Pharoh Taharqa Found

Massive statue of Egyptian ruler Taharqa found deep inside Sudan







Submitted by owenjarus on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 21:43





Dangeil is near the fifth cataract, deep in Sudan. Image by Mark Dingemanse. Released under Creative Commons 2.5 license.







A massive one ton granite statue of the pharaoh Taharqa
has been found in Dangeil, deep inside Sudan. Taharqa was a pharaoh of
the 25th dynasty of Egypt. This was a period of Kushite rule, which
means that Taharqa and his fellow rulers were from Nubia and drew their
power-base from there.
The site is located approximately 350 km northeast of the modern
Sudanese capital of Khartoum – in the general vicinity of the fifth
Nile cataract.
In addition to Taharqa, archaeologists have found statues of two
other Napatan kings at the site - Senkamanisken and Aspelta. Neither of
these rulers controlled Egypt.



BASIC INFO:



Taharqa was a pharaoh of Egypt during the 25th dynasty. He is the son of the first ruler of the dynasty, Piya (Piankhy).
The 25th dynasty is a Kushite dynasty. This means that the pharaohs
were from Nubia and drew their power from there. Despite his Nubian
ancestry Taharqa ruled his empire from Memphis. He began a program of
temple building that saw construction take place beyond the capital at
places such as Qasr Ibrim, Napata, Thebes and Abydos.
Chief rival of Taharqa was the Assyrian Empire who, by the time of
his rule, had pushed their borders up against the Egyptians. Around 679
BC the pharaoh led small campaigns in Lebanon and Palestine.
The rise of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (681–669 BCE) proved to be
a disaster for Taharqa. In 674 BC the Assyrians launched an invasion of
the Nile Delta, an attack that the Egyptians rebuffed. In 671
Esarhaddon attacked again, this time successfully driving Taharqa back
to the Sudan.
The Assyrian king recognized the first king of the Sais dynasty
Necho I, as ruler of Egypt. Although Taharqa attempted to return, he
found himself unable to overcome the Assyrians. He was defeated by
Esarhaddon’s successor Ashurbanipal in 667 BC. Once again Taharqa fled
south to Nubia, where he died in 664 BC.

This isn't a picture of what they found....Why it's not out there I don't know. It's not even on Heritage Key. But here another photo for those who want to see what he looked like.