The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 by German Egyptologist Hanns Stock. It is best known as the period when the

Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...

people of

West Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

made their appearance in Egypt and whose reign comprised the 15th Dynasty, which, according to

Manetho Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...

's ''Aegyptiaca'', was founded by a king by the name of

Salitis In the Manethonian tradition, Salitis (Greek ''Σάλιτις'', also Salatis or Saites) was the first Hyksos king, the one who subdued and ruled Lower Egypt and founded the 15th Dynasty. Biography Salitis is mainly known from a few passages of F ...

End of the Middle Kingdom

The 12th Dynasty of Egypt came to an end at the end of the 19th century BC with the death of Queen

Sobekneferu , image = File:Statue of Sobekneferu (Berlin Egyptian Museum 14475).jpg , image_alt = Partially defaced bust of a female , caption = Statue of Sobekneferu , reign = 3 years, 10 months, and 24 days according to the Turin Canon in the mid 18th ...

(1806–1802 BC).Kim S. B. Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800–1550 B.C.'', Museum Tusculanum Press, Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 20. 1997, p.185 Apparently she had no heirs, causing the 12th Dynasty to come to a sudden end, and, with it, the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom; it was succeeded by the much weaker

13th Dynasty In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave p ...

. Retaining the seat of the 12th Dynasty, the 13th Dynasty ruled from

Itjtawy Itjtawy (full Egyptian name ''Amenemhat-itj-tawy'' — "Amenemhat, Seizer of the Two Lands"), is the name of the royal city founded as a new capital by Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian King Amenemhat I, who ruled from approximately 1991 BC to 1962 BC ...

("Seizer-of-the-Two-Lands") for most of its existence, switching to Thebes in the far south possibly since the reign of

Merneferre Ay Merneferre Ay (also spelled Aya or Eje, sometimes known as Ay I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the mid 13th Dynasty. The longest reigning pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty, he ruled a likely fragmented Egypt for over 23 years in the early to mid ...

. The 13th Dynasty is notable for the accession of king

Khendjer Userkare Khendjer was the twenty-first pharaoh of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey Int ...

(whose name Kim Ryholt interprets as Semitic). The 13th Dynasty proved unable to hold on to the entire territory of Egypt however, and a provincial ruling family, located in the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

, broke away from the central authority to form the 14th Dynasty (contested rulers proposed by Ryholt as the first five rulers of the dynasty are commonly identified as being of Canaanite (Semitic) descent based on their names. His conclusions about their chronological position within the period are contested in Ben Tor's study.Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 315, 1999, pp.47-73. Other sources do not refer to the dynasty as foreign or Hyksos and they were not referred to as "rulers of foreign lands" or "shepherd kings" in kings lists.).

Hyksos rule

15th dynasty

The 15th Dynasty dates approximately from 1650 to 1550 BC. Known rulers of the Fifteenth Dynasty are as follows: *

Sakir-Har Sakir-Har (also Seker-Har and ''Skr-Hr'') was an Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over some part of Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, possibly in the early 16th century BC. Attestation Sakir-Har is attest ...

Khyan Seuserenre Khyan (also Khayan or Khian and Apachnan from the West Semitic Apaq-khyran) was an Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over Lower Egypt in the second half of the 17th century BCE. His royal name Seuserenre translates ...

* Apophis, c. 1590? BC–1550 BC *

Khamudi Khamudi (also known as Khamudy) was the last Hyksos ruler of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Khamudi came to power in 1534 BC or 1541 BC, ruling the northern portion of Egypt from his capital Avaris. His ultimate defeat at the hands of Ahmose I, a ...

, c. 1550–1540 BC The 15th Dynasty of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

was the first

dynasty. It ruled from Avaris but did not control the entire land. The Hyksos preferred to stay in northern Egypt since they infiltrated from the northeast. The names and order of their kings is uncertain. The

Turin King list The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list a ...

indicates that there were six Hyksos kings, with an obscure Khamudi listed as the final king of the 15th Dynasty. Some scholars argue there were two Apophis kings named Apepi I and Apepi II, but this is primarily due to the fact there are two known prenomens for this king: Awoserre and Aqenenre. However, the Danish Egyptologist

Kim Ryholt Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research centeCanon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Litera ...

maintains in his study of the Second Intermediate Period that these prenomens all refer to one man,

Apepi Apepi (also Ipepi; Egyptian language '), Apophis ( gr, Ἄποφις); regnal names Neb-khepesh-Re, A-qenen-Re and A-user-Re) was a Hyksos ruler of Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty and the end of the Second Intermediate Period. Accordin ...

, who ruled Egypt for 40 or more years. This is also supported by the fact that this king employed a third prenomen during his reign: Nebkhepeshre. Apepi likely employed several different prenomens throughout various periods of his reign. This scenario is not unprecedented, as later kings, including the famous

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...

and

Seti II Seti II (or Sethos II) was the fifth pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and reigned from 1203 BC to 1197 BC. His throne name, Userkheperure Setepenre, means "Powerful are the manifestations of Re, the chosen one of Re." H ...

, are known to have used two different prenomens in their own reigns.

16th dynasty

The 16th Dynasty ruled the Theban region in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

for 70 years. Of the two chief versions of Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca'', Dynasty XVI is described by the more reliable

Africanus Africanus is Latin for "African". It may refer to: People Ancient Roman cognomen * Africanus Fabius Maximus, the younger son of Quintus Fabius Maximus (consul 45 BC) and an unknown wife * Cresconius Africanus, a Latin canon lawyer of uncertain da ...

(supported by

Syncellus ''Synkellos'' ( el, σύγκελλος), latinized as ''syncellus'', is an ecclesiastical office in the Eastern Rite churches. In the Byzantine Empire, the ''synkellos'' of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople was a position of major import ...

) as "shepherd 'hyksos''.html"_;"title="hyksos.html"_;"title="'hyksos">'hyksos''">hyksos.html"_;"title="'hyksos">' 'hyksos''.html"_;"title="hyksos.html"_;"title="'hyksos">'hyksos''">hyksos.html"_;"title="'hyksos">'hyksos''kings",_but_by_Eusebius_of_Caesarea">Eusebius_ Eusebius_of_Caesarea_(;__grc-gre,_Εὐσέβιος_;__260/265 –_30_May_339),_also_known_as_Eusebius_Pamphilus_(from_the__grc-gre,_Εὐσέβιος_τοῦ_Παμφίλου),_was_a_Greek_historian_of_Christianity,_exegete,_and_Christian_...

Abydos dynasty

Ancient Egypt

15th

16th Dynasties

The existence of an Abydos Dynasty was first proposed by

Detlef Franke Detlef Franke (November 24, 1952 in Lüneburg – September 2, 2007) was a German Egyptologist specialist of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Biography Detlef Franke received his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 1983 with his thesis "''Al ...

and later elaborated on by Egyptologist

in 1997. The existence of the dynasty may have been vindicated in January 2014, when the tomb of the previously unknown

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

Senebkay Woseribre Senebkay (alternatively Seneb Kay) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the Second Intermediate Period. The discovery of his tomb in January 2014 supports the existence of an independent Abydos Dynasty, contemporary with the Fifteen ...

was discovered in Abydos. The dynasty tentatively includes four rulers: Wepwawetemsaf, Pantjeny, Snaaib, and

. The royal

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

of the Abydos Dynasty was found in the southern part of Abydos, in an area called Anubis Mountain in ancient times. The rulers of the Abydos Dynasty placed their burial ground adjacent to the tombs of the Middle Kingdom rulers.

17th dynasty

Around the time Memphis and Itj-tawy fell to the Hyksos, the native Egyptian ruling house in Thebes declared its independence from Itj-tawy, becoming the 17th Dynasty. This dynasty would eventually lead the war of liberation that drove the Hyksos back into Asia. The Theban-based 17th Dynasty restored numerous temples throughout Upper Egypt while maintaining peaceful trading relations with the Hyksos kingdom in the north. Indeed,

Senakhtenre Ahmose Senakhtenre Ahmose, was the seventh king of the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey Interna ...

, the first king in the line of Ahmoside kings, even imported white limestone from the Hyksos-controlled region of Tura to make a granary door at the Temple of Karnak. However, his successors — the final two kings of this dynasty —

Seqenenre Tao Seqenenre Tao (also Seqenera Djehuty-aa or Sekenenra Taa, called 'the Brave') ruled over the last of the local kingdoms of the Theban region of Egypt in the Seventeenth Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. He probably was the son and ...

and

Kamose Kamose was the last Pharaoh of the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty. He was possibly the son of Seqenenre Tao and Ahhotep I and the uncle of Ahmose I, founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty. His reign fell at the very end of the Second Intermediate Peri ...

are traditionally credited with defeating the Hyksos in the course of the wars of liberation. With the creation of the 18th Dynasty around 1550 BC, the

period of Egyptian history begins with Ahmose I, its first pharaoh, completing the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt and placing the country, once again, under centralised administrative control.

References

Bibliography

* Von Beckerath, Jürgen. "Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten," ''Ägyptologische Forschungen'', Heft 23. Glückstadt, 1965. * Gardiner, Sir Alan. ''Egypt of the Pharaohs''. Oxford, 1964, 1961. *Hayes, William C. "Egypt: From the Death of Ammenemes III to Seqenenre II." Chapter 2, Volume II of ''The Cambridge Ancient History''. Revised Edition, 1965. *James, T.G.H. "Egypt: From the Expulsion of the Hyksos to Amenophis I." Chapter 8, Volume II of ''The Cambridge Ancient History''. Revised Edition, 1965. *Kitchen, Kenneth A., "Further Notes on New Kingdom Chronology and History," ''Chronique d'Égypte'', 63 (1968), pp. 313–324. *Oren, Eliezer D. ''The Hyksos: New Historical and Archaeological Perspectives'' Philadelphia, 1997. * Ryholt, Kim. ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1800–1550 B.C.'', Museum Tuscalanum Press, 1997. *Van Seters, John. ''The Hyksos: A New Investigation''. New Haven, 1966. {{Authority control States and territories established in the 17th century BC States and territories disestablished in the 16th century BC Dynasties of ancient Egypt 17th century BC 16th century BC .