Second Intermediate Period
Khamudi
15th Dynasty (Hyksos) · 1650-1550 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Khamudi was the last king of the Fifteenth Dynasty, presiding over the fall of Hyksos Avaris to the Theban forces of Ahmose I around 1550 BCE, the event conventionally used to mark the start of the New Kingdom. His own reign is thinly documented; most of what is known about the war that ended it comes not from any inscription of his own but from an Egyptian soldier's tomb autobiography describing the winning side's campaign. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Metropolitan Museum.
Reign dates: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
The final foreign ruler
Khamudi was the last king of the 15th Dynasty. He is the only Hyksos ruler whose name is preserved with absolute certainty on the heavily damaged Turin Canon, which credits the entire dynasty with a total lifespan of 108 years. His reign ended with the violent expulsion of the Hyksos by the native Egyptian rulers of the 17th Dynasty from Thebes, who subsequently destroyed most of the Hyksos monuments and records.
Ahmose son of Ebana's account of the fall of Avaris
The Egyptian side of this story survives largely through the tomb autobiography of a soldier named Ahmose, son of Ebana, inscribed on his tomb wall at El-Kab. He describes serving under King Ahmose I in the assault that finally captured Avaris, personally killing enemies and being rewarded with the "gold of valor" and captives as spoils, before the army pursued the retreating Hyksos into southern Canaan for a three-year siege of the fortress of Sharuhen. Notably, this firsthand Egyptian account never actually names the Hyksos king defeated at Avaris — for that, historians rely on the Turin Canon rather than on the victors' own celebratory record of the campaign, a reminder that even a pivotal military event can leave the losing ruler more securely known from an administrative document than from the conquerors' own inscriptions.
Sources for this profile
- Baker, D. D. (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume 1. Stacey International.
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- Ryholt, K. (2004). The Turin King-list. Ägypten und Levante, 14, 135–155.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
- University College London. Digital Egypt for Universities.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.