Tanutaman ruled Egypt for only a year or two before the Assyrians invaded again. They defeated the forces of Egypt and Kush, and Tanutaman had to escape back into Nubia.
The Assyrians then marched south to the holy city of Thebes. They killed the people and looted the temples, taking the treasures back to their capital Nineveh (in what is now Iraq).
In the Bible, the prophet Nahum warns people that they, too, could suffer defeat like the Egyptians and Kushites. The passage reads: "Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall. Kush and Egypt were her boundless strength... Yet she was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. Lots were cast for her nobles, and all her great men were put in chains." (Nahum 3: 8-10)
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| Ivory plaque carved with a scene of a lion attacking a fallen Nubian. Assyrian, ca. 730-700 BCE. |
| Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. |
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| Detail from an Assyrian wall relief, showing the Assyrian attack on an Egyptian city about 667 BCE. Kushite troops and their officers (with feathers in their hair) are shown being led prisoner. From the Assyrian palace at Nimrud, Iraq. |
| Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. |
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| View of the painted interior of the tomb of King Tanutaman (ca. 664-653 BCE), El-Kurru, Sudan. A fine portrait of the king, with dark brown skin, appears on the wall. |
| Photo: T. Kendall. |