The Political Situation in Egypt during the XIII Dynasty

Abstract

The importance of studying the political situation in Egypt during the 13th Dynasty stems from the fact that it remains an obscure period in ancient Egyptian history. The 13th Dynasty still raises debatable issues regarding its nature, including its formation, the location of its power centre, the mechanisms through which its rulers legitimized and maintained power, and its place within the conventional framework of ancient Egyptian history. The only available and indispensable source of information about the rulers of the 13th Dynasty is the Ramesside manuscript known as the Turin King-list. Unfortunately, the King-list suffers from numerous deficiencies and is largely inconsistent with the contemporary archaeological evidence of these rulers. Therefore, the main question of the current study deals with questions regarding the nature of the 13th Dynasty and examines the extent to which it formed a cohesive political regime in the literal sense of the dynastic system of ancient Egyptian history.