Necho Ii

Necho II (also known as '''Nekau''' II) was a king of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty Of Egypt ( 610 - 595 BC ), and the son of Psammetichus I . He 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."

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 Babylonia ns 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.

In the spring of 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 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 . This waterway not only facilitated trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean , but allowed 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.) About this same time, historians date the expedition reported by Herodotus (4.42), where 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. (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 .) 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 .

Necho also undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. His son and successor Psammetichus II afterwards removed Necho's name from almost all of them for unknown reasons.

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 ns, and further to the west, the Greeks .

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