Reconstructing the Order of the Kings of the XVth Dynasty (The Hyksos)

There are three sources for reconstructing the order of the Hyksos (XVth) Dynasty:

1. The list of kings in Manetho’s History: Salitis, Bnon, Apachnan, Apopis, Iannas and Assis. This list however was always suspected to be incorrect as to the order of the kings and to their names, which were misspelled and had a distorted form.

2. Monuments and scarabs of the Hyksos kings.

3. The Turin papyrus, which mentions only the last two kings, Apopi [Apopis in Greek] and Hòamudi, and gives the total sum of 103 years for the length of the dynasty.

The Egyptian monuments enable us to restore only part of the Hyksos dynasty: Hyan, Iannas and Apopi. According to the Turin Papyrus, Hòamudi follows Apopi. Thus, the only two kings left to be placed in order are Sðsûy and Jacob-HR, attested till now only on scarabs. No doubt, these two kings belong at the beginning of the Hyksos dynasty. The following table gives the author’s reconstruction of the Hyksos dynasty according to the three sources mentioned above. There is also an attempt to reconstruct the kings’ Semitic (Canaanite) names and, in cases in which the prenomen was preserved, to present it on a separate line.

The Hyksos Kings—XVth Dynasty—According to Aharon Kempinski

Prenomen: M3’-ib-R‘
Nomen: Sðsûy
Semitic Form: (Egyptian name)
Manethonian Form: (A)ssis

Prenomen: Mr-wsr-R‘
Nomen: Y‘kb-HR
Semitic Form: Ya‘qub-Haddu(?)
Manethonian Form: ———

Prenomen: S.wsr-n-R‘
Nomen: Hòy3n
Semitic Form: Hòiyaran
Manethonian Form: (Apa)chnan

Prenomen: ———
Nomen: Ynss-idn
Semitic Form: Yanassi-Ad^an
Manethonian Form: Iannas

Prenomen: ’3-wsr-R‘
Nomen: Ippi
Semitic Form: (Egyptian name)
Manethonian Form: Apophis