Hyksos

Manetho states "during the reign of Tutimaos a blast of God smote us, and unexpectedly from the regions of the East, invaders of obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land. By main force they easily seized it without striking a blow; and having overpowered the rulers of the land they then burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of the gods, and treated all the natives with a cruel hostility, massacring some and leading into slavery the wives and children of others... Finally, they appointed as king one of their number whose name was Salitis. He had his seat in Memphis, levying tribute from upper Egypt.. In the Saite nome he founded a city.. and called it Auaris". He named these invaders the "Hyksos" which he translated as "shepherd kings" although now the term is often translated as "foreign rulers" or "desert princes".

The Hyksos were composed of a number of Semitic peoples driven from Western Asia into Africa by instability and famine during the Second Intermediate Period (Dynasties Thirteen to Seventeen). They appear to have established themselves in Lower Egypt where they ruled from the city of Avaris for about two hundred years. Their invasion of Egypt was a highly traumatic event for the Egyptian people.

Thutimaos is generally thought to be the obscure Thirteenth Dynasty king Dudimose (the other kings with a similar reign are too late to be contenders) who reigned shortly before or concurrently with the Hyksos Dynasty at Avaris. The passage is ambiguous, but it may refer to two events; the smiting by God, and the invasion of the Hyksos. It was previously thought that one reason for their ease in conquering upper Egypt was that they had chariots (unlike the Egyptians) and were exceptional archers. There is some evidence that the Egyptians already had chariots, but they may well have been less experienced in their use. More speculatively, you could argue that the smiting by god left Egypt undefended, allowing the Hyksos to take control "without striking a blow".

The Hyksos did indeed sack Memphis, but the description of their attitude to the gods could be anti-Hyksos propaganda, after all they took Seth as their main god while retaining their worship of Astarte (the Phonecian mother-goddess) and Reshep (a Phoenician storm god). Furthermore, the Hyksos adopted Egyptian customs and even preserved Egyptian culture. Apophis, the fifth Hyksos king, instructed scribes to copy Egyptian texts so they would not be lost. Because of his foresight we have recovered priceless documents such as the 'Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus' (the oldest known surgical handbook), the "Westcar Papyrus" and "the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus" (the most important document describing Egyptian mathematical theory).

Some of the Hyksos may have been Hurrian or Hittite, but no firm evidence has been discovered to confirm their origins fully. They were by no means the first Asiatics to settle in Egypt, prompting some to suggest that there was no major battle, just a steady influx of settlers who worked themselves into positions of power while retaining their own cultural differences. Evidence from the excavation at Tell el-Dab'a, confirms that the settlement was constantly evolving and changing as the new cultures adapted to the Egyptian way of life. Settlements discovered in Tell el-Ajjul (southern Palestinian), Ebla (Syrian) and Byblos (Lebanon) share many characteristics with the settlement at Tell el Dab´a.

The Hyksos brought with them knowledge of bronze weapons, chariots and composite bows. But it is not clear that they were required to use this military know-how to take control of upper Egypt. Certainly they had to fight to keep power, but Manetho may be right to infer that there was no initial battle for dominance. This supports the suggestion that immigration and the political weakness of the Egyptian kings of the time had set up the environment to allow a group to seize power relatively easily.

Given this slow advance by the Hyksos rulers into southern Egypt, it seems reasonable to infer that the superior military technology of the Hyksos was only an element of their strength. Their success may also have relied upon their exploitation of the political weakness of the late Middle Kingdom. Another intriguing possibility exists. It is possible that the whole area was blighted by plague (was this god smiting?) and that the Hyksos were badly affected by this too. Thus they took over during a time of crisis and were unable to push further into Egypt because they too were suffering the effects of the plague.

A stele placed by the Seventeenth Dynasty king Kamose marks Hermopolis as the southern boundary of the Hyksos kingdom, but it is thought that they held sway as far as Cusae. However, although they did not control all of lower Egypt, the rulers there were reduced to the status of vassals until Sanakhtenre Tao I launched the rebellion. Yet Southern, or Upper Egypt was reduced to a vassaldom, probably as a result of the effectiveness, eventually, of the Hyksos military forces, at least until the reign of Kamose. Therefore, we do regard them as the legitimate rulers of the whole country during parts of the Second Intermediate Period, considered a chaotic time which the Hyksos at least partially helped to create in Egypt. They were finally driven from Egypt by his grandson Ahmose I, the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty.