kingdom · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan
Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt
Origins
Around 1580 BCE a new line of kings took power at Thebes, following the Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt. At first they acknowledged the overlordship of the Hyksos Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt in the north and the power of Kerma in the south, and ruled Upper Egypt from Elephantine to Abydos.
Rule and society
The Theban court was modest, its kings buried in small pyramids at Dra Abu el-Naga, but it built up a strong army. Seqenenre Tao began open war with the Hyksos king Apepi, and his mummy shows fatal head wounds from axes. His successor Kamose campaigned north to the walls of Avaris, and his stelae at Karnak record an intercepted letter from Apepi to the ruler of Kush.
Decline and legacy
Ahmose I, probably Kamose's younger brother, came to the throne around 1550 BCE and completed the war, later taking Avaris and reuniting Egypt. His reign is counted as the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the Egyptian Empire New Kingdom.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt paid tribute to Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt1580 BCE – 1555 BCE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/seventeenth-dynasty-of-egypt
- MLA
- “Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/seventeenth-dynasty-of-egypt. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/seventeenth-dynasty-of-egypt.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/seventeenth-dynasty-of-egypt (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻