The Second Intermediate Period

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The Second Intermediate Period

• 1650-1550 BC

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• 15th Dynasty (Hyksos) 1650-1550 BC
• Salitis/Sekerher
• Khyan
• Apepi
• Khamudi
• 16th Dynasty 1650-1580
  BC
• Theban rulers contemporaneous with the 15th
  Dynasty

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• 17th Dynasty 1580 (?)-1550 BC
• Rahotep
• Sobekemsaf I
• Intef VI
• Intef VII
• Intef VIII
• Sobekemsaf II
• Siamun (?)
• Seqenenra Taa
• Kamose

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Intermediate Periods

• .. the general pattern of these dark periods
  is roughly the same. Both begin with a chaotic
  series of insignificant native rulers in both,
  intruders from Palestine cast their shadow over
  the Delta and even into the Valley and in both
  relief comes at last from a hardy race of Theban
  princes, who after quelling internal dissension
  expel the foreigner and usher a new epoch of
  immense power and prosperity. (Sir Alan Gardiner)

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Phases

• Abandonment of the royal residence at el-Lisht
  and moving the government to Thebes (The breakup
  of unity starts with Sobekhotep IV. The last king
  of the 13th Dynasty in el-Lisht is Merneferra
  Ay).
• Establishment of the Hyksos capital at Avaris
  (Tell el-Daba) in the eastern Delta 14th and
  15th Dynasties. The zenith of the Hyksos rule is
  during Auserra Apepis 40 year reign. The sacking
  of Memphis by the Hyksos as recorded by Josephus
  quoting Manetho. Boundary line at Cusae.
• The King of Kush (Nubia) takes over Elephantine
  and the Cataract Forts. The Kingdom of Kush at
  its zenith during the Second Intermediate Period.
  The Great Hut At Kerma. The changing fortunes of
  the forts between the first and second cataracts.
  The Kerma Nubians. Pan-grave people (Nubian,
  termed as Medjay in the Kamose stelae) at Cusae.

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The Great Hut at Kerma
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• The emergence of warrior princes in Thebes 16th
  and 17th Dynasties
• The quarrel between Apepi and Seqenenra Taa.
  Theban military outpost at Deir el-Ballas.
• Kamoses campaign The capture of Buhen and the
  northern campaign. The sack of Nefrusy and the
  surrounding area of Avaris. Kamose, the last king
  of the 17th Dynasty.
• Apepi and Kamose die.
• Conquest of Avaris by the Theban Ahmose, first
  king of the 18th Dynasty.

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Sources

• Excavations at Tell el-Daba, a complete
  stratigraphy.
• Manethos Aegyptiaca as quoted by Josephus,
  Africanus and Eusebius.
• The Turin Royal Canon.
• Texts on two stelae, fragmentary notes on the
  verso of the Rhind Mathematical papyrus, the tomb
  biography of Ahmose, son of Ibana, in Elkab, and
  Ahmoses relief in Abydos.
• Excavations at Deir el-Ballas.

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Cultural traits of the Hyksos

• West Semitic, Aamu vs. Hyksos. Some were economic
  migrants, some captured at Egyptian campaigns in
  the Levant coast.
• Houses and tombs (burial customs tomb next to
  the house, burial of donkeys, body in contracted
  position, Syro-Palestinian style pottery, etc.).
• At the zenith of the Hyksos period, a mixture of
  Egyptian and Syro-Palestinian cultural traits.
• The cult of Seth (may have been blended with the
  Syrian weather-god Baal Zephon).
• Weapons chariots and horses, compound bow.

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Wooden statuette of an Asiatic woman
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Cultural traits of the Thebans

• Anthropoid coffins (sycamore or tamarisk as
  opposed to rectangular coffin made of cedar).
• Loss of the hieroglyphic tradition. Appearance
  of hieratic writing (due to lack of training from
  the scribal schools in Memphis).
• Loss of contact with the Memphite scribal school
  led to the creation of new texts and a new
  compilation of funerary spells. The first known
  copy of the Book of the Dead was developed during
  the 16th Dynasty. The disappearance of the Coffin
  Texts.

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Anthropomorphic coffin of King Nubkheperra Intef
VII
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• There is a debate among scholars just when the
  Second Intermediate Period began. If we follow
  the Abydos King List we would finish the Middle
  Kingdom at the end of the 12th Dynasty and go
  directly to beginning of the 18th Dynasty. It
  seems however that during the first half of the
  13th Dynasty, the rulers of Egypt maintained
  control over most of the country. (Manetho
  designates the 13th Dynasty as Theban due to
  their buildings of mortuary temples mostly in
  Upper Egypt.) In view of this, the beginning of
  the Second Intermediate Period may be put in the
  middle, the so-called Dynasty 13B.

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• Irrespective of this debate and its future
  resolution, during this period a major
  transformation of the population in the Delta
  took place. Lower Egypt experienced the influx of
  a large number of Asiatics Aamu or, more
  precisely, Canaanite (Western Semitic)
  immigrants, who settled down in the Delta and
  quickly assimilated with the native population.
  The blending of the two different cultures was
  most visible in religion for example, Baal
  Zephon, the Semitic god of fertility and weather
  (the so-called storm god) became identified with
  Seth. On the other hand, the newcomers retained
  some of their old customs they buried their dead
  in pits dug in rocks (chamber graves) in fetal
  position usually covered with sheepskin. (The
  Story of Sinuhe mentions this burial custom).

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• Around 1720 B.C. the centralized control of
  Egypt collapsed and if we follow Manetho local
  rulers of the Delta took control of various parts
  of Lower Egypt this is Manethos 14th Dynasty.
• Meanwhile, in Upper Egypt the last of the 13th
  Dynasty kings were quickly losing control of the
  northern and southern territories and were
  eventually reduced to rule in a small area
  between south of Abydos and Thebes.

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• In about 1650 BC a new and powerful dynasty of
  kings emerged in the Delta who probably came from
  the east. They took control of most of Lower
  Egypt and parts of Middle Egypt. Manetho assigns
  the 15th Dynasty to these rulers. The Egyptians
  called them rulers of foreign lands which the
  Greek corrupted to Hyksos. They made Avaris, Tell
  el-Daba, a city on the eastern Delta, their
  capital. Their military success may have been
  partly due to the hitherto unknown in Egypt war
  chariot, the horse, and the compound bow (a bow
  strengthened by straps of sinew and horn).

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• Josephus quotes Manetho as follows
• Tutimaios king Ddjedmose?or Tuthmose?. In
  his reign, for what cause I know not, a blast of
  God smote us and unexpectedly from the regions
  of the East invaders of obscure race marched in
  confidence of victory against our land. By main
  force they easily seized it without striking a
  blow and having overpowered the rulers of the
  land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly,
  razed to the ground the temples of the gods, and
  treated all the natives with cruel hostility,
  massacring some and leading into slavery the
  wives and children of the others.

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• Finally, they appointed as king one of their
  number whose name was Salitis. He had his seat in
  Memphis, levying tribute from Upper and Lower
  Egypt and always leaving garrisons behind in the
  most advantageous places. .. In the Sethroite
  nome he found a city very favorably situated on
  the east of the Bubastite branch of the Nile, and
  called Avaris after an ancient religious custom.
  This place he rebuilt and fortified with massive
  walls. .. After reigning for 19 years Salitis
  died..

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• Meanwhile, south of the third cataract of the
  Nile a new and powerful state emerged, the
  Kingdom of Kush with capital at Kerma. Earlier
  Egyptian worries about the Upper Nubian foe is
  best illustrated by the feverish building
  projects of fortresses between the second and
  third cataracts during the 12th Dynasty. During
  the decline the permanent garrisons that were
  placed in this chain of fortresses lost support
  (provisions) from the motherland and they
  therefore had little choice but (after some false
  belief of their independence) to accept Upper
  Nubian power they were annexed into the Kingdom
  of Kush.

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• A further and logical step of the Kushite
  kings was to seek alliance with the Hyksos.
  Although there is evidence for this (the two
  stelae of Kamose discussed below) a strong
  alliance never realized. Further evidence is
  attested of trade relations using the oasis route
  in the Western Desert.
• It is doubtful that in the north the
  so-called Hyksos Kingdom included Palestine and
  even eastern Syria. Although after the Hyksos
  takeover of the Delta the influx of Canaanites
  became even greater, it seems probable that the
  Levant city-states retained their independence
  during this period.

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Auserra Apepi (c. 1600 BC)

• Ruled at the zenith of the Hyksos period.
  Exceptionally long reign (at least 40 years). He
  had scribal training as recorded on a palette of
  a scribe Atu. The Hyksos had fairly extensive
  trade relations with Palestine, the Levant and
  also with Cyprus. The Kamose stelae list
  commodities imported by the Hyksos. He claimed to
  be King of Upper and Lower Egypt but in reality,
  never ruled below Cusae.

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• Contemporaneously to the 15th Dynasty of the
  Hyksos, the Theban 16th and 17th Dynasties
  comprised puppet rulers who continually tried to
  avoid direct confrontation with the Hyksos and at
  times even paid tribute to them.
• (Sir Alan Gardiner believes that the 16th
  Dynasty is a pure fiction.) Contemporary military
  titles such as commander of the crew of the
  ruler, suggest defensive grouping of military
  resources and instability.

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Seqenenre Taa

• Seqenenre Taa (c. 1560 BC), the second to the
  last king of the 17th Dynasty, after slowly
  building up his military in extremely difficult
  circumstances (being cut off from both the south
  and north in supplies) began campaigning in
  Middle Egypt and succeeded to regain some of the
  lost territory. These were not part of the Hyksos
  Kingdom but they were Hyksos allies opposed to
  Theban rule.

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• There is implicit written evidence how the war
  started Apepi complained that the roar of
  hippopotami at Thebes was keeping him from sleep.
  (Hieratic papyrus from the period of the19th
  dynasty ruler Merneptah.) Further archaeological
  evidence came from the excavations at Deir
  el-Ballas, the northern stronghold of the Theban
  kings built in the desert. It appears that a
  large number of Kerma Nubians served there during
  the war. At the end of his reign (some believe
  that he died in a battle as deep head wounds on
  his mummy show) he managed to regain all
  territory south of Cusae.

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Kamose

• His son, Kamose followed his fathers
  footsteps. First he retook Buhen and drove the
  Kerma Nubians south. Then he turned northward,
  assembled a flotilla and conducted a campaign in
  Hyksos territory.

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• Here is an excerpt from a threat of Kamose
  against Apepi (Apophis), the ruler of the Hyksos
  at the time

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Your back will see evil, since my army is in the
back of you. The women of Avaris will not
conceive ... I will make Apophis see a wretched
time.
He sacked Nefrusy, north of Cusae, and the
following excerpt shows the ferocity of the
fight as lions are with their prey, so were my
army with their servants, their cattle, their
milk, fat, and honey, in dividing up their
possessions with joyous hearts. Nefrusy was
only an ally of the Hyksos, so its sack must have
been punitive and a warning for the other allies.
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The Kamose Stelae

• In celebration of the Hyksos campaign Kamose
  erected two victory stelae in the Temple of Amun
  at Karnak after his triumphal entering to Thebes.
  They are considered historical and a good source
  of information of what was the actual situation
  and what happened.

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• One chief is in Avaris, another in Kush, and
  I Kamose sit (here) associated with an Asiatic
  and a Nubian! Each man has his slice in this
  Egypt and so the land is partitioned with me!
  None can pass through it as far as Memphis
  (although it is) Egyptian water! See he the
  Hyksos king (even) has Hermopolis! No one can be
  at ease when they are milked by the taxes of the
  Asiatics! I shall grapple with him that I might
  crush his belly, (for) my desire is to rescue
  Egypt which the Asiatics have destroyed.

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• According to the second stela, a letter from
  Apepi urging the Kushite king to attack Thebes
  from the south, has been intercepted on the oasis
  road during the campaign and Kamose rushed home
  to steel up the Egyptian defence against possible
  Kushite attack. The latter never realized.

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• I captured his messenger in the oasis upland,
  as he was going south to Kush with a written
  dispatch, and I found on it the following in
  writing by the hand of the Ruler of Avaris
• Auserra, son of Re, Apophis greets my son the
  ruler of Kush. Why have you arisen as a ruler
  without letting me know? Do you see what Egypt
  has done to me? The Ruler who is in her
  midst-Kamose-the Mighty, given life!-is pushing
  me off my (own) land! I have not attacked him in
  any way comparable to all he has done to you he
  has chopped up the Two Lands to their grief, my
  land and yours, and he has hacked them up. Come
  north! Do not hold back! See, he is here with me
  There is none who will stand up to you in Egypt.
  See, I will not give him a way until you arrive!
  Then we shall divide the towns of Egypt..

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• Kamose died shortly afterwards but nearly
  completed his lifetime goal the southern border
  was strong again and in the north Hyksos power
  was seriously reduced.
• The job of finishing off the foreign rulers
  fell on his battle hardened younger brother
  Ahmose. It is unclear how much advantage he had
  after his fathers campaign. He came to the
  throne young and the kingdom was taken care of by
  the queen mother, Ahhotep. It seems that Ahmose
  had to reconquer significant amount of
  territories in the north.

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• The Expulsion of the Hyksos is a historical
  text written by one of the soldiers, Admiral
  Ahmose, son of Ibana, from Upper Egypt (tomb
  biography in Elkab). It narrates repeated attacks
  of King Ahmose I on the Hyksos at Avaris and then
  gives some details of the follow up military
  campaign in the Levant. Admiral Ahmose did not
  mention Kamoses gains although his predecessors
  fought under Seqenenre Taa and Kamose. Ahmose
  bypassed Memphis, took Heliopolis and, before the
  siege of Avaris moved his army east of the city
  to cut off the Hyksos from retreat.

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• ..I was taken on the ship Northern because
  I was valiant. Thus I used to accompany the
  Sovereign-life, prosperity, health!-on foot,
  following his excursions in his chariot. When the
  town of Avaris was besieged, then I showed valor
  on foot in the presence of his Majesty. Thereupon
  I was appointed to the ship, Appearing in
  Memphis. Then there was fighting on the water in
  the canal Pa-Djeku of Avaris. I made a capture
  and carried away a hand. The Gold of Valor was
  given to me..
• Then Avaris was despoiled. Then I carried off
  spoil from there one man three women, a total of
  four persons. Then his majesty gave them to me to
  be slaves.

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• Africanus, quoting Manetho, states that the
  siege of Avaris ended with a treaty rather than
  slaughter. Under the conditions of the treaty the
  Hyksos could leave Avaris. A mass exodus and
  abandonment is further confirmed by a clearly
  distinguished stratum in Avaris.
• They the Hyksos enclosed Avaris with a
  high strong wall in order to safeguard all their
  possessions and spoils. The Egyptian king
  attempted by siege to force them to surrender,
  blockading the fortress with an army of 480,000
  men. Finally, giving up the siege in despair, he
  concluded a treaty by which they should all
  depart from Egypt.

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• Ahmose then turned further north and conducted
  a campaign deep in Palestine-Syrian territory.
  There is a record of a 3-year siege of Sharuhen,
  near Gaza, the last stronghold of the Hyksos
  king.
• Then Sharuhen town in the southwestern
  corner of the land of Canaan was besieged for
  three years. Then his majesty despoiled it.
  Thereupon I carried off spoil from there two
  women and a hand..
• After Sharuhen was taken, Ahmose had to turn
  south, to retake Buhen (if this was necessary),
  and to restore Egyptian control in Nubia.
• Now after his majesty had slain the Asiatics,
  he ascended the river to Khenthennofer, to
  destroy the Nubian Troglodytes, his majesty made
  a great slaughter among them.

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• Finally, returning home he had to quell two
  rebellions within Egypt
• There came an enemy of the South his fate,
  his destruction approached the gods of the South
  seized him, and his majesty found him...
• Then came that fallen one whose name was
  Teti-en, he had gathered to himself rebels. His
  majesty slew him and his servants, annihilating
  them.
• Ahmoase died shortly after his reconquest of
  Egypt.

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The future of Tell el-Daba (18th Dynasty)

• After the sack and destruction of Avaris, the
  city and the fortress have been rebuilt.
• Minoan style frescoes. Connection with Crete?
  The eruption of the Thera volcano possibly in
  1628 BC (traditional date is 1530 BC during the
  reign of Ahmose) pumice dated later in the reign
  of AmenhotepI/Tuthmose III. (The pumice is from
  workshops where it was used as a raw material, so
  it gives uncertain date.) No significant fallout
  ash has been detected.

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Conclusion

• The 17th Dynasty Theban pharaohs fought the
  Hyksos for over 20 years. Ahmose I, the first
  king of the 18th Dynasty finally defeated the
  foreign rulers and Egypt became once again
  united. Ahmose Is victory was due not only his
  military skills but the international situation
  as well. Apepi died in the year of his ascension
  and the Hittites started flexing their muscles at
  the back of Hyksos allies. (This is an example
  when a new dynasty is created not because of the
  break in the royal succession but because of the
  change of the era.) Kamose and Ahmose I are the
  founders of the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom
  (Dynasties 18-20 c. 1550-1070 BC) began.