The struggle between the Theban Princes of Waset and the Hyksos Kings begins in the mid-Sixteenth Century BC. Seqenenre Tao was the ruler of Waset and the leader of a large coalition of Upper Egyptian municipalities that stretched from Elephantine to Qis. This powerful individual caught the attention of the Hyksos rulers in Avaris perhaps do to rumors of conspiracy or a planned attempt for rebellion. Whatever the case the Hyksos King Apepi was compelled to send a messenger to the Wasetan court with a complaint:

Have the hippopotamus pool which is in the vacinity of Waset done away with! For they do not let sleep come to me by day and by night.”

At first the Prince of Waset was unsure of Apepi’s meaning. How could the roar of hippopotami in Waset be heard over five hundred miles away in Avaris? The Hyksos King demanded a remedy to the matter, but Tao did not know how to reply.

Sometime after this meeting Tao summoned his chief officials and soldiers and repeated the message that King Apepi had sent. They heard the words of the Hyksos King and went silent for a long time, not knowing what to do.

The tale of King Apepi’s Complaint comes from a fragmentary papyrus written many years after the event. Unfortunately the ending of the tale is missing, but judging from the wounds found on Seqenenre Tao’s mummy the outcome is known. The Wasetan Prince led an army against the Hyksos and fell in battle, but hope was not lost. Tao’s successors would renew the struggle for independence and eventually drive the Hyksos from Egypt.