The Return of Asha Banipal

Taharka did not return to the delta as he died in 664 BCE. Taharka's nephew, Tanta Mani, would take the Kushite throne. No sooner had he done so than he was heading back down the Nile towards the delta. When he got there, he killed the Assyrian puppet Pharaoh, Niko. With the support of Niko's son, Samtik, he would march on and sack Thebes. This would send the Kushites back to Nubia, and with Thebes destroyed, there was no ability to recover. Asha Banipal would instate Samtik as the new 26th dynasty Pharaoh of Egypt.