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Khyan
Khayan, Khian, Chayan, Apachnan, Apaq-khyran
Remains of a statue of the Twelfth Dynasty reappropriated by Hyksos ruler Khyan, with his cartouche inscribed on the sides over an erasure.
Pharaoh
Reign	Dating subject to ongoing debate in Egyptology. Possibly second half of the 17th century BC and more generally floruit may be anywhere between c. 1700 BC and c. 1580 BC.
Predecessor	Sakir-Har
Successor	Yanassi or Apepi
Royal titulary Horus name Hor-Inek-Tau ḥr-jnk-tꜢw Horus, who unites the shores Prenomen  (Praenomen) Seuserenre Nomen Khyan
Children	Yanassi ♂
Monuments	A Stela in Avaris
Dynasty	Fifteenth Dynasty

Seuserenre Khyan (also Khayan or Khian and Apachnan from the West Semitic Apaq-khyran) was a Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over Lower Egypt in the second half of the 17th or the beginning of the 16th century BCE. His royal name Seuserenre translates as "The one whom Re has caused to be strong." Khyan bears the titles of an Egyptian king, but also the title ruler of the foreign land (heqa-khaset). The later title is the typical designation of the Hyksos rulers.

Khyan is one of the better attested kings from the Hyksos period, known from many seals and seal impressions. Remarkable are objects with his name found at Knossos and Boğazköy/Ḫattuša, indicating diplomatic contacts with Crete and the Hittites. A lion statuette with his name was bought on the art market at Baghdad and might demonstrate diplomatic contacts to Babylon, in an example of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations.

Hyksos Kingdom

Khyan's seat of power was located in Avaris, which hosted a typical Near-Eastern palace. Seal impressions of Khyan and a stela of his eldest son Yanassi, were found in two areas of the city during excavations, confirming his presence onsite. His palace seems to have been used until the end of the Hyksos Period. On the western edge of Avaris, another palace was subsequently erected in the later Hyksos period c. 1560-1530 BC, likely under Khyan's successor Apepi.

East of Avaris, the Hyksos controlled the massive 350 m × 400 m (1,150 ft × 1,310 ft) fortress of Tjaru on the road to Sinai and Canaan, where stelae of the Hyksos king Apepi were uncovered.

According to Manfred Bietak, Khyan's rule marks the peak of the Hyksos kingdom power. In this view, Khyan directly ruled over Lower and Middle Egypt up to Cusae and indirectly dominated the Nile Valley as far south as Thebes, forcing native Egyptian kingdoms including those of the 16th and Abydos Dynasty into vassal states. This is not uncontested, however. For Alexander Ilin-Tomich, the territory directly ruled by the Hyksos kings of Avaris was likely confined to the eastern Delta and the nature and extent of their control over Middle Egypt remains unclear. From cultural point of view this is logical. However, the first Kamose stela and to some extent the literary papyrus Sallier I with the story of Apophis and Seqenenre‘ support a dominance of the Hyksos at least as far as Middle Egypt.

Khyan's position in the Hyksos dynasty

Khyan can be identified most likely with the Hyksos Apachnan/Pachnan on the third place of the six Hyksos in the Epitomes of Manetho. Stylistically Khyan's scarabs resemble closely those of Yaqub-Har, who might have been a predecessor and reigned near the beginning of the Hyksos-period. This indicates that Khyan has to be ranged among the first half of the rulers of the 15th dynasty. A stela of Khyan mentioning an eldest king's son was also discovered at Avaris. Manfred Bietak observed that: "a stela set up in Avaris contains the nomen and prenomen of Khyan and a now lost dedication (presumably to Seth, Lord of Avaris) below which are inscribed the title and name of the Eldest King's Son Yanassi. Yanassy can be identified with the Hyksos Iannas of the Manethonian tradition who is ranged within the second half of this dynasty. Therefore, the hypothesis of a temporal proximity between kings Khyan and Apepi is commonly accepted though contested.

The early position of Khyan within the 15th dynasty was proposed by new archaeological finds at Edfu. On this site were found seal impressions of Khyan in close connection with seal impressions of the 13th Dynasty king Sobekhotep IV, indicating that both kings could have reigned at about the same time. The scholars Moeller and Marouard discuss the discovery of an important early 12th dynasty Middle Kingdom administrative building in the eastern Tell Edfu area which was continuously employed into the early Second Intermediate Period before it fell out of use during the 17th dynasty when its remains were sealed by a large silo court. Fieldwork by Egyptologists in 2010 and 2011 into the remains of the former 12th dynasty building which was also used in the 13th dynasty led to the discovery of a large adjoining hall which proved to contain 41 sealings showing the cartouche of the Hyksos ruler Khyan together with 9 sealings naming the 13th dynasty king Sobekhotep IV. As Moeller and Marouard write: "These finds come from a secure and sealed archaeological context and open up new questions about the cultural and chronological evolution of the late Middle Kingdom and early Second Intermediate Period." These conclusions were rejected by Robert Porter who argues that Khyan ruled much later than Sobekhotep IV and that there is ample evidence that seals of pharaohs were used even long after their reign. A critical analysis of the evidence in Edfu reveals that the seal impressions were found on an abandonment horizon of the administrative complex. It is therefore impossible to say how long afterwards and under which circumstances these seal impressions were deposited. The few published ceramic remains of this context are mixed and contain also material which seems to date already to the 17th Dynasty. The single radiocarbon date of the context was taken from wood and not from a seed, therefore the old-wood effect applies and makes this single date doubtful.

The above-mentioned prestige objects of Khayan, found at Knossos, Boğazköy/Ḫattuša and the lion statuette of basalt from Baghdad, most likely originating from Babylon are considered as evidence of far-reaching connections of this king. This hypothesis is supported by an Akkadian letter fragment found in the well of the late phase of the Hyksos palace at Tell el-Dab‘a and several bullae with Akkadian seal impressions of the Old Babylonian Period at several places of this site.

The Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt, who published an extensive catalogue of the monuments of all the numerous pharaohs of the Second Intermediate Period, notes an important personal detail regarding this king's family; Ryholt writes that the association of Khyan with those of his eldest son upon this stela suggests that Yanassi in fact was his designated successor, as also implied by his title." Ryholt speculates that Manetho might have mentioned Yanassi in a now lost passage and that one possible explanation of the name Iannas used by Josephus for Khyan is a misquotation of such a passage in which the son's name was extracted instead of the father's.

Origin of Khyan's name

Ryholt notes that the name, Khyan, generally has been "interpreted as Amorite Hayanu (reading h-ya-a-n) which the Egyptian form represents perfectly, and this is in all likelihood the correct interpretation." It should be stressed that Khyan's name was not original and had been in use for centuries before the fifteenth (Hyksos) Dynasty. The name Hayanu is recorded in the Assyrian king lists—see "Khorsabad List I, 17 and the SDAS List, I, 16"--"for a remote ancestor of Shamshi-Adad I (c.1800 BC)."

Notes

1. Dates proposed for Khyan's reign: c. 1700–1669/1667 BC, 1653–1614 BC, 1610?–1580 BC

References

1. "The name of Khyan on the statue from Bubastis is written over an erasure , that the statue is of the XIIth Dynasty , and that Khyan was a Hyksôs king" in Griffith, F. Ll (1891). Archaeological Report 1890/91 - 1911/12: Comprising the Recent Work of the Egypt Exploration Fund and the Progress of Egyptology During the Year 1890/91-1911/12. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner. p. 28.
2. Aston 2018, p. 15.
3. Aston 2018, pp. 35–47.
4. Aston 2018, p. 49.
5. Redford 2001, p. 638, Egyptian King List.
6. Khiyan Titulary Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ Rohl, David (2010). The Lords Of Avaris. Random House. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-4070-1092-2.
8. ^ Weigall, Arthur E. P. Brome (2016). A History of the Pharaohs. Cambridge University Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-108-08291-4.
9. ^ "Statue British Museum". The British Museum.
10. Stadelmann 2001, p. 14.
11. Bietak 2007, p. 753.
12. Bietak 1981, pp. 63–71.
13. M. Bietak: A Hyksos Palace at Avaris, In: Egyptian Archaeology 38 Spring 2011, S. 38-41
14. Bietak 2007, p. 771.
15. Mumford 2001a, p. 289.
16. Bietak 2001, p. 140.
17. Mumford 2001b, p. 339.
18. Tyson Smith 2001, p. 30.
19. ^ Ilin-Tomich 2016, p. 7. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFIlin-Tomich2016 (help)
20. Flinders Petrie: Scarabs and cylinders with names (1917), available copyright-free here, pl. XXI
21. W. Ward, in; O. Tufnell: Scarabs and their Contribution to History in the Early Second Millennium B.C., Warminster 1984, 68, fig. 29
22. A scarab of Khyan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
23. Manfred Bietak, MDAIK 37, pp.63-71, pl.6
24. Ilin-Tomich 2014, p. 149–152.
25. Ben-Tor 2007, pp. 103–110.
26. N. Moeller, G. Marouard, N. Ayers: Discussion of Late Middle Kingdom and Early Second Intermediate Period History and Chronology in Relation to the Khayan Sealings from Tell Edfu, in: Ägypten und Levante XXI (2011), 87-121 online PDF
27. N. Moeller, G. Maround, N. Ayers, Ägypten und Levante XXI (2011), p.87
28. Robert M. Porter: The Second Intermediate Period according to Edfu, Goettinger Mizsellen 239 (2013), p. 75-80
29. ^ Kim SB Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, CNI Publications, (Museum Tusculanum Press: 1997), p.256
30. ^ Ryholt, p.128

Bibliography

• Aston, David A. (2018). "How Early (and How Late) Can Khyan Really Be. An Essay Based on "Conventional Archaeological Methods"". In Moeller, Nadine; Forstner-Müller, Irene (eds.). The Hyksos ruler Khyan and the Early Second Intermediate Period in Egypt: Problems and Priorities of Current Research. Proceedings of the Workshop of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Vienna, July 4 – 5, 2014. Vienna: Verlag Holzhausen GmbH. pp. 15–56. ISBN 978-3-902976-83-3.
• Ben-Tor, Daphna (2007). Scarabs, chronology, and interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis. Series Archaeologica. Vol. 27. Fribourg: Academic Press. ISBN 978-3-72-781593-5.
• Bietak, Manfred (1981). "Eine Stele des ältesten Königssohnes des Hyksos Chajan". Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo (in German). 37, Labib Habachi Festschrift: 63–71.
• Bietak, Manfred (2000). "Rich beyond the Dreams of Avaris: Tell el-Dabʿa and the Aegean World: A Guide for the Perplexed': A Response to Eric H. Cline". The Annual of the British School at Athens. 95. Athens: British School at Athens: 185–205. doi:10.1017/S0068245400004639. S2CID 159570045.
• Bietak, Manfred (2001). "Hyksos". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 136–143. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
• Bietak, Manfred (2007). "Où est le palais des Hyksôs ? À propos des fouilles à Tell el-Dabca et 'Ezbet Helmi". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (in French). 151 (2): 749–780. doi:10.3406/crai.2007.87946.
• {{cite book|last=Bietak|first=Manfred|title=A Palace of the Hyksos Khayan at Avaris, in: P. Matthiae, F. Pinnock, L. Nigro, and N. Marchetti (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (5 May -10 May 2008 »Sapienza«, Università di Roma), vol. II, Wiesbaden 2010|publisher=Harrassowitz|pages=99-109.
• Ilin-Tomich, Alexander (2016). "Second Intermediate Period". UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology: 1–21.
• Ilin-Tomich, Alexander (2014). "The Theban kingdom of Dynasty 16: Its rise, administration and politics". Journal of Egyptian History. 7 (2): 143–193. doi:10.1163/18741665-12340016.
• Moeller, Nadine; Forstner-Müller, Irene (2018). "Introduction". In Moeller, Nadine; Forstner-Müller, Irene (eds.). The Hyksos ruler Khyan and the Early Second Intermediate Period in Egypt: Problems and Priorities of Current Research. Proceedings of the Workshop of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Vienna, July 4 – 5, 2014. Vienna: Verlag Holzhausen GmbH. pp. 7–13. ISBN 978-3-902976-83-3.
• Mumford, Gregory (2001a). "Sinai". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 288–292. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
• Mumford, Gregory (2001b). "Syria-Palestine". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 335–343. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
• Redford, Donald B., ed. (2001). "Egyptian King List". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 637–640. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
• Stadelmann, Rainer (2001). "Palaces". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 13–17. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
• Tyson Smith, Stuart (2001). "People". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 27–33. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.

• 17th-century BC Pharaohs
• 16th-century BC Pharaohs
• Pharaohs of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt
• Amorite kings