Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt

All years (rightmost column) are BC (BCE)

First Dynasty	I	c. 3150–2890
Second Dynasty	II	2890–2686

Old Kingdom

Third Dynasty	III	2686–2613
Fourth Dynasty	IV	2613–2498
Fifth Dynasty	V	2498–2345
Sixth Dynasty	VI	2345–2181

First Intermediate

Seventh and Eighth Dynasties	VII/VIII	2181–2160
Ninth Dynasty	IX	2160–2130
Tenth Dynasty	X	2130–2040
Early Eleventh Dynasty	XI	2134–2061

Middle Kingdom

Late Eleventh Dynasty	XI	2061–1991
Twelfth Dynasty	XII	1991–1803
Thirteenth Dynasty	XIII	1803–1649
Fourteenth Dynasty	XIV	1705–1690

Second Intermediate

Fifteenth Dynasty	XV	1674–1535
Sixteenth Dynasty	XVI	1660–1600
Abydos Dynasty		1650–1600
Seventeenth Dynasty	XVII	1580–1549

New Kingdom

Eighteenth Dynasty	XVIII	1549–1292
Nineteenth Dynasty	XIX	1292–1189
Twentieth Dynasty	XX	1189–1077

Third Intermediate

Twenty-first Dynasty	XXI	1069–945
Twenty-second Dynasty	XXII	945–720
Twenty-third Dynasty	XXIII	837–728
Twenty-fourth Dynasty	XXIV	732–720
Twenty-fifth Dynasty	XXV	732–653

Late Period

Twenty-sixth Dynasty	XXVI	672–525
Twenty-seventh Dynasty (1st Persian Period)	XXVII	525–404
Twenty-eighth Dynasty	XXVIII	404–398
Twenty-ninth Dynasty	XXIX	398–380
Thirtieth Dynasty	XXX	380–343
Thirty-first Dynasty (2nd Persian Period)	XXXI	343–332

Ptolemaic (Hellenistic)

Argead Dynasty	332–305
Ptolemaic Kingdom	305–30

The Sixteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XVI)^[1] was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled the Theban region in Upper Egypt^[2] for 70 years.^[3]

This dynasty, together with Dynasties XV and XVII, was often combined under the group title, Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650-1580 BC), a period that saw the division of Upper and Lower Egypt between the pharaohs at Thebes and the Hyksos kings of the 15th dynasty based at Avaris.

The political situation in Egypt during the existence of the 16th Dynasty from c. 1650 until c. 1590 BC. Thebes was briefly conquered by the Hyksos c. 1580 BC.

Identification

Of the two chief versions of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, Dynasty XVI is described by the more reliable^[4] Africanus (supported by Syncellus)^[5] as "shepherd [hyksos] kings", but by Eusebius as Theban.^[4]

Ryholt (1997), followed by Bourriau (2003), in reconstructing the Turin canon, interpreted a list of Thebes-based kings to constitute Manetho's Dynasty XVI, although this is one of Ryholt's "most debatable and far-reaching" conclusions.^[4] For this reason other scholars do not follow Ryholt and see only insufficient evidence for the interpretation of the Sixteenth Dynasty as Theban.^[6]

History

The continuing war against Dynasty XV dominated the short-lived 16th dynasty. The armies of the 15th dynasty, winning town after town from their southern enemies, continually encroached on the 16th dynasty territory, eventually threatening and then conquering Thebes itself. In his study of the second intermediate period, the egyptologist Kim Ryholt has suggested that Dedumose I sued for a truce in the latter years of the dynasty,^[3] but one of his predecessors, Nebiryraw I, may have been more successful and seems to have enjoyed a period of peace in his reign.^[3]

Famine, which had plagued Upper Egypt during late 13th Dynasty and the 14th Dynasty, also blighted the 16th Dynasty, most evidently during and after the reign of Neferhotep III.^[3]

Kings

Various chronological orderings and lists of kings have been proposed by scholars for this dynasty. These lists fall broadly in two categories: those assuming that the 16th Dynasty comprised vassals of the Hyksos, as advocated by Jürgen von Beckerath and Wolfgang Helck; and those assuming that the 16th Dynasty was an independent Theban kingdom, as recently proposed by Kim Ryholt.

Vassals of the Hyksos

The traditional list of rulers of the 16th Dynasty regroups kings believed to be vassals of the Hyksos, some of which have semitic names such as Semqen and Anat-her. The list of kings differs from scholar to scholar and it is here given as per Jürgen von Beckerath's Dynasty XV/XVI in his Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen.^[7] Wolfgang Helck, who also believes that the 16th Dynasty was an Hyksos vassal state, proposed a slightly different list of kings.^[8] Many of the rulers listed here in the 16th Dynasty under the hypothesis that they were vassals of the Hyksos are put in the 14th Dynasty in the hypothesis that the 16th Dynasty was an independent Theban kingdom. The chronological ordering is largely uncertain.

**Dynasty XV/XVI** as vassals of the Hyksos^[7]
Name of king	Dates	Comments
'Anat-Har		Possibly a prince of the 15th Dynasty or a Canaanite chieftain contemporary with the 12th Dynasty
'Aper-'Anati		May belong to the early 15th Dynasty
Semqen		May belong to the early 15th Dynasty
Sakir-Har		May belong to the early 15th Dynasty
Apepi		May be identical with the Hyksos ruler Apepi
Maaibre Sheshi		May belong to the early 14th Dynasty
Yaqub-Har		May belong to the late 14th Dynasty
Jamu
Jakebmu
Amu
Sneferankhre Pepi III
Hepu
Anati
Bebnum
Nebmaare		May belong to the 17th Dynasty
Aahotepre		May be the same person as 'Ammu
Anetrire
Meribre
Nubankhre		Kingship contested
Nikare II		Kingship contested
[...]kare
[...]kare
[...]kare
Sharek
Wazad		May belong to the 14th Dynasty
Qur		Possibly Qareh, may belong to the 14th Dynasty
Shenes		Likely to be Sheneh rather than Shenes and may belong to the 14th Dynasty
Inek
'A[...]
'Ap[epi]
Hibe
Aped		Reading is uncertain
Hapi
Shemsu
Meni[...]
Werqa

Independent Theban Kingdom

In his 1997 study of the Second Intermediate Period, the Danish egyptologist Kim Ryholt argues that the 16th Dynasty was an independent Theban kingdom. From Ryholt's reconstruction of the Turin canon, 15 kings can be associated to the dynasty, several of whom are attested by contemporary sources.^[2] While most likely rulers based in Thebes itself, some may have been local rulers from other important Upper Egyptian towns, including Abydos, El Kab and Edfu.^[2] By the reign of Nebiriau I, the realm controlled by the 16th dynasty extended at least as far north as Hu and south to Edfu.^[3]^[9] Not listed in the Turin canon (after Ryholt) is Wepwawetemsaf, who left a stele at Abydos and was likely a local kinglet of the Abydos Dynasty.^[2]

Ryholt gives the list of kings of the 16th dynasty as shown in the table below.^[10] Others, such as Helck, Vandersleyen, Bennett combine some of these rulers with the Seventeenth dynasty of Egypt.^[11] The list of rulers is given here as per Kim Ryholt and is supposedly in chronological order:

**Dynasty XVI** as an independent Theban kingdom^[12]
Name of king	Dates	Comments
Unknown	1649–1648 BC	Name lost in a lacuna of the Turin canon
Sekhemre-sementawi Djehuti	1648–1645 BC
Sekhemre-seusertawi Sobekhotep VIII	1645–1629 BC
Sekhemre-seankhtawi Neferhotep III	1629–1628 BC
Seankhenre Mentuhotepi	1628–1627 BC
Sewadjenre Nebiryraw I	1627–1601 BC
Nebiriau II	1601 BC
Semenre	1601–1600 BC
Seuserenre Bebiankh	1600–1588 BC
Sekhemre Shedwaset	1588 BC
Unknown	1588–1582 BC	Five kings lost in a lacuna of the Turin canon

Additional kings are classified as belonging to this dynasty per Kim Ryholt but their chronological position is uncertain. They may corresponds to the last five lost kings on the Turin canon:^[13]

**Dynasty XVI** as an independent Theban kingdom (uncertain order)
Name of king	Dates	Comments
Djedhotepre Dedumose I		May have tried to sue the Hyksos for peace
Djedneferre Dedumose II
Djedankhre Montemsaf
Merankhre Mentuhotep VI
Seneferibre Senusret IV		Left a colossal statue of himself in Karnak^[14]

References

↑ Kuhrt 1995: 118
1 2 3 4 Bourriau 2003: 191
1 2 3 4 5 Ryholt 1997: 305
1 2 3 Bourriau 2003: 179
↑ Cory 1876
↑ see for example, Quirke, in Maree: The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth - Seventeenth Dynasties, Current Research, Future Prospects, Leuven 2011, Paris — Walpole, MA. ISBN 978-9042922280, p. 56, n. 6
1 2 Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen, Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz : P. von Zabern, 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2591-6
↑ Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto, Wolfhart Westendorf, Stele - Zypresse: Volume 6 of Lexikon der Ägyptologie, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1986, Page 1383
↑ Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9, 2008, pp. 256-257
↑ Kings of the Second Intermediate Period 16th dynasty (after Ryholt 1997)
↑ Chris Bennet, A Genealogical Chronology of the Seventeenth Dynasty, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 39 (2002), pp. 123-155
↑ Kim Ryholt: The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800 - 1550 BC, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, ISBN 8772894210, 1997.
↑ Kim Ryholt's 16th dynasty on Digital Egypt for Universities
↑ Georges Legrain: Statues et statuettes de rois et de particuliers, in Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Le Caire, 1906. I, 171 pp., 79 pls, available copyright-free online, published in 1906, see p. 18 and p. 109

Bibliography

Bourriau, Janine (2003) [2000], "The Second Intermediate Period", in Shaw, Ian, The Oxford history of ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280458-8
Cory, Isaac Preston (1876), Cory's Ancient fragments of the Phoenician, Carthaginian, Babylonian, Egyptian and other authors, Reeves & Turner
Kuhrt, Amélie (1995), The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 BC, London: Routledge, ISBN 9780415013536
Ryholt, K. S. B. (1997). The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800 - 1550 BC. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 8772894210.

Preceded by Fifteenth dynasty	Dynasty of Egypt 1649 − 1582 BCE	Succeeded by Seventeenth dynasty

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