THARAC (Egyptian: Taharqa; Hebrew: Tirhâqâh). — Third Egyptian pharaoh of the 25th Ethiopian dynasty; reigned from 688 to 663 BC.
In the Bible he is mentioned only once (2 Kings 19:9) during Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem. As a natural enemy of Assyrian supremacy, he conducted a campaign in Palestine, the outcome of which is unknown. That he must have considerably disrupted Sennacherib’s plans is evident from the latter’s insistence on securing the surrender of the king of Judah, Hezekiah (q.v.).
The biblical text describes T. as a king, but this may simply be an anticipation. Since he became pharaoh around 690 BC, in 701 he must have acted as a general under his predecessor Shabaka. Moreover, other sources show that T. already held a very important position at court during the reign of the first pharaoh of the dynasty, Sabaka (716–702 BC). Thus this terminology cannot be used to determine the number of Sennacherib’s campaigns in Palestine.