kingdom · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan

Abydos Dynasty

1650 BCE – 1600 BCE (approx.) · capital Abydos

A small, debated local dynasty at Abydos in the Second Intermediate Period, made real by the 2014 discovery of King Senebkay's tomb.

Origins

In 1997 the Egyptologist Kim Ryholt proposed that a group of kings in the Turin King List ruled a local kingdom at Abydos around 1650 BCE, after the collapse of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. The idea remains debated, but it was strengthened in 2014 when Josef Wegner's team found the tomb of a previously unknown king, Senebkay, at Abydos.

Rule and society

Almost nothing is known of its government. The kings ruled a narrow stretch of Middle Egypt around Abydos and Thinis, the cult centre of Osiris. Senebkay's modest tomb reused materials from older monuments, and his skeleton bears battle wounds, perhaps from fighting the Hyksos.

Decline and legacy

The kingdom probably fell by around 1600 BCE, absorbed by the Theban Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt or overrun by the Hyksos.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Middle Kingdom of Egypt 2055 BCE – 1650 BCEAbydos Dynasty

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Abydos Dynasty. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/abydos-dynasty
MLA
“Abydos Dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/abydos-dynasty. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Abydos Dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/abydos-dynasty.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Abydos Dynasty’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/abydos-dynasty (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻