Minor Theban kings (concurrent with Hyksos)

A strangled city

While the 15th Dynasty flourished in Avaris, the 16th Dynasty emerged in the south as a rival line of native Egyptian kings based in Thebes. The exact origins of these kings are heavily debated; they may have been remnants of the old 13th Dynasty or an independent local family. Regardless of their origins, their political position was exceptionally weak.

The kings of Thebes

The 16th Dynasty was completely strangled economically and militarily. The Hyksos controlled Lower Egypt to the north, and the Kingdom of Kush controlled the crucial trade routes and fortresses to the south. The city of Thebes suffered from severe famine, natural disasters, and constant military raids. Inscriptions from early rulers like Neferhotep III and Mentuhotepi boast of defending Thebes, but entirely omit traditional pharaonic claims of ruling Upper and Lower Egypt. Their authority was strictly confined to the immediate vicinity of their struggling city.