Almost nothing is known of Nekauba or Nechepsos as he is also called except that he is listed as one of the early kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty in Manetho

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic era, approximately during the 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca...

's Epitome and is assigned a reign of six years. However, his status as king is not confirmed by any contemporary documents and he may well be an invention of later Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt

Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt

The twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....

 Saite rulers to legitimise their kingship. Manetho writes that Nekauba is supposed to have succeeded Stephinates the founder of the 26th Dynasty--perhaps Tefnakht II

Tefnakht II

Tefnakht II may have been a native Saite king who ruled Sais during the 25th Nubian Dynasty of Ancient Egypt or merely a local mayor of Sais who was erroneously assigned a kingship by the later kings of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt...

--and was, in turn, followed by the well known Necho I

Necho I

Necho I was the prince or governor of the Egyptian city of Sais. He was the first attested local Saite king of the twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt who reigned for 8 years, according to Manetho's Epitome. Egypt was reunified by his son, Psamtik I...

, father of Psamtik I. Nekauba would have reigned as a local Saite king under the Nubia

Nubia

Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

n Dynasty between 678 BC to 672 BC if he did have an independent reign. (see Priese below) If not, he would merely have been a local mayor of Sais who served in office for this period of time prior to the accession of king Necho I.

The Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen

Kenneth Kitchen

Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...

 has suggested that Nekauba's reign be raised by a decade from six to 16 years, though this seems somewhat ambitious for such an obscure ruler. It appears far more economical to adopt – at face value – Manetho's far shorter figure of only six years. This may suggest that only a small amount of time passed between the reign of Tefnakht II and the accession of Necho I.

It is probable that Nekauba and Necho I were both sons of Tefnakht II. His name closely resembles Necho's own name.

External references

• Olivier Perdu, "De Stéphinatès à Néchao ou les débuts de la XXVIe dynastie," Compte-rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres(CRAIBL) 2002, pp.1215-1244
• Karl-Heinz Priese, "Der Beginn der Kuschitischen Herrschaft in Ägypten," ZÄS 98(1970), pp.16-32