Apepi

Apepi (known to the Greeks as Apophis) was a Hyksos pharaoh who ruled Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty, in the late Second Intermediate Period. Archaeologically, his reign is linked to Tell el-Daba Stratum D/3 and the Middle Bronze IIC period in the Southern Levant. The Turin Canon of Kings records that he governed the northern part of Egypt for forty years in the early 1500s BC. While his official authority was limited to the Lower Kingdom, he effectively controlled most of Egypt early in his rule. He survived his southern opponent Kamose but died before Ahmose I.

His Horus name, Shetep-tawy, appears only twice—once alongside A-qenen-Re—on an offering table and on blocks from Bubastis. Apepi used three different throne names during his reign: Neb-khepesh-Re, Aa-qenen-Re, and Aa-user-Re. Earlier Egyptologists sometimes thought these names belonged to two separate kings, Aauserre Apepi and Aaqenenre Apepi, but it is now accepted that Khamudi succeeded Apepi at Avaris and that only one ruler named Apepi (or Apophis) existed. Nebkhepeshre (“Re is the Lord of Strength”) was his first prenomen; around mid-reign he adopted Aaqenenre (“The strength of Re is great”), and in his final decade or so he chose Aauserre. Though the prenomen changed, the translations of Aaqenenre and Aauserre are identical. His nomen was Apepi (also Ipepi; Egyptian *ipp*), which became Apophis in Greek.

At Tell el-Daba (Avaris), Apepi’s reign corresponds to Stratum D/3 in the late Hyksos period. In the Southern Levant, this aligns with the Middle Bronze IIC, roughly 1600/1590 to 1550 BCE. In the Northern Levant, the Late Bronze IA began after Mursili I of the Hittites destroyed Yamhad (Aleppo) and its vassal Ebla around 1590 BCE. These Hittite attacks into Syria may have driven refugees into Canaan. At Thebes, Ahmose I came to power around 1571/1570 BCE (high chronology) and defeated Avaris around 1560 BCE before expelling the Hyksos from the Southern Levant, ending the MB IIC.

Kamose, the last king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, called Apepi a “Chieftain of Retjenu” on a stela, suggesting a Canaanite background. Apepi maintained suzerainty over and peaceful trade with the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty to the south, but that kingdom eventually regained power. The Hyksos were driven out of Egypt within fifteen years of his death.

Rather than building his own monuments, Apepi typically usurped those of earlier pharaohs, inscribing his name over two sphinxes of Amenemhat II and two statues of Imyremeshaw. He likely took the throne of northern Egypt after his predecessor Khyan, who had designated his son Yanassi as successor. Apepi was succeeded by Khamudi, the last Hyksos ruler. Ahmose I, who expelled the Hyksos, founded the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Whether Apepi also ruled Upper Egypt is debated. Several objects bearing his name likely come from Thebes and Upper Egypt: a dagger bought in Luxor, an axe of unknown provenance calling him “beloved of Sobek, lord of Sumenu” (modern Mahamid Qibli, about 24 kilometers south of Thebes), and a stone vessel fragment from a Theban tomb. These could have been traded south. More significant is a block with his name found at Gebelein, once taken as evidence of building activity there and thus Hyksos rule in Upper Egypt. However, the block is small, and many scholars now argue it may have reached Gebelein after the looting of the Hyksos capital, not as proof of Hyksos control. A scarab with his prenomen was found at Tell el-Ajjul in the Gaza Strip and catalogued by Flinders Petrie in 1933. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is dated to Year 33 of Apepi; its verso is dated to Year 11 of an unknown ruler, thought to be Khamudi or Ahmose I.

Two sisters of Apepi are known: Tani, mentioned on a door of a shrine in Avaris and on an offering table stand (Berlin 22487), and Ziwat, named on a bowl found in Spain. A “Prince Apepi” on a seal (now in Berlin) was likely his son. He also had a daughter, Herit: a vase belonging to her was found in a Theban tomb, sometimes considered that of Amenhotep I, which might suggest she married a Theban king, though the vase could have been looted from Avaris after Ahmose I’s victory.

Attestations of Apepi have been catalogued by Ryholt (1997:385 File 15/5). Under his first prenomen, Nebkhepeshre, a vessel is known from Tell el-Yehudiya in Lower Egypt. Under his second, Aqenenre, an offering table with a secondary dedication to Seth, Lord of Avaris, comes from Tell el-Daba. Under his third, Aweserre, a vase of a king’s sister was found in a secondary context at Almuñécar, Spain; a shrine of the king’s sister at Tell el-Daba; a vase from Dra Abu el-Naga in Upper Egypt; and an item from Karnak.