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Taharqo was eager to expand Egypt beyond Sinai and its north-east border-an aggressive policy that led to conflict with the Assyrian king, Sennacherib-whose stone reliefs were the subject of the last programme.
塔哈爾卡急于擴張西奈半島及東北邊境的領土。這一富有侵略性的政策導致了與亞述王西拿基立的沖突。
Around 700 BC Taharqo allied himself with Hezekiah, King of Judah, and fought alongside him.
約公元前七百年，庫施與猶大國王希西家結盟，并肩作戰。
But this challenge to the Assyrian war machine ultimately led to Taharqo's downfall.
但對亞述戰爭機器的挑戰導致的最終結局是塔哈爾卡的垮臺。
Ten years later, the Assyrians came looking for him, seeking the colossal wealth of Egypt, and although he repelled them that time, they soon returned.
十年后，亞述入侵埃及，對埃及的巨大財富虎視眈眈。雖然這次塔哈爾卡贏得了勝利，但亞述人很快便卷土重來。
In 671 BC they forced Taharqo to flee south to his native Kush.
公元前六七一年，亞述人迫使他逃回了故土庫施。
He lost his wife and his son to the enemy and, after more attacks from the Assyrians, he was finally expelled.
他的妻兒都落入敵手。最終，在亞述的數次進攻后,他遭到了放逐。
In the long history of Egypt, Kushite rule was a brief interlude of not even 150 years.
在埃及的漫長歷史中，庫施人的統治不過是一段不超過一百五十年的小插曲。
Yet it reminds us that the border between what is now Egypt and Sudan is a constant fault-line, both geographic and political, that has frequently divided the peoples of the Nile Valley, and frequently been fought over.
但這段歷史提醒我們，埃及與蘇丹之間的國界線不僅是一條地理上的斷層線，也是政治上的。這條線時常分隔著尼羅河流域的人民，同時也不斷引發爭奪。
We'll see that fault-line again later in these programmes, because both the Roman and the British empires bloodily revisited this contested boundary between Egypt and Kush.
之后我們還會再看到它的身影， 因為羅馬人與大英帝國都曾再度血洗埃及與庫施之間這條紛爭不斷的分界線。
Geography has determined that this will always be a frontier, because it's here that the first cataract breaks up the Nile into small, rocky channels that are very hard to navigate, making contact between north and south highly problematic.
地理因素使它成為一條天然的分界線，在此處，第一瀑布把尼羅河分成了數條布滿巖石、難以航行的細流。南北方的交流因而困難重重。
