Second Intermediate Period of Egypt

Dynasties of Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt

Protodynastic Period

Early Dynastic Period

1st 2nd

Old Kingdom

3rd 4th 5th 6th

First Intermediate Period

7th 8th 9th 10th

11th (Thebes only)

Middle Kingdom

11th (All Egypt)

12th 13th 14th

Second Intermediate Period

15th 16th 17th

New Kingdom

18th 19th 20th

Third Intermediate Period

21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th

Late Period

26th 27th 28th

29th 30th 31st

Graeco-Roman Period

Ptolemaic Roman Empire

The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when Ancient Egypt once again fell into disarray between the end of the Middle Kingdom, and the start of the New Kingdom. It is best known as when the Hyksos made their appearance in Egypt, whose reign comprised the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties.

The brilliant Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty came to an end around 1786 BC, and was succeeded by the much weaker Thirteenth. Both ruled from Itjtaway ("Seizer-of-the-Two-Lands") near Memphis and el-Lisht, just south of the apex of the Nile Delta. The Thirteenth Dynasty proved unable to hold onto the long land of Egypt, and the provincial ruling family in Xois, located in the marshes of the western Delta, broke away from the central authority to form the Fourteenth Dynasty. The splintering of the land accelerated after the reign of the Thirteenth Dynasty king Neferhotep I.

It was during the reign of his brother and successor, Sobekhotep IV, that the Hyksos made their first appearance, and around 1720 BC took control of the town of Avaris (the modern Tell ed-Dab'a/Khata'na), a few miles from Qantir. The outlines of the traditional account of the "invasion" of the land by the Hyksos is preserved in the Aegyptiaca of Manetho, an Egyptian priest who wrote in the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Manetho recorded that it was during the reign of one "Tutimaios" (who has been identified with Dudimose I of the Fourteenth Dynasty) that the Hyksos overran Egypt, led by Salitis, the founder of the Fifteenth Dynasty. This dynasty was succeeded by a group of Hyksos princes and chieftains, who ruled in the eastern Delta with their local Egyptian vassals, and are known primarily by scarabs inscribed with their names, called by modern Egyptologists the Sixteenth Dynasty.

The later kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty appear to be only ephemeral monarchs under the control of a powerful line of viziers, and indeed it has been suggested that the kingship in this period might have been elective if not actually appointive. One monarch late in the dynasty, Wahibra Yayebi, may have even been a former vizier. Beginning with the reign of Sobekhotep IV, the power of this dynasty, weak to begin with, deteriorated. The later king Merneferre Ai (ruled c.1700 BC) appears to have been a mere vassal of the Hyksos princes ruling there; his successors held onto their diminished office until c.1633 BC.

Around the time Memphis and It-tawy fell to the Hyksos, the native Egyptian ruling house in Thebes declared its independence from the vassal dynasty in It-tawy and set itself up as the Seventeenth Dynasty. This dynasty was to prove the salvation of Egypt and would eventually lead the war of liberation that drove the Hyksos back into Asia. The two last kings of this dynasty were Tao II the Brave and Kamose, whom tradition credited with the final defeat of the Hyksos. With the Eighteenth Dynasty, the New Kingdom begins.

Ancient Egypt Clipart and Pictures

• Ancient Egypt Architecture (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Architecture)
• Ancient Egypt Art (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Art)
• Ancient Egypt Clipart (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Clipart)
• Ancient Egypt Clothing (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Clothing)
• Ancient Egypt Architecture (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Commerce)
• Ancient Egypt Daily Life (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Daily_Life)
• Ancient Egypt Games and Toys (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Games_and_Toys)
• Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphs (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Hieroglyphs)
• Ancient Egypt People (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Historical_People)
• Ancient Egypt Illustrations (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Illustrations)
• Ancient Egypt Mummies (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Mummies)
• Ancient Egypt Musical Instruments (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Musical_Instruments)
• Ancient Egypt Pyramids (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Pyramids)
• Ancient Egypt Religion (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Religion)
• Ancient Egypt Statues (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Statues)
• Ancient Egypt Temples (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Temples)
• Ancient Egypt Transportation (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/Transportation)
• Ancient War and Armies (http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Ancient_Civilizations/Ancient_Egypt/War_and_Armies)