Apepi

Apepi (also Ipepi; Egyptian language ipp(i)), Apophis (Greek: Ἄποφις); regnal names Nebkhepeshre, Aaqenenre and Aauserre) was a Hyksos ruler of Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty and the end of the Second Intermediate Period. According to the Turin Canon of Kings, he reigned over the northern portion of Egypt for forty years during the early half of the 16th century BC.[3] Although officially only in control of the Lower Kingdom, Apepi in practice dominated the majority of Egypt during the early portion of his reign. He outlived his southern rival, Kamose, but not Ahmose I.[4]

While Apepi exerted suzerainty over and maintained peaceful trade relations with the native Theban Seventeenth Dynasty to the south, the other kingdom eventually regained control.[4] The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt no more than fifteen years after his death.[5]

Kamose, the last king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, refers to Apepi as a "Chieftain of Retjenu" in a stela that implies a Canaanite background for this Hyksos king.[6]

  1. ^ Thomas Schneider: Ancient Egyptian Chronology – Edited by Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David A. Warburton, available online, see p. 492
  2. ^ Tyldesley, Joyce (2006). Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson. p. 79. ISBN 0-500-05145-3.
  3. ^ Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988, p.189.
  4. ^ a b Grimal, p.189
  5. ^ Grimal, p.194
  6. ^ Ryholt, K. S. B.; Bülow-Jacobsen, Adam (1997). The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-87-7289-421-8.