Second Intermediate Period Placemarks:

The Second Intermediate period was a period in which the central state of Egypt was weakened and Egypt fell apart in different regions, each governed by different rulers.

In the North “the Hyksos” (Asiatics) ruled the country.
They had their power base at a city called Avaris: probably the city we now know as Tell el-Dab`a in the North/ East of the Delta. We refer to these Kings as the 15^th Dynasty.

In the Middle, Egypt was ruled by King’s of the Theban region: the 16^th and 17^th Dynasty.
The Capital in Itjtawy was abandoned at the end of the Middle Kingdom and instead this part of the country was now governed from Thebes. We know that the Kings of the 17^th Dynasty were buried there on the cemetery of Dra Abu el-Naga, on the west bank of the Nile. These graves were built with a small pyramid, of which one has been excavated so far (see below).

In the South: the Kingdom of Kush (Nubia) became strong, governed from their capital: Kerma.

The rulers of the 17^th Dynasty from Thebes managed to reunite the country after a series of wars fought against Kush and the Hyksos.
This conquest was started by Pharaoh Seqenenra Taa (c 1560 BC), and finalized by his sons: the Pharaohs Kamose and Ahmose.
When Ahmose finished the conquest of Avaris, the “New Kingdom” started.

Most Pharaohs from the 17^th and the first Pharaohs of the 18^th Dynasty were buried at the Dra Abu el-Naga cemetery, part of the west Theban Necropolis.
This is also where the high officials and other important people were buried during the 17^th Dynasty.

Placemarks:

Dra Abu el-Naga Cemetery, West Thebes, 17th and 18th Dynasty

Pyramid Intef VII, Dra Abu el-Naga, West Theban Necropolis

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