Apepi
ruler of Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty
Apepi (Greek Apophis) was a Hyksos ruler of Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty and the late Second Intermediate Period. He can be archaeologically associated with Tell el-Daba Stratum D/3 and the Middle Bronze IIC in the Southern Levant.
According to the Turin Canon of Kings, he reigned over the northern portion of Egypt for forty years during the early half of the 16th century BC. Although officially only in control of the Lower Kingdom, Apepi in practice dominated the majority of Egypt during the early portion of his reign. He outlived his southern rival, Kamose, but not Ahmose I.
Name
Horus Name
His Horus name Shetep-tawy is attested only twice (once together with A-qenen-Re). It appears on an offering table and on blocks found at Bubastis.
Prenomen
Neb-khepesh-Re (nb ḫpš rˁ), Aa-qenen-Re (ˁ3 ḳn n rˁ) and Aa-user-Re (ˁ3 wsr rˁ) are three praenomina (throne names) used by this same ruler during various parts of his reign.
While some Egyptologists once believed that there were two separate kings who bore the name Apepi, namely Aauserre Apepi and Aaqenenre Apepi, it is now recognized that Khamudi succeeded Apepi at Avaris and that there was only one king named Apepi or Apophis. Nebkhepeshre ("Re is the Lord of Strength") was Apepi's first prenomen; towards the middle of his reign, this Hyksos ruler adopted a new prenomen, Aaqenenre ("The strength of Re is great"). In the final decade or so of his reign, Apepi chose Aauserre as his last prenomen. While the prenomen was altered, there is no difference in the translation of both Aaqenenre and Aauserre.
“Apepi” enters the record as ruler of Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Apepi, ruler and Lower can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q322169. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Apepi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.