No comments The expulsion of the Hyksos
The simmering hostilities between the Thebans and their northern rivals erupted, as we have seen, during the reign of Seqenenre Tao, and his son Kamose was to continue the battle for complete sovereignty of Egypt. The official account of Kamose’s campaign is related on two stele from Karnak. The first survives only in a much damaged condition, but fortunately the introductory text is known from another source, a writing board now in the British Museum known as the Carnarvon Tablet.
A preamble on the first stele outlines the current situation in Egypt: the country was nominally at peace, with Kamose holding the middle areas, the Hyksos controlling the north and the princes of Kush in command south of Elephantine. Unsurprisingly, the court could not see why Kamose should wish to upset the status quo, but the king was determined to march. According to the stele, Kamose had some success by virtue of the element of surprise – the Hyksos had not apparently expected to be attacked outright. However, the king’s reign was short, no more than three regnal years being recorded, and he was buried at Thebes in an unpretentious, rishi–type coffin that was found in 1857 buried in rubble near where his tomb was recorded by inspectors under Ramses IX.
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| Expulsion of the Hyksos |
The account of the struggles against the Hyksos is continued in a small private tomb at el-Kab, just to the north of Aswan. Carved in vertical columns of hieroglyphs immediately inside the entrance is the autobiography of a local noble of the city of Nekheb (el-Kab), Ahmose son of Ebana,- it is the only contemporary account extant of the final defeat of the Hyksos. Ahmose served in the army under Kamose‘s successor, Ahmose I. The new king resumed the war with the Hyksos about half way through his 24-year reign, leading a series of attacks against Memphis, Avaris, and other Hyksos strongholds. Ahmose son of Ebana not only took part in the siege of Avaris, the second and third battles of Avaris, and the city’s eventual capture, but also pursued the beleaguered Hyksos into Palestine and laid siege to their town of Sharuhen.
At last, after a hard-fought campaign, the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt and the princely line of Thebes, in the person of Ahmose I, inaugurated the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom.
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