Taharqa

(also Taharka), king of Cush and pharaoh of Egypt from 689 to 663 B.C. Member of the 25th (Ethiopian) Dynasty.

In 673, Taharqa repulsed an Assyrian attack led by Sennacherib, but in 671 the Assyrians invaded again and seized the northern part of Egypt, including Memphis. Taharqa recovered the area in 669 and remained master of Egypt until 666, when he was forced to flee to Napata, in Nubia, by the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal, who had overrun nearly the entire country, including Thebes. Taharqa died soon after.