Necho II

Necho II was a pharaoh of Egypt’s Twenty-Sixth Dynasty who ruled from 610 to 595 BCE. He pursued military campaigns and maritime projects linking Egypt with the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea.

Battle of Carchemish: A 605 BCE battle in which Babylonian forces defeated Egypt and its Assyrian allies. The defeat ended Necho’s bid to preserve Egyptian influence in the former Assyrian territories.
Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE): A 609 BCE battle in which Egyptian forces under Necho II defeated Josiah of Judah. Necho’s advance toward the Euphrates began with this clash in Judah.
Psamtik I: A pharaoh who reunified Egypt and founded the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, ruling from about 664 to 610 BCE. Necho succeeded his father, whose restoration of centralized rule made his campaigns possible.
Herodotus: A Greek historian of the fifth century BCE whose work describes peoples and events across the ancient world. His account is the principal source for the canal and circumnavigation stories associated with Necho.
Babylonian Empire: An ancient Mesopotamian empire that reached its height under Nebuchadnezzar II. Its rise checked Egypt’s expansion into the Levant during Necho’s reign.
Josiah: A king of Judah who ruled in the late seventh century BCE and died at Megiddo opposing Necho II. His death during Necho’s passage illustrates the resistance Egyptian forces encountered in Judah.
Twenty-Sixth Dynasty of Egypt: The Saite dynasty that ruled Egypt from about 664 to 525 BCE, during its final period of independence. Necho’s reign was part of this dynasty’s effort to restore Egyptian influence.
Histories (Herodotus): Herodotus’s Greek prose work on the Greco-Persian Wars and the lands and peoples surrounding them. It recounts Necho’s canal project and the Phoenician voyage around Africa.
Fall of Nineveh: The capture and destruction of Nineveh in 612 BCE by a coalition of Babylonians and Medes. Necho intervened in the region as Assyria’s power collapsed.
Assyria: An ancient Mesopotamian kingdom and empire whose power collapsed in the late seventh century BCE. Necho’s campaigns initially aimed to aid Assyria against its Babylonian and Median enemies.

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