Battle of Nefrusy

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Battle of Nefrusy
Part of Kamose's northern campaign
Date1552 or 1551 BC
Third year of Kamose's reign
Location
Nefrusy, north of Cusae (modern Asyut)
Result Egyptian victory
Belligerents
Egypt Hyksos
Commanders and leaders
Kamose Apepi
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown

The Battle of Nefrusy was fought ca. 1552 BC between the Egyptian and Medjay armies led by Pharaoh Kamose and the Hyksos forces led by Hyksos king Apepi. The battle ended with an Egyptian victory.

Contents

Background

Kamose sought to regain by force what he thought was his by right, namely the kingship of Lower and Upper Egypt. [1] Kamose's presentation here may be propaganda designed to embellish his reputation since his predecessor, Seqenenre Tao, had already been engaged in conflict with the Hyksos only to fall in battle.

The Carnarvon Tablet states that Kamose went north to attack the Hyksos by the command of Amun, Kamose stated that his reasons for an attack on the Hyksos was nationalistic pride. He merely continuing the aggressive military policies of his immediate predecessor, Seqenenre Tao. [1]

Battle

Kamose embarked on his military campaign against the Hyksos by sailing north out of Thebes on the Nile. He first reached Nefrusy, which was just north of Cusae and was manned by an Egyptian garrison loyal to the Hyksos. [3] A detachment of Medjay troops attacked the garrison and overran it. [3] The Carnavon Tablet recounted this much of the campaign, but breaks off there. [3]

Aftermath

After having overrun the southernmost garrison of the Hyksos at Nefrusy, just north of Cusae (near modern Asyut), Kamose then led his army as far north as the neighborhood of Avaris itself. Though the city was not taken, the fields around it were devastated by the Thebans. [4]

According to the second stele, after moving north of Nefrusy, Kamose's soldiers captured a courier bearing a message from the Hyksos king Apopi at Avaris to his ally, the ruler of Kush, requesting the latter's urgent support against Kamose. Kamose promptly ordered a detachment of his troops to occupy and destroy the Bahariya Oasis in the western desert, which controlled the north-south desert route. Kamose, called the Strong" in this text, ordered this action to protect his rearguard. Kamose then sailed southward, back up the Nile to Thebes, for a joyous victory celebration after his military success against the Hyksos in pushing the boundaries of his kingdom northward from Cusae past Hermopolis through to Sako, which now formed the new frontier between the seventeenth dynasty of Thebes and the fifteenth dynasty Hyksos state. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Cambridge 2:1 290"
  2. ↑ Gardiner, Sir Alan. Egypt of the Pharaohs, 1961, reprint Oxford University Press, 1979, p.166
  3. 1 2 3 James, T.G.H. Egypt: From the Expulsion of the Hyksos to Amenophis I. in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 2, part 1, ed. Edwards, I.E.S, et al. p.291. Cambridge University Press, 1965.
  4. ↑ Bietak, Manfred "Second Intermediate Period, overview" in Kathryn Bard, ed., Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt Routledge 1999 ISBN   0-415-18589-0 p57
  5. ↑ Ryholt, pp.173-175
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