Editing Hyksos (section)

===Wars with the Seventeenth Dynasty===
The conflict between Thebes and the Hyksos is known exclusively from pro-Theban sources, and it is not easy to construct a chronology.{{sfn|Morenz|Popko|2010|pp=108–109}} These sources propagandistically portray the conflict as a war of national liberation. This perspective was formerly taken by scholars as well but is no longer thought to be accurate.{{sfn|Morenz|Popko|2010|p=109}}{{sfn|Popko|2013|pp=1–2}}

Hostilities between the Hyksos and the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty appear to have begun during the reign of Theban king [[Seqenenra Taa]]. Seqenenra Taa's mummy shows that he was killed by several blows of an axe to the head, apparently in battle with the Hyksos.{{sfn|Popko|2013|p=4}} It is unclear why hostilities may have started. The much later fragmentary [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] tale ''[[The Quarrel of Apophis and Seqenenre]]'' blames the Hyksos ruler [[Apepi (pharaoh)|Apepi/Apophis]] for initiating the conflict by demanding that [[Seqenenre Tao]] remove a pool of [[hippopotamus]]es near Thebes.{{sfn|Van de Mieroop|2011|p=160}} However, this is a satire on the Egyptian story-telling genre of the "king's novel" rather than a historical text.{{sfn|Popko|2013|p=4}} A contemporary inscription at Wadi el Hôl may also refer to hostilities between Seqenenra and Apepi.{{sfn|Bietak|2012|p=5}}

[[File:Sequenre tao.JPG|thumb|Mummified head of [[Seqenenre Tao]], bearing axe wounds. The common theory is that he died in a battle against the Hyksos.{{sfn|Van de Mieroop|2011|p=160}}]]
Three years later, c. 1542 BC,{{sfn|Stiebing|2009|p=200}} Seqenenre Tao's successor [[Kamose]] initiated a campaign against several cities loyal to the Hyksos, the account of which is preserved on three monumental stelae set up at [[Karnak]].{{sfn|Van de Mieroop|2011|p=161}}{{sfn|Bietak|2012|p=5}}{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=547}} The first of the three, [[Carnarvon Tablet]] includes a complaint by Kamose about the divided and occupied state of Egypt:
{{blockquote|To what effect do I perceive it, my might, while a ruler is in Avaris and another in Kush, I sitting joined with an Asiatic and a Nubian, each man having his (own) portion of this Egypt, sharing the land with me. There is no passing him as far as Memphis, the water of Egypt. He has possession of Hermopolis, and no man can rest, being deprived by the levies of the Setiu. I shall engage in battle with him and I shall slit his body, for my intention is to save Egypt, striking the Asiatics.{{sfn|Ritner|Simpson|Tobin|Wente|2003|p=346}}}}

Following a common literary device, Kamose's advisors are portrayed as trying to dissuade the king, who attacks anyway.{{sfn|Van de Mieroop|2011|p=161}} He recounts his destruction of the city of [[Nefrusy]] as well as several other cities loyal to the Hyksos. On a second stele, Kamose claims to have captured Avaris, but returned to Thebes after capturing a messenger between Apepi and the [[Kingdom of Kerma|king of Kush]].{{sfn|Popko|2013|p=4}} Kamose appears to have died soon afterward (c. 1540 BC).{{sfn|Stiebing|2009|p=200}}

[[Ahmose I]] continued the war against the Hyksos, most likely conquering Memphis, [[Tjaru]], and [[Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] early in his reign, the latter two of which are mentioned in an entry of the [[Rhind mathematical papyrus]].{{sfn|Popko|2013|p=4}} Knowledge of Ahmose I's campaigns against the Hyksos mostly comes from the tomb of [[Ahmose, son of Ebana]], who gives a first-person account claiming that Ahmose I sacked Avaris:{{sfn|Van de Mieroop|2011|p=177}} "Then there was fighting in Egypt to the south of this town [Avaris], and I carried off a man as a living captive. I went down into the water—for he was captured on the city side—and crossed the water carrying him. [...] Then Avaris was despoiled, and I brought spoil from there.{{sfn|Lichthelm|2019|p=321}}

{{multiple image
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| image1 = Ceremonial axe of Ahmose I (front and back).jpg
| image2 = Pharaoh_Ahmose_I_slaying_a_Hyksos_(axe_of_Ahmose_I,_from_the_Treasure_of_Queen_Aahhotep_II)_Colorized_per_source.jpg
| footer = Pharaoh [[Ahmose I]] (ruled c. 1549–1524 BC) slaying a probable Hyksos. Detail of a ceremonial axe in the name of Ahmose I, treasure of Queen [[Ahhotep II]]. Inscription "Ahmose, beloved of (the War God) [[Montu]]". [[Luxor Museum]]{{sfn|Daressy|1906|p=117}}<ref>{{harvnb|Montet|1968|p=80|ps=. "Others were later added to them, things which came from the pharaoh Ahmose, like the axe decorated with a griffin and a likeness of the king slaying a Hyksos, with other axes and daggers."}}</ref>{{sfn|Morgan|2010|p=308|ps=. A color photograph.}}{{sfn|Baker|Baker|2001|p=86}}
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Thomas Schneider places the conquest in year 18 of Ahmose's reign.{{sfn|Schneider|2006|p=195}} However, excavations of [[Tell El-Dab'a]] (Avaris) show no widespread destruction of the city, which instead seems to have been abandoned by the Hyksos.{{sfn|Popko|2013|p=4}} Manetho, as recorded in Josephus, states that the Hyksos were allowed to leave after concluding a treaty:{{sfn|Bourriau|2000|pp=201–202}}
{{blockquote|Thoumosis ... invested the walls [of Avaris] with an army of 480,000 men, and endeavoured to reduce [the Hyksos] to submission by siege. Despairing of achieving his object, he concluded a treaty, under which [the Hyksos] were all to evacuate Egypt and go whither they would unmolested. Upon these terms no fewer than two hundred and forty thousand, entire households with their possessions, left Egypt and traversed the desert to Syria. (''Contra Apion'' I.88-89){{sfn|Josephus|1926|pp=197–199}}}}
Although Manetho indicates that the Hyksos population was expelled to the Levant, there is no archaeological evidence for this, and Manfred Bietak argues based on archaeological finds throughout Egypt that it is likely that numerous Asiatics were resettled in other locations in Egypt as artisans and craftsmen.{{sfn|Bietak|2010|pp=170–171}} Many may have remained at Avaris, as pottery and scarabs with typical "Hyksos" forms continued to be produced uninterrupted throughout the Eastern Delta.{{sfn|Bietak|2012|p=5}} Canaanite cults also continued to be worshiped at Avaris.{{sfn|Bietak|2012|p=6}}

Following the capture of Avaris, Ahmose, son of Ebana, records that Ahmose I captured [[Sharuhen]] (possibly [[Tell el-Ajjul]]), which some scholars argue was a city in Canaan under Hyksos control.{{sfn|Stiebing|2009|p=168}}