A story relating to a quarrell between the Hyksos king Apophis and his Theban counterpart Seqenenre was found on Papyrus Sallier I of the British Musuem collection, where it now bears the number 10185. It was written in hieratic and is dated to the reign of Merenptah, the fourth king of the 19th Dynasty.

The papyrus is unfortunately very badly damaged and had several lacunae before breaking off abruptly at the third line of the third page. Nevertheless, the story itself is very interesting from a historical point of view. Although what remains of the story does not mention any kind of battle except a battle of words, it is clear that for the Egyptians of the 19th Dynasty, it was Seqenenre who initiated hostilities with the foreign kings who ruled large parts of Egypt, the Hyksos. The fact that Seqenenre's mummy bears marks of a violent death suggests that this king may have died on the battlefield, perhaps while trying to rid Egypt of the Hyksos ... a task that would be completed by his two successors Kamose and Ahmose.

The translation of what remains of the story is provided here. The text in red in the translation was marked in the same colour on the original papyrus. The translation is my own and is based on the hieroglyphic transcription made by Alan H. Gardiner for his publication of the papyrus in Late Egyptian Stories, Brussels 1981 (re-edition), pp. 85-89. I have omitted the formula may he live, prosper and be healthy which follows the names of the kings, but also the words king, ruler and so on throughout the text.

- The Quarrel of Seqenenre and Apophis -