Stratigraphy At Tell el-Daba (Avaris, Eastern Nile Delta, Lower Egypt), the reign of Apophis can be associated with Stratum D/3 in the late Hyksos period. In the Southern Levant, this corresponds with the Middle Bronze IIC (MB IIC) from around 1600/1590 to 1550 BCE. In the Northern Levant, the Late Bronze IA started following the Hittite destruction by Mursili I around 1590 BCE with the Fall of the Great Kingdom of Yamhad (Aleppo), destruction of its vassal Ebla etc. The Hittite attacks into Syria may have triggered refugees to migrate into Canaan. At Thebes, Ahmose I came to power around 1571/1570 BCE (high chronology) and would defeat Avaris around 1560 BCE before he continued to expel the Hyksos in the Southern Levant - ending the MB IIC.
Foreign relations Kamose, the last king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, refers to Apepi as a "Chieftain of
Retjenu" in a stela that implies a Canaanite background for this Hyksos king. While Apepi exerted
suzerainty over and maintained peaceful trade relations with the native
Theban Seventeenth Dynasty to the south, the other kingdom eventually regained control.
Appropriation reinscribed in the name of Apepi, one of the so-called "
Hyksos sphinxes" Rather than building his own monuments, Apepi generally usurped the monuments of previous pharaohs by inscribing his own name over two sphinxes of
Amenemhat II and two statues of
Imyremeshaw. Apepi is thought to have usurped the throne of northern Egypt after the death of his predecessor,
Khyan, since the latter had designated his son,
Yanassi, to be his successor on the throne as a foreign ruler. He was succeeded by
Khamudi, the last Hyksos ruler.
Ahmose I, who drove out the Hyksos kings from Egypt, established the
18th Dynasty. More problematic is a block with the king's name found at Gebelein. The block had been taken as evidence for building activity of the king in Upper Egypt and, hence, seen as proof that the Hyksos also ruled in Upper Egypt. However, the block is not very big and many scholars argue today, that it might have reached Gebelein after the looting of the Hyksos capital and is no proof of a Hyksos reign in Upper Egypt. The
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is dated to Year 33 of Apepi. On the verso it is dated to Year 11 of an unknown ruler, thought to be Khamudi or Ahmose I. dagger handle of a soldier of Hyksos Pharaoh Apepi, illustrating the soldier hunting with a short bow and sword. Inscriptions: "The perfect god, the lord of the two lands, Nebkhepeshre Apepi" and "Follower of his lord Nehemen", found at a burial at
Saqqara. Now at the
Luxor Museum. ==Family==