Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt
Theban dynasty that began the war to expel the Hyksos.
The Seventeenth Dynasty ruled Upper Egypt near the end of the Second Intermediate Period, around 1580 to 1550 BC. Based in Thebes, these kings lived at the same time as the Hyksos 15th Dynasty and came after the 16th Dynasty. Its final two pharaohs fought against Hyksos control, starting a conflict that resulted in Egypt's New Kingdom.
Quick Facts
- Official name
- 17th Dynasty of Egypt
- Era
- Bronze Age
- Government
- Absolute monarchy
- Established
- c. 1580 BC
- Dissolved
- c. 1550 BC
- Capital
- Thebes
- Common languages
- Egyptian
- Title leader
- Monarch
Facts from the source article.
Origins
Rahotep started the Seventeenth Dynasty, which most experts view as an Egyptian native line. However, some researchers propose Nubian roots, pointing to more Nubians living in Egypt at the time and X-rays of Tao showing skull features similar to contemporary Nubians. Donald Redford claims Egyptians worked for the Kushite king between the 1600s and 1500s BC, backing this with written records and archaeological finds of a stronger Nubian presence from the third Nile cataract up to Deir Rifeh.
War with the Hyksos
King Tao led the first wave of attacks toward the southern flank but was killed in battle. His son Kamose succeeded him, secured the southern flank, and then moved north against the Hyksos, but failed to take more land and died suddenly after two years on the throne. Kamose left no sons, so his brother Ahmose I came to power at about ten years old. Nationalists in the north had weakened the Hyksos, and around 1559 BC an old enough Ahmose I led the conquest of Memphis, then with naval support took Hutwaret. The people of Thebes and Upper Egypt maintained mostly peaceful relationships with Nubians and Hyksos, restoring unity to Upper and Lower Egypt and beginning the New Kingdom.
Comparison of regnal lists
This dynasty does not appear often on surviving Egyptian king lists, though five kings are recorded on the Karnak King List from the reign of Thutmose III, and three kings appear in the kings scene of TT2 from the reign of Ramesses II. The dynasty likely appeared on the Turin King List, but that section is heavily fragmented. Originally sixteen kings were named after the Sixteenth Dynasty, but it is unknown if all were part of the seventeenth dynasty, and one of the first two may have been Senebkay of a different dynasty.
More in Dynasties of Ancient Egypt
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