[2] It is best known as the period when the Hyksos people of West Asia established the 15th Dynasty and ruled from Avaris, which, according to Manetho's Aegyptiaca, was founded by a king by the name of Salitis.

[3] The settling of these people may have occurred peacefully, although later recounts of Manetho portray the Hyksos "as violent conquerors and oppressors of Egypt".

[4] The Turin King List from the time of Ramesses II remains the primary source for understanding the chronology and political history of the Second Intermediate Period, along with studying the typology of scarabs, beetle-shaped amulets mass-produced in ancient Egypt and often inscribed with the names of rulers.

[5] The 12th Dynasty of Egypt ended in the late 19th century BC with the death of Queen Sobekneferu.

[1]: 123  Daphna Ben Tor believes that this event was triggered by the invasion of the eastern Delta and the Memphite region by Canaanite rulers, who had their own culture, a variant of the contemporary late Palestinian Middle Bronze Age culture of the southern Levant.

[12] Evidently the rulers had trouble with securing power within their territory, being replaced in rapid fashion, but other factors like famine may have played a part.

According to Syncellus, all three sources agree that the 14th Dynasty had seventy-six kings and their court was located in Xois, now modern day Sakha, although they provide different numbers of years ruled.

According to Ryholt, he was the son and direct successor of the pharaoh Sheshi with a Nubian Queen named Tati.

[1]: 123  The first king of the 15th Dynasty, Salitis, described as a Hyksos (ḥḳꜣw-ḫꜣswt, a "shepherd" according to Africanus), led his people into an occupation of the Nile Delta area and settled his capital at Avaris.

Salitis may be equated to a poorly known king named Sharek, and possibly even Sheshi, the most attested ruler of the Second Intermediate Period.

[30] It is debated if the movement of the Hyksos was a military invasion or a mass migration of Asiatics from Palestine.

[32][33][4] A recent Strontium isotope analysis also dismissed the invasion model in favor of a migration one.

Contrary to the model of a foreign invasion, the study didn't find more males moving into the region, but instead found a sex bias towards females, with a high proportion (77%) being non-locals.

Of the two chief versions of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, the 16th Dynasty is described by the more reliable Africanus (supported by Syncellus) as "shepherd [Hyksos] kings", but by Eusebius as Theban.