Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt

The traditional list of rulers of the 16th Dynasty regroups kings believed to be vassals of the Hyksos, some of which have semitic names such as Semqen and Anat-her. The list of kings differs from scholar to scholar and it is here given as per Jürgen von Beckerath's Dynasty XV/XVI in his Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen.[7] Wolfgang Helck, who also believes that the 16th Dynasty was an Hyksos vassal state, proposed a slightly different list of kings.[8] Many of the rulers listed here in the 16th Dynasty under the hypothesis that they were vassals of the Hyksos are put in the 14th Dynasty in the hypothesis that the 16th Dynasty was an independent Theban kingdom. The chronological ordering is largely uncertain.

In his 1997 study of the Second Intermediate Period, the Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt argues that the 16th Dynasty was an independent Theban kingdom. From Ryholt's reconstruction of the Turin canon, 15 kings can be associated to the dynasty, several of whom are attested by contemporary sources.[2] While most likely rulers based in Thebes itself, some may have been local rulers from other important Upper Egyptian towns, including Abydos, El Kab and Edfu.[2] By the reign of Nebiriau I, the realm controlled by the 16th Dynasty extended at least as far north as Hu and south to Edfu.[3][9] Not listed in the Turin canon (after Ryholt) is Wepwawetemsaf, who left a stele at Abydos and was likely a local kinglet of the Abydos Dynasty.[2]

Ryholt gives the list of kings of the 16th Dynasty as shown in the table below.[10] Others, such as Helck, Vandersleyen, Bennett combine some of these rulers with the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt.[11] The list of rulers is given here as per Kim Ryholt and is supposedly in chronological order:

Dynasty XVI as an independent Theban kingdom[12]

Name of king	Image	Dates	Comments
Unknown		1649–1648 BC	Name lost in a lacuna of the Turin canon
Sekhemre-sementawi Djehuti		1648–1645 BC
Sekhemre-seusertawi Sobekhotep VIII		1645–1629 BC
Sekhemre-seankhtawi Neferhotep III		1629–1628 BC
Seankhenre Mentuhotepi		1628–1627 BC
Sewadjenre Nebiryraw I		1627–1601 BC
Nebiriau II		1601 BC
Semenre		1601–1600 BC
Seuserenre Bebiankh		1600–1588 BC
Sekhemre Shedwaset		1588 BC
Unknown		1588–1582 BC	Five kings lost in a lacuna of the Turin canon

Additional kings are classified as belonging to this dynasty per Kim Ryholt but their chronological position is uncertain. They may correspond to the last five lost kings on the Turin canon:[13]

Dynasty XVI as an independent Theban kingdom (uncertain order)

Name of king	Image	Dates	Comments
Djedhotepre Dedumose I			May have tried to sue the Hyksos for peace
Djedneferre Dedumose II
Djedankhre Montemsaf
Merankhre Mentuhotep VI
Seneferibre Senusret IV			Left a colossal statue of himself in Karnak[14]

• Bourriau, Janine (2003) [2000], "The Second Intermediate Period", in Shaw, Ian (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280458-8
• Cory, Isaac Preston (1876), Cory's Ancient fragments of the Phoenician, Carthaginian, Babylonian, Egyptian and other authors, Reeves & Turner, ISBN 9780598986382
• Kuhrt, Amélie (1995), The Ancient Near East: c. 3000–330 BC, London: Routledge, ISBN 9780415013536
• Ryholt, K. S. B. (1997). The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800–1550 BC. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 8772894210.