Necho II
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| Necho II | |||
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| Nekau | |||
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| A small kneeling bronze statuette, likely Necho II, now residing in the Brooklyn Museum | |||
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |||
| Reign | 610–595 BC, 26th dynasty | ||
| Predecessor | Psamtik I | ||
| Successor | Psamtik II | ||
| Consort(s) | Khedebarbenet | ||
| Died | 595 BC | ||
Necho II (sometimes Nekau) was a king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt (610 BC - 595 BC), and the son of Psammetichus I by his Great Royal Wife Mehtenweskhet. His prenomen or royal name Wahemibre means "Carrying out the Wish of Re Forever." (Clayton: p.195) Necho played a significant role in the histories of the Assyrian Empire, Babylonia and the Kingdom of Judah. The Egyptologist Donald B. Redford observed that although he was "a man of action from the start, and endowed with an imagination perhaps beyond that of his contemporaries, Necho had the misfortune to foster the impression of being a failure." Yet, he penetrated deeper into Asia than any other pharaoh before or after him.
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[edit] Biography
Upon his ascension, Necho was faced with the chaos created by the raids of the Cimmerians and the Scythians, who had not only ravaged Asia west of the Euphrates, but had also helped the Babylonians shatter the Assyrian Empire. That once mighty empire was now reduced to the troops, officials, and nobles who had gathered around a general holding out at Harran, who had taken the throne name of Ashur-uballit II. Nekau attempted to assist this remnant immediately upon his coronation, but the force he sent proved to be too small, and the combined armies were forced to retreat west across the Euphrates.
[edit] Foreign policy
The war campaigns of Necho were at first very successful, and it seemed that he would reach military glory as great as that of Thutmose III. Unfortunately, after a few disasterous defeats by the Babylonians, he lost all his lands conquered in Asia. A thin basalt fragment showing what appears to be a royal figure holding a staff and mace with the legs of a bird at the bottom of a cartouche was reportedly found at Sidon. Basalt piece from Sidon. This relic was taken as evidence that Necho - Wehemibre was in Syria to wage war. However his wars and battles were also mentioned by Herodotus and the Bible.
[edit] First campaign
In the spring of 609 BC, Necho personally led a sizable force to help the Assyrians. Josiah of Judah sided with the Babylonians and attempted to block his advance at Megiddo, where a fierce battle was fought and Josiah was killed (2 Kings 23:29, 2 Chronicles 35:20-24).
| “ | Necos engaged battle at Magdolos (Megiddo) with the Syrians, and conquered them; and after this he took Cadytis (Kadesh), which is a great city of Syria. (Herodotus) | ” |
Necho soon captured Kadesh on the Orontes and moved forward, joining forces with Ashur-uballit and together they crossed the Euphrates and laid siege to Harran. Although Necho became the first pharaoh to cross the Euphrates since Thutmose III, he failed to capture Harran, and retreated back to northern Syria. At this point Ashur-uballit vanishes from history, and the Assyrian Empire collapsed.
Leaving a sizable force behind, Necho returned to Egypt. On his return march, he found that the Judeans had selected Jehoahaz to succeed his father Josiah, whom Necho deposed and replaced with Jehoiakim. He brought Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner, where Jehoahaz ended his days (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:1-4).
[edit] Second campaign
Meanwhile, the Babylonian king was planning on reasserting his power in Syria. In 609 BC, King Nabopolassar captured Kumukh, which cut off the Egyptian army, then based at Carchemish. Nekau responded the following year by retaking Kumukh after a four month siege, and executed the Babylonian garrison. Nabopolassar brought forth another army, which he encamped at Qurumati on the Euphrates, but his health forced him to return to Babylon in January of 605 BC; the Egyptians sallied forth and attacked the leaderless Babylonians, who fled their position.
At this point, the aged Nabopolassar, passed command of the army to his son Nebuchadrezzar II, who led them to a decisive victory over the Egyptians at Carchemish, and pursued the fleeing survivors to Hamath. Necho's dream of restoring the Egyptian Empire in Asia that had occurred under the New Kingdom was destroyed as Nebuchadrezzar conquered their territory from the Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt (Jeremiah 46:2; 2 Kings 23:29) down to Judea. Although Nebuchadrezzar spent many years in his new conquests on continuous pacification campaigns, Necho was offered no opportunity to recover any significant part of his lost territories: when Ashkalon rose in revolt; despite repeated pleas the Egyptians sent no help, and were barely able to repel a Babylonian attack on their eastern border in 601 BC. Necho turned his attention in his remaining years to forging up relationships with new allies: the Carians, and further to the west, the Greeks.
[edit] Ambitious projects
At some point during his Syrian campaign, over the next three years, he initiated the ambitious project of cutting a canal from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile to the Gulf of Suez, the earliest precursor of the Suez Canal. Some 12,000 workers dug in the Wadi Tumilat to make the waterway, who were housed at Per-Temu Tjeku (Tell el-Maskhuta), about 15 km west of Ismailia. The waterway was intended to facilitate trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and allow the Egyptian navy he created to operate along both the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts. (Herodotus 2.158; Pliny N.H. 6.165ff; Diodorus Siculus 3.43.) Herodotus however, declares that Necho discontinued work on this canal after 120,000 Egyptians had perished during the construction effort. Herodotus states that the canal was completed by the Persian, Darius the Great, a century later.
Herodotus (4.42) also reports that Necho sent out an expedition of Phoenicians, who in three years sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile.[1] Many current historians tend to believe Herodotus' account, primarily because he stated with disbelief that the Phoenicians had the sun on their right hand all the time -- in Herodotus' time it was not known that Africa extended south past the equator. However, Egyptologists also point out that it would have been extremely unusual for an Egyptian Pharoah to carry out such an expedition. For instance, Alan Lloyd wrote "Given the context of Egyptian thought, economic life, and military interests, it is impossible for one to imagine what stimulus could have motivated Necho in such a scheme and if we cannot provide a reason which is sound within Egyptian terms of reference, then we have good reason to doubt the historicity of the entire episode." [2]
[edit] Legacy
Necho II died in 595 BC leaving behind a son and three daughters. His son, Psammetichus II, succeeded him as the next pharaoh. Necho also undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. Psammetichus II afterwards removed Necho's name from almost all of them for unknown reasons.
[edit] References and external links
- ^ Note however that though the original documents state "Red Sea," many ancient manuscripts reference the "Mediterranean Sea" as the "Red Sea." See History of Suez Canal and painting by Wybylack for more detail.
- ^ Alan B. Lloyd, "Necho and the Red Sea: Some Considerations," The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 63 (1977) p. 149.
- Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson, 1994.
- Nekau (II) Wehemibre
- Necho II
- Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité, 1991, Christian Settipani, p. 153 and 161
| Preceded by Psammetichus I |
Pharaoh of Egypt 610 – 595 BC Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt |
Succeeded by Psammetichus II |
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