Everything about Necho Ii totally explained
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.
Biography
Upon his ascension, Necho was faced with the chaos created by the raids of the
Cimmerians and the
Scythians, who hadn't 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.
Foreign policy
The war campaigns of Necho were at first very successful, and it seemed that he'd 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.
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).
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).
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.
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. 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 wasn't 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's impossible for one to imagine what stimulus could have motivated Necho in such a scheme and if we can't provide a reason which is sound within Egyptian terms of reference, then we've good reason to doubt the historicity of the entire episode."
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.
References and external links
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