Second Intermediate Period of Egypt

Second Intermediate Period of Egypt
c. 1650 BC – c. 1550 BC
The political situation in the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1650 — c. 1550 BC) Thebes was briefly conquered by the Hyksos c. 1580 BC
Capital		Avaris (c. 1674 — c. 1535 BC, Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt) Thebes (c. 1660 — c. 1600 BC, Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt) Abydos (c. 1650 — c. 1600 BC, Abydos Dynasty) Kerma (c. 2500 — c. 1500 BC, Kingdom of Kerma)
Languages		Ancient Egyptian
Religion		Ancient Egyptian religion
Government		Monarchy
Pharaoh
•	c. 1648 BC	Salitis (first)
•	c. 1555 – c. 1550 BC	Kamose (last)
History
•	Established	c. 1650 BC
•	Disestablished	c. 1550 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Middle Kingdom of Egypt New Kingdom of Egypt
Today part of		Egypt

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.

It is best known as the period when the Hyksos made their appearance in Egypt and whose reign comprised the Fifteenth dynasty.

The Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt came to an end at the end of the 19th century BCE with the death of Queen Sobekneferu (1806–1802 BC). Apparently she had no heirs, causing the twelfth dynasty to come to a sudden end, and, with it, the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom; it was succeeded by the much weaker Thirteenth Dynasty. Retaining the seat of the twelfth dynasty, the thirteenth dynasty ruled from Itjtawy ("Seizer-of-the-Two-Lands") near Memphis and Lisht, just south of the apex of the Nile Delta.

The Thirteenth Dynasty is notable for the accession of the first formally recognised Semitic-speaking king, Khendjer ("Boar"). The Thirteenth Dynasty proved unable to hold on to the entire territory of Egypt, however, and a provincial ruling family of Western Asian descent in Avaris, located in the marshes of the eastern Nile Delta, broke away from the central authority to form the Fourteenth Dynasty.

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

The Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt was the first Hyksos dynasty, ruled from Avaris, without control of the entire land. The Hyksos preferred to stay in northern Egypt since they infiltrated from the north-east. The names and order of kings is uncertain. The Turin King list indicates that there were six Hyksos kings, with an obscure Khamudi listed as the final king of the Fifteenth Dynasty (line X.21 of the cited web link clearly provides this summary for the dynasty: "6 kings functioning 100+X years"). The surviving traces on the X figure appears to give the figure 8 which suggests that the summation should be read as 6 kings ruling 108 years.