Taharqa

Pharaoh of the Black Pyramids

Taharqa was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, a Kushite king who ruled both Nubia and Egypt from his capital at Napata. His reign saw great prosperity and ambitious building, raising temples and steep-sided pyramids across the Nile valley. He clashed with the mighty Assyrian Empire, defending Egypt against Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal in wars that echoed even in the Hebrew scriptures.