Editing Taharqa (section)

== Irregular accession to power ==
Taharqa explicitly states in Kawa Stela&nbsp;V, line 15, that he succeeded his predecessor (previously assumed to be Shebitku but now established to be [[Shabaka]] instead) after the latter's death with this statement: "I received the Crown in Memphis after the Falcon flew to heaven."{{sfn|Kitchen|1996|p=167}} The reference to Shebitku was an attempt by Taharqa to legitimise his accession to power.{{sfn|Payraudeau|2014|p=115-127}} However, Taharqa never mentions the identity of the royal falcon and completely omits any mention of Shabaka's intervening reign between Shebitku and Taharqa possibly because he ousted Shabaka from power.{{sfn|Payraudeau|2014|p=122-3}}

In Kawa IV, line 7–13, Taharqa states:
{{blockquote|He (Taharqa) sailed northward to Thebes amongst the beautiful young people that His Majesty, the late King Shabataqo/Shebitku, had sent from Nubia. He was there (in Thebes) with him. He appreciated him more than any of his brothers. (There here follows a description of the [poor] state of the temple of Kawa as observed by the prince). The heart of his Majesty was in sadness about it until his Majesty became king, crowned as King of Upper and Lower Egypt (...). It was during the first year of his reign he remembered what he had seen of the temple when he was young.<ref>[52 – JWIS III 132-135; FHN I, number 21, 135-144.]</ref>}}

[[File:Taharqa, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.jpg|thumb|Statue of Taharqa, in the [[Boston Museum of Fine Arts]]]]
In Kawa V: line 15, Taharqa states
{{Blockquote|I was brought from Nubia amongst the royal brothers that his Majesty had brought. As I was with him, he liked me more than all his brothers and all his children, so that he distinguished me. I won the heart of the nobles and was loved by all. It was only after the hawk had flown to heaven that I received the crown in Memphis.<ref>[53 – JWIS III 135-138; FHN I, number 22, 145-158.]</ref>}}

Therefore, Taharqa says that King [[Shebitku]], who was very fond of him, brought him with him to Egypt and during that trip he had the opportunity to see the deplorable state of the temple of Amun at Kawa, an event he remembered after becoming king. But on Kawa V Taharqa says that sometime after his arrival in Egypt under a different king whom this time he chose not to name, there occurred the death of this monarch ([[Shabaka]] here) and then his own accession to the throne occurred. Taharqa's evasiveness on the identity of his predecessor suggests that he assumed power in an irregular fashion and chose to legitimise his kingship by conveniently stating the possible fact or propaganda that Shebitku favoured him "more than all his brothers and all his children."{{sfn|Payraudeau|2014|p=115-127}}

Moreover, in lines 13 – 14 of Kawa stela V, His Majesty (who can be none other but Shebitku), is mentioned twice, and at first sight the falcon or hawk that flew to heaven, mentioned in the very next line 15, seems to be identical with His Majesty referred to directly before (i.e. Shebitku).<ref name=Broekman>{{cite book |first=G.P.F. |last=Broekman |title=The order of succession between Shabaka and Shabataka. A different view on the chronology of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty |publisher=GM 245 |year=2015 |page=29}}</ref> However, in the critical line 15 which recorded Taharqa's accession to power, a new stage of the narrative begins, separated from the previous one by a period of many years, and the king or hawk/falcon that flew to heaven is conspicuously left unnamed in order to distinguish him from His Majesty, Shebitku. Moreover, the purpose of Kawa V, was to describe several separate events that occurred at distinct stages of Taharqa's life, instead of telling a continuous story about it.<ref name=Broekman /> Therefore, the Kawa V text began with the 6th year of Taharqa and referred to the High Nile flood of that year before abruptly jumping back to Taharqa's youth at the end of line 13.<ref name=Broekman /> In the beginning of line 15, Taharqa's coronation is mentioned (with the identity of the hawk/falcon—now known to be [[Shabaka]]—left unnamed but if it was Shebitku, Taharqa's favourite king, Taharqa would clearly have identified him) and there is a description given of the extent of the lands and foreign countries under Egypt's control but then (in the middle of line 16) the narrative switches abruptly back again to Taharqa's youth: "My mother was in Ta-Sety …. Now I was far from her as a twenty year old recruit, as I went with His Majesty to the North Land".<ref name=Broekman /> However, immediately afterwards (around the middle of line 17) the text jumps forward again to the time of Taharqa's accession: "Then she came sailing downstream to see me after a long period of years. She found me after I had appeared on the throne of Horus...".<ref name=Broekman /> Hence, the Kawa V narrative switches from one event to another, and has little to no chronological coherence or value.