"One day, Apepi sent a messenger south to Thebes to convey a complaint and an instruction to Seqenenra. Apepi claimed that he was being kept awake at night by 'the hippopotami from the swamp ... in the eastern waters of the city [of Thebes], because they do not allow that sleep come to me, day or night, because their noise is in his ear!'"
"Was the implication that Seqenenra couldn't even control the hippopotami - a basic skill for any self-respecting pharaoh? We do know that Seqenenra was later killed in battle, possibly by the Hyksos, but also that the Hyksos were ultimately defeated by Seqenenra's descendants: the mighty 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. So this story may have had a happy ending for New Kingdom audiences. It suggests at the very least some ingenious methods for projecting power along the river."
Apepi of the Hyksos sent a messenger to Seqenenra in Thebes to complain that hippopotami in the eastern waters kept him awake and to instruct their expulsion. The fragment breaks before Seqenenra's response, leaving the outcome unknown. Interpretations suggest Apepi aimed to expose Seqenenra's inability to control the environment and thereby project power downriver. Seqenenra was later killed in battle, possibly by the Hyksos, while the Hyksos were ultimately defeated by Seqenenra's descendants in the 18th Dynasty. Ritual control of hippopotami functioned as a long-standing demonstration of royal authority.
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