In 712 B. C., Shabaka's troops swept into Egypt, and he ordered the execution of the reigning pharaoh. This ended years of Libyan control over Egypt and began the Late Period in ancient Egyptian history. Shabaka established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, which lasted for half a century. Like Piankhi, Shabaka embraced the religion of Amon. He assigned his sister Amunirdis I (ah-moo-NEER-dis) an important position as “god's wife of Amon” in the temple at Thebes.
In 698 B. C., Shabaka's nephew Shebitku (SHEH-bit-koo) assumed the Egyptian throne while his brother Taharqa (tuh-HAHR-kuh) apparently ruled over Thebes. If this was indeed the case, it was an arrangement similar to the one between Ashurbanipal of Assyria and his brother Shamash-shum-ukin a
Few years later. This would be particularly ironic, given the role Ashurbani-pal would play in the lives of Shebitku and Taharqa.
Sculpture of King Taharqa.
Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.
The two Kushite brothers appear to have gotten along much better than their Assyrian counterparts.
Shebitku favored resistance against the Assyrians, who were on the move in Palestine with an eye toward Egypt.
Apparently at his urging, Taharqa's Kushite army aided the Israelites against Assyrian troops under Sennacherib. Also, there seems to have been no struggle for succession: when Shebitku died in 690 b. c., Taharqa took his place. Among the achievements of Taharqa's long reign, which lasted from 690 to 664 b. c., was the building of a colonnade (KAHL-uh-nayd), a long hallway of columns, in the temple of Amun at Karnak.
But Taharqa was destined to be the last Kushite pharaoh. After 15 years of peace, his troops fought and defeated an Assyrian army under Esarhaddon in 675 b. c. Four years later, however, the Assyrians returned and overwhelmed Taharqa's forces. He regained control in Egypt for a little longer, but in 667 Ashur-banipal's troops scored a major victory against the Kushites. Taharqa fled to Napata, where he died in 664 b. c.
World History
