{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian dynasty}} {{Infobox Former Country | conventional_long_name = Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt | era = Second Intermediate Period of Egypt | government_type = Absolute monarchy | nation = | image_map = Egypt_Hyksos_Period.png | image_map_caption = Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty | image_flag = | flag = | flag_type = | year_start = 1650 BC | year_end = c. 1550 BC | p1 = Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt | flag_p1 = | p2 = Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt | p3 = Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt | p4 = Abydos Dynasty | flag_p2 = | s1 = Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt | capital = Avaris | common_languages = Egyptian language | religion = ancient Egyptian religion | event_start = | event_end = | demonym = | area_km2 = | area_rank = | GDP_PPP = | GDP_PPP_year = | HDI = | HDI_year = | today = }} {{Egyptian Dynasty list}} The '''Fifteenth Dynasty''' was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |pages=303–304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA303 |language=en}}</ref> The 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Second Intermediate Period. The 15th Dynasty dates approximately from 1650 to 1550 BC.<ref name="Shaw 481">{{cite book |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=Ian |title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-815034-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhisto00shaw/page/481 481] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhisto00shaw/page/481 }}</ref><ref name="EAE110">{{cite book |last1=Bunson |first1=Margaret |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt |date=2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0997-8 |page=110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6EJ0G-4jyoC&pg=PA110 |language=en}}</ref>

==Dynastic history== The kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty are said to have been Canaanite.<ref name="PIE5">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref> Pharaoh Kamose is known to have referred to Apophis, one of the kings of the dynasty, as "Chieftain of Retjenu (i.e. Caanan)".<ref name="PIE126">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA126 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="PIE131"/> The kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty formed "the second Asiatic Kingdom in the Delta", covering an area which may have included Canaan itself, although the archaeological record is sparse.<ref name="PIE118">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=118 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA118 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="PIE130">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA130 |language=en}}</ref> The dynasty probably lasted for a period of about 108 years.<ref name="IPE119"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Ian |title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt |date=2003 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-280458-7 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yugRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA180 |language=en}}</ref>

The first king, also described as a Hyksos (''ḥḳꜣw-ḫꜣswt'', a "shepherd" according to Africanus), led his people into an occupation of the Nile Delta area and settled his capital at Avaris. These events put an end to the Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt.<ref name="PIE5"/> There is no evidence of conflict at that time however, and the settling of the Canaanite populations could have occurred rather peacefully in the power vacuum left by the disintegration of the Fourteenth Dynasty.<ref name="PIE131">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |pages=131–132 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA131 |language=en}}</ref> Subsequent relations with Egyptian polities, however, were marked with violent conflict.<ref name="EPI140">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA140 |language=en}}</ref>

===Identity=== {{main|Hyksos}} The people of Avaris in the Nile Delta were called Aamu by the Egyptians, which was also the term used to designate the inhabitants of Syria, or the enemies of Ramses II at the battle of Kadesh. This has generally been translated as "Western Asiatics" by Egyptologists.<ref name="IS274">{{cite book|last1=Shaw|first1=Ian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yugRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA174|title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt|date=2003|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-280458-7|pages=274 ff|language=en}}</ref>

The term ''Hyksos'' was traditionally used to designate foreign chieftains, and more specifically "rulers of the Asiatics", already before the Fifteenth Dynasty and also after it.<ref name="IS274" /><ref name="PIE123">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |pages=123–124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA123 |language=en}}</ref> It was not an official title of the rulers of the Fifteenth dynasty, and is never encountered together with royal titulature, except in one rare instance in an inscription from Tell el-Dab'a mentioning an unknown king and describing him as a Hyksos.<ref name="PIE123"/> "Hyksos" was rather a generic term which is encountered separately from royal titulature, and in regnal lists after the end of the Fifteenth Dynasty itself.<ref name="PIE123"/><ref name="PIE125">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA125 |language=en}}</ref> In another instance, Khyan is thought to have used the title "Hyksos" early in his reign, and then abandoned it for traditional Egyptian titulature when he invaded the whole of Egypt.<ref name="PIE123"/> Only the first four kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty are known to have used the naming "Hyksos", and after that royal titulature becomes purely Egyptian.<ref name="PIE125"/>

===Territorial extent=== [[File:Ancient_Egyptian_dagger.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|left|Dagger in the name of Apophis]] Regular conflicts continued with the Egyptian dynasties to the south, the Sixteenth Dynasty, the Abydos Dynasty and the Seventeenth Dynasty, with short intervals of peace during which there were some relations with Nubia.<ref name="PIE5"/> Soon after the occupation of the Nile Delta, where it replaced the Fourteenth Dynasty, the Fifteenth Dynasty expanded to occupy Memphis, leading to the fall of the Thirteenth Dynasty at Memphis. As Egyptian political power disintegrated at Memphis, new dynasties arose in the south, the Abydos Dynasty and the Sixteenth Dynasty at Thebes.<ref name="PIE132">{{cite book|last1=Ryholt|first1=K. S. B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA132|title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C.|last2=Bülow-Jacobsen|first2=Adam|date=1997|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press|isbn=978-87-7289-421-8|pages=132–133|language=en}}</ref>

The Fifteenth Dynasty at one point, after a period of about 20 years since its foundation, extended its rule as far south as Thebes, entering into conflict with Pharaoh Neferhotep III.<ref name="PIE5"/><ref name="PIE132"/> The whole of Egypt was conquered during the reign of Khayan.<ref name="PIE123"/> The Abydos Dynasty also vanished on the occasion of these southern conquests.<ref name="PIE132"/> Numerous monuments from conquered areas were brought north to the capital of Avaris, and many were marked with additional inscriptions, especially by Apophis.<ref name="PIE133">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA133 |language=en}}</ref> All of this is contested however. For Alexander Ilin-Tomich, the territory directly ruled by the Hyksos kings of Avaris was likely confined to the eastern Delta and the nature and extent of their control over Middle Egypt remains unclear.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ilin-Tomich|first=Alexander|title=Second Intermediate Period|journal=UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology|year=2016|pages=1–21|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/72q561r2}}</ref>

The Fifteenth Dynasty eventually ended with the conquest of Avaris by the Pharaoh Ahmose I.<ref name="PIE5"/>

===Trade=== The trading relations of the Fifteenth Dynasty were mainly with Canaan and Cyprus.<ref name="PIE5"/><ref name="IS182">{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Ian |title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt |date=2003 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-280458-7 |pages=182–183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yugRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="PIE138">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |pages=138–139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA138 |language=en}}</ref> Trade with Canaan is said to have been "intensive", especially with many imports of Canaanite wares, and may have reflected the Canaanite origins of the dynasty.<ref name="PIE138"/> According to the Kamose stelae, the Hyksos imported "charriots and horses, ships, timber, gold, lapis lazuli, silver, turquoise, bronze, axes without number, oil, incense, fat and honey".<ref name="IS182"/> The Fifteenth Dynasty also exported large quantities of material looted from southern Egypt, especially Egyptian sculptures, to the areas of Canaan and Syria. These transfers of Egyptian artifacts to the Near East may especially be attributed to king Apophis.<ref name="PIE138"/> Trade relations with Cyprus were also very important.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA141 |language=en}}</ref>

===Religion=== The relation of the Fifteenth Dynasty to Egyptian religious traditions was ambiguous, and they are said by commentators from the Eighteenth Dynasty that "they ruled without ackowledging Re".<ref name="PIE125"/> The dynasty is recorded as having destroyed Egyptian monuments and removed Egyptian statuary for booty, as well as plundering royal tombs, Ahmose complaining that "pyramids have been torn down".<ref name="PIE145">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |pages=145–148|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA145 |language=en}}</ref>

==Rulers== Known rulers of the 15th Dynasty are as follows:<ref name="ryholt">K.S.B. Ryholt: ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, {{circa|1800–1550 BC}}'', Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&q=Semqen excerpts available online here.]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; width:60%;" |+'''Fifteenth Dynasty''' |- ! Name ! Image ! Dates and comments |- | Salitis | | Mentioned by Manetho as first king of the dynasty; currently unidentified with any known archaeologically attested person. Ruled for 19 years according to Manetho, as quoted by Josephus. |- | Semqen |50px | According to Ryholt, he was an early Hyksos ruler, possibly the first king of the dynasty;<ref name="ryholt"/> von Beckerath assigns him to the 16th dynasty.<ref name="beck">Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen'', Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz : P. von Zabern, 1999, {{ISBN|3-8053-2591-6}}, [http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4xjd6j4qed3c9vl available online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222200801/http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4xjd6j4qed3c9vl |date=2015-12-22 }} see p. 120&ndash;121.</ref> |- | Aperanat | 50px | According to Ryholt, he was an early Hyksos ruler, possibly the second king of the dynasty;<ref name="ryholt"/> von Beckerath assigns him to the 16th dynasty.<ref name="beck" /> |- | Khyan |50px | Ruled 10+ years. He was named as a Hyksos king in his surviving monuments and seal impressions.<ref name="IPE119">{{cite book |last1=Ryholt |first1=K. S. B. |last2=Bülow-Jacobsen |first2=Adam |title=The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C. |date=1997 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-421-8 |page=119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&pg=PA119 |language=en}}</ref> |- | Yanassi |left|59x59px | Khyan's eldest son, possibly at the origin of the mention of a king Iannas in Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca'' |- | Sakir-Har | | Named as an Hyksos king on a doorjamb found at Avaris. Regnal order uncertain. |- | Apophis |50px | c. 1590?–1550 BC<br>Ruled 40+ years.<ref name="IPE119"/> |- | Khamudi |50px | c. 1550–1540 BC |}

The 15th Dynasty of Egypt was the first Hyksos dynasty, ruling 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 are uncertain. The Turin King list indicates that there were six Hyksos kings, with an obscure Khamudi listed as the final king of the 15th Dynasty.

===Number of kings named Apepi=== {{main|Apepi (pharaoh)}} Some scholars argue there were two Apophis kings named Apepi, but this is primarily because there are two known prenomens for this king: Awoserre and Aqenenre. However, the Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt maintains in his study of the Second Intermediate Period that these prenomens all refer to one man: Apepi I, who ruled Egypt for 40+X years.<ref>Kim Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period {{circa|1800-1550 B.C.}}'' by Museum Tuscalanum Press. 1997. p. 125</ref> This is also supported by this king's employment of a third prenomen during his reign: Nebkhepeshre.<ref>[http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/2interkings/kings2intermediateryholt.html Kings of the Second Intermediate Period] University College London; scroll down to the 15th dynasty</ref> Apophis likely employed different prenomens over the course of several periods of his reign. This scenario is not without precedent or parallel, since several kings, including Mentuhotep II, the famous Ramesses II, and Seti II, are known to have used two different prenomens during their reigns.

== Comparison of regnal lists == The fifteenth dynasty was often excluded from Egyptian king lists due to being perceived as usurpers by Egyptians in later times. The Turin King List originally listed six "''rulers of foreign lands''", but the list itself is in a very fragmentary state and much of the information is now lost. Manetho's now-lost work ''Aegyptiaca'', as quoted by Sextus Julius Africanus, originally listed six "''shepherd kings from Phoenicia''" and gave individual reign lengths of each king.<ref name="Manetho2">{{Cite web |last=Lundström |first=Peter |title=The Dynasties of Manetho |url=https://pharaoh.se/ancient-egypt/kinglist/manetho-king-list/ |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=Pharaoh.se |language=en}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" ! rowspan="2" |Historical Pharaoh ! rowspan="2" |Turin King List<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lundström |first=Peter |title=Turin King List: column 10 |url=https://pharaoh.se/ancient-egypt/kinglist/turin/column-10/ |access-date=2025-09-11 |website=Pharaoh.se |language=en}}</ref> ! rowspan="2" |Manetho<ref name="Manetho2" /> ! colspan="3" |Reign Length |- !Turin List<ref name=":0" /> !Manetho (Africanus)<ref name="Manetho2" /> !Manetho (Josephus)<ref name="Manetho2" /> |- |Salitis |''Name lost'' |Salitis |''Lost'' |19 years |13 years |- |Semqen? |''Name lost'' |Beon |''Lost'' |44 years |44 years |- |Aperanat |''Name lost'' |Apakhnas |''Lost'' |61 years |36 years and 7 months |- |Khyan |''Name lost'' |– |10+ years |– |– |- |Apepi |''Name lost'' |Apophis |40+ years |50 years |61 years |- |Yanassi |– |Iannas |– |49 years |50 years and 1 month |- |Sakir-Har? |– |Assis |– |49 years |49 years and 2 months |- |Khamudi |Khamudy |– |''Lost'' |– |– |- | | | |'''140/160/180+ years''' |'''284 years''' |'''253 years and 10 months''' |}

== References == {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Kim Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period {{circa|1800-1550 B.C.}}" by Museum Tuscalanum Press ({{ISBN|87-7289-421-0}})

==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}

{{s-start}} {{s-bef | before = Fourteenth Dynasty }} {{s-ttl | title = Dynasty of Egypt | years = 1650−1550 BC }} {{s-aft | after = Sixteenth Dynasty }} {{s-end}}

Category:Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt Category:States and territories established in the 17th century BC Category:States and territories disestablished in the 16th century BC Category:Hyksos 15 Category:17th century BC in Egypt Category:16th century BC in Egypt Category:17th-century BC establishments in Egypt Category:2nd-millennium BC disestablishments in Egypt Category:16th-century BC disestablishments Category:2nd millennium BC in Egypt