The Sixteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XVI)^[1] was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled the Theban region in Upper Egypt^[2] for 70 years.^[3]

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Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt
1649 BC–1582 BC
The political situation in Egypt during the existence of the 16th Dynasty from c. 1650 until c. 1590 BC.
Capital	Thebes
Common languages	Egyptian language
Religion	ancient Egyptian religion
Government	Absolute monarchy
Historical era	Bronze Age
• Established	1649 BC
• Disestablished	1582 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt

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This dynasty, together with the 15th and 17th dynasties, are often combined under the group title, Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650–1550 BC), a period that saw the division of Upper and Lower Egypt between the pharaohs at Thebes and the Hyksos kings of the 15th Dynasty based at Avaris.

Of the two chief versions of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, the Sixteenth Dynasty is described by the more reliable^[4] Africanus (supported by Syncellus)^[5] as "shepherd [hyksos] kings", but by Eusebius as Theban.^[4]

Ryholt (1997), followed by Bourriau (2003), in reconstructing the Turin canon, interpreted a list of Thebes-based kings to constitute Manetho's Sixteenth Dynasty, although this is one of Ryholt's "most debatable and far-reaching" conclusions.^[4] For this reason other scholars do not follow Ryholt and see only insufficient evidence for the interpretation of the Sixteenth Dynasty as Theban.^[6]

The continuing war against 15th Dynasty dominated the short-lived 16th Dynasty. The armies of the 15th Dynasty, winning town after town from their southern enemies, continually encroached on the 16th Dynasty territory, eventually threatening and then conquering Thebes itself. In his study of the Second Intermediate Period, the Egyptologist Kim Ryholt has suggested that Dedumose I sued for a truce in the latter years of the dynasty,^[3] but one of his predecessors, Nebiryraw I, may have been more successful and seems to have enjoyed a period of peace in his reign.^[3]

Famine, which had plagued Upper Egypt during the late 13th Dynasty and the 14th Dynasty, also blighted the 16th Dynasty, most evidently during and after the reign of Neferhotep III.^[3]

Various chronological orderings and lists of kings have been proposed by scholars for this dynasty. These lists fall broadly in two categories: those assuming that the 16th Dynasty comprised vassals of the Hyksos, as advocated by Jürgen von Beckerath and Wolfgang Helck; and those assuming that the 16th Dynasty was an independent Theban kingdom, as recently proposed by Kim Ryholt.