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Necho II

Saite pharaoh of Egypt, reigned about 610 to 595 BCE, who began a Nile canal

In the game: Level 5: The Charter

Necho II was a king of the Twenty-sixth (Saite) Dynasty and the son of Psamtik I. He campaigned in the Levant and, according to Herodotus, began a canal from the Nile towards the Red Sea. Darius later completed a canal on this line, and the canal's stelae are from Darius's reign.

In the game: The game names Necho II in the Chronicle and in the Nile canal event article, as the pharaoh who began the canal. He has no figure, building or mechanic of his own.

A Saite king in Egypt

Ancient account

Herodotus says Necho was the son of Psamtik and ruled Egypt after him. He tells of Necho's wars and works, and Herodotus wrote long after the reign, so his account rests on later Egyptian and Greek tradition.

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The canal begun and left unfinished

Ancient account

Herodotus says Necho began digging a canal from the Nile eastwards towards the Red Sea and that a very large number of Egyptians died in the work. He adds that an oracle warned Necho he was labouring for a foreigner, and that the king stopped. Herodotus later says Darius finished it.

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Darius completes the work

In the record

Fragmentary stelae of Darius found along the line of the canal in Egypt record the work as his. They do not name Necho, so the earlier digging rests on Herodotus. The game's Nile canal article treats the canal's completion as Darius's.

P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002

Ships and the voyage round Africa

Disputed

Herodotus says Necho built triremes on both the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts. He also says Necho sent Phoenicians to sail round Africa, and they returned in the third year. Modern historians argue over whether the voyage happened, since a detail such as the sun being on their right cannot be checked.

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Wars in the Levant

Ancient account

Herodotus says Necho defeated the Syrians at Magdolos and took the city of Cadytis, which some identify with Gaza. The Hebrew Bible says he killed King Josiah of Judah at Megiddo. Necho was later beaten by the Babylonians at Carchemish, as the Babylonian Chronicle records.

Herodotus 2.159