The Second Intermediate Period | |||||||||
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c. 1700–1550 BC | |||||||||
![]() The political situation in the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1650 – c. 1550 BC) | |||||||||
Capital |
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Religion | Ancient Egyptian religion | ||||||||
Demonym(s) | Egyptians and Hyksos | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Pharaoh | |||||||||
• c. 1701 – c. 1677 BC | Merneferre Ay (first) | ||||||||
• c. 1555 – c. 1550 BC | Kamose (last) | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• approximately around the late 13th Dynasty | c. 1700 | ||||||||
• The end of the 17th Dynasty of Egypt | 1550 BC | ||||||||
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History of Egypt |
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Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt |
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All years are BC |
The Second Intermediate Period dates from 1700 to 1550 BC.[1]: 123 It marks a period when ancient Egypt was divided into smaller dynasties for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a Second Intermediate Period generally includes the 13th through to the 17th dynasties, however there is no universal agreement in Egyptology about how to define the period.[2]
It is best known as the period when the Hyksos people of West Asia established the 15th Dynasty and ruled from Avaris, which, according to Manetho's Aegyptiaca, was founded by a king by the name of Salitis.[3] The settling of these people may have occurred peacefully, although later recounts of Manetho portray the Hyksos "as violent conquerors and oppressors of Egypt".[4]
The Turin King List from the time of Ramesses II remains the primary source for understanding the chronology and political history of the Second Intermediate Period, along with studying the typology of scarabs, beetle-shaped amulets mass-produced in Ancient Egypt and often inscribed with the names of rulers.[5]
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