Egypt refused to fold. Assyria returned

again under Ashurbanipal. Bigger armies. More brutality. Taharqa was forced to retreat south,