Necho II

Lore & Background

Necho II was the son of Psammetichus I by his Great Royal Wife Mehtenweskhet. His prenomen Wahem-Ib-Re means 'Carrying out [the] Heart (i.e., Wish) [of] Re.' Upon his ascension, he faced chaos from Cimmerian and Scythian raids that had helped the Babylonians shatter the Assyrian Empire. He attempted to assist the remnant Assyrian general Ashur-uballit II at Harran, but his initial force was too small. In spring 609 BC, he personally led a large army via the coast route Via Maris into Syria, supported by his Mediterranean fleet. At Megiddo he engaged the Judean king Josiah and had him killed. Herodotus reports that Necho engaged in a pitched battle at Magdolos with the Syrians, conquered them, and took Cadytis (Kadesh), a great city of Syria. He became one of the pharaohs to cross the Euphrates since Thutmose III—others like Ramesses II had done so as well—but failed to capture Harran. On his return, he deposed Josiah's successor Jehoahaz and replaced him with Jehoiakim, bringing Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner. In his second campaign, Necho aimed to contain the westward advance of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In 609 BC, King Nabopolassar captured Kumukh, cutting off the Egyptian army at Carchemish. Necho retook Kumukh after a four-month siege and executed the Babylonian garrison. In 605 BC, however, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II decisively defeated the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish, pursuing survivors to Hamath. Necho's dream of restoring the Egyptian Empire was destroyed as Nebuchadnezzar conquered territory from the Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt. Necho repelled a Babylonian attack in 601 BC and captured Gaza while pursuing the enemy. He turned to forging relationships with Carians and Greeks. Necho initiated but never completed a navigable canal from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile to the Red Sea, the earliest precursor of the Suez Canal. He founded the city of Per-Temu Tjeku at Tell el-Maskhuta. He formed an Egyptian navy by recruiting Ionian Greeks and constructed warships, including triremes. He commissioned a Phoenician expedition that reportedly sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile in three years, stopping each Autumn to sow seeds. Herodotus states with disbelief that the Phoenicians saw the sun on their right-hand side, suggesting they were south of the Equator.

Reader's Guide

Necho II's significance lies in his ambitious but ultimately failed attempt to restore Egyptian influence in the Near East during the decline of the Assyrian Empire and the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. His military campaigns, while initially successful in killing Josiah and capturing territory, ended with the decisive Babylonian victory at Carchemish in 605 BC, which shattered his dream of a restored Egyptian empire. His legacy also includes pioneering maritime and engineering projects: the construction of a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea (a precursor to the Suez Canal) and the commissioning of a Phoenician expedition that may have been the first circumnavigation of Africa. The Egyptologist Donald B. Redford described Necho as 'a man of action from the start, and endowed with an imagination perhaps beyond that of his contemporaries, [who] had the misfortune to foster the impression of being a failure.' His son Psammetichus II may have removed Necho's name from monuments, though some scholars such as Roberto Gozzoli express doubt that this actually happened. Necho's reign marks a transitional period where Egyptian power gave way to Babylonian dominance.

Did You Know?

• Necho II was the first pharaoh to cross the Euphrates River since Thutmose III.
• According to Herodotus, the Phoenician sailors commissioned by Necho reported seeing the sun on their right-hand side, which would only happen south of the Equator.
• Necho II initiated but never completed a navigable canal from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile to the Red Sea, the earliest precursor of the Suez Canal.
• The Egyptologist Donald B. Redford described Necho II as 'a man of action from the start, and endowed with an imagination perhaps beyond that of his contemporaries.'
• Necho II formed an Egyptian navy by recruiting displaced Ionian Greeks, an unprecedented act since most Egyptians traditionally harbored a distaste for the sea.