| Khamudi | |
|---|---|
![Cylinder seal with a cartouche possibly reading "Khamudi".[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCylinder_Khondy_Petrie.jpg) Cylinder seal with a cartouche possibly reading "Khamudi".[1] | |
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | 1534–1522 BC (Franke[2]),1541–1540 BC (Ryholt[3]) |
| Predecessor | Apepi |
| Successor | Ahmose I |
| Dynasty | 15th Dynasty |
Khamudi (also known asKhamudy) was the lastHyksos ruler of theFifteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Khamudi came to power in1534 BC[2] or1541 BC,[3] ruling the northern portion of Egypt from his capitalAvaris.[3] His ultimate defeat at the hands ofAhmose I, after a short reign, marks the end of theSecond Intermediate Period.[4]
Khamudi is listed on theTurin canon, column 10, line 28 (Gardiner entry 10.20) as the last Hyksos king. Beyond this, only two scarab seals are firmly attributed to him, both fromJericho.[4]
Additionally, a cylinder seal of unknown provenance but possibly fromByblos[1] is inscribed with a cartouche which may read "Khamudi". This reading is contested by the egyptologistKim Ryholt who proposed that the cartouche reads "Kandy" instead and refers to an hitherto unknown king. In any case, even if the cartouche bears Khamudi's name, it is believed to have been inscribed on the seal simply to fill up space rather than as an explicit reference to Khamudi.[5] The seal is currently housed in thePetrie Museum, catalog number UC 11616.[5]
Based on the scarcity of material dating to Khamudi's reign, Ryholt has proposed that his reign must have been short, amounting to no more than a year.[3] In this situation, Khamudi would have inherited little more than the Hyksos throne,[4] being possibly already besieged inSharuhen, the last Hyksos stronghold in theNegev Desert.
This is contested by other scholars, such asManfred Bietak, who points to ayear 11 of an unknown king on theRhind Mathematical Papyrus. Bietak and many egyptologists believe that this year 11 belongs to Khamudi since the text of the papyrus refers to Ahmose I, founder of the EgyptianNew Kingdom as "He of the South."[2] As Thomas Schneider writes:
Another date on the papyrus is explicitly dated to Year 33 of Khamudi's predecessor Apepi. It is generally believed thatAhmose I defeated the Hyksos king by his 18th or 19th regnal year. This is suggested by "a graffito in the quarry at Tura whereby 'oxen from Canaan' were used at the opening of the quarry in Ahmose's regnal year 22."[2] Since the cattle could only have been brought after Ahmose's 3 to 6 years long siege of the South Canaanite town ofSharuhen which followed after the fall of Avaris, this means the reign of Khamudi must have terminated by Year 18 or 19 of Ahmose's 25-year reign at the very latest.[2]
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Pharaoh of Egypt Fifteenth Dynasty | Succeeded by Last king of this dynasty/First king of the next dynasty isAhmose I |
