In the Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written by the Greco-Egyptian priest and historian Manetho in the 3rd century BC, the term Hyksos is used ethnically to designate people of probable West Semitic, Levantine origin.[1][9] While Manetho portrayed the Hyksos as invaders and oppressors, this interpretation is questioned in modern Egyptology.[10] Instead, Hyksos rule might have been preceded by groups of Canaanite peoples who gradually settled in the Nile Delta from the end of the Twelfth Dynasty onwards and who may have seceded from the crumbling and unstable Egyptian control at some point during the Thirteenth Dynasty.[11]
The Hyksos period marks the first in which foreign rulers ruled Egypt.[12]
Many details of their rule, such as the true extent of their kingdom
and even the names and order of their kings, remain uncertain. The
Hyksos practiced many Levantine or Canaanite customs alongside Egyptian
ones.[13] They have been credited with introducing several technological innovations to Egypt, such as the horse and chariot, as well as the khopesh (sickle sword) and the composite bow, a theory which is disputed.[14]
The Hyksos did not control all of Egypt. They coexisted with the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties, which were based in Thebes.[15]
Warfare between the Hyksos and the pharaohs of the late Seventeenth
Dynasty eventually culminated in the defeat of the Hyksos by Ahmose I, who founded the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.[16] In the following centuries, the Egyptians would portray the Hyksos as bloodthirsty and oppressive foreign rulers.
Standard characters for "Hyksos" in the label for "Abisha the Hyksos" in the tomb of Khnumhotep II, c. 1900 BC.[22] The crook (𓋾, ḥqꜣ) means "ruler", the hill (𓈎) is a phonetic complement q/ḳ to 𓋾 while 𓈉 stands for (foreign) "country", pronounced ḫꜣst, plural ḫꜣswt. The sign 𓏥 marks the plural.[22]
The term "Hyksos" is derived, via the Greek Ὑκσώς (Hyksôs), from the Egyptian expression 𓋾𓈎𓈉 (ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣswt or ḥqꜣw-ḫꜣswt, "heqau khasut"), meaning "rulers [of] foreign lands".[17][18] The Greek form is likely a textual corruption of an earlier Ὑκουσσώς (Hykoussôs).[21]
The first century Jewish historian Josephus gives the name as meaning "shepherd kings" or "captive shepherds" in his Contra Apion (Against Apion), where he describes the Hyksos as Jews as they appeared in the Hellenistic Egyptian historian Manetho.[23][24] "Their race bore the generic name of Hycsos, which means 'king-shepherds'. For hyc in the sacred language denotes 'king' and sos in the common dialect means 'shepherd' or 'shepherds'; the combined words form Hycsos. Some say that they were Arabians."[25]
Josephus's rendition may arise from a later Egyptian pronunciation of ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣswt as ḥqꜣ-šꜣsw, which was then understood to mean "lord of shepherds."[26] It is unclear if this translation was found in Manetho; an Armenian translation of an epitome of Manetho given by the late antique historian Eusebius gives the correct translation of "foreign kings".[27]
Use
"It is now commonly accepted in academic publications that the term Ḥqꜣ-Ḫꜣswt refers only to the individual foreign rulers of the late Second Intermediate Period,"[28] especially of the Fifteenth Dynasty, rather than a people. However, Josephus used it as an ethnic term.[c] Its use to refer to the population persists in some academic papers.[31]
In Ancient Egypt, the term "Hyksos" (ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣswt) was also used to refer to various Nubian and especially Asiatic rulers both before and after the Fifteenth Dynasty.[4][32][33] It was used at least since the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2345–2181 BC) to designate chieftains from the Syro-Palestine area.[22] One of its earliest recorded uses is found c. 1900 BC in the tomb of Khnumhotep II of the Twelfth Dynasty to label a nomad or Canaanite ruler named "Abisha the Hyksos"
(using the standard 𓋾𓈎𓈉, ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣswt, "Heqa-kasut" for "Hyksos").[3][34
1 So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him.6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan.7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
8 These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:
Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.
9 The sons of Reuben:
Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.
10 The sons of Simeon:
Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
11 The sons of Levi:
Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
12 The sons of Judah:
Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).
22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.
23 The son of Dan:
Hushim.
24 The sons of Naphtali:
Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.
25 These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.
26 All
those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct
descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons.27 With the two sons[f] who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy[g] in all.
28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen,29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father[h] and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31 Then
Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go
up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my
father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me.32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”
Footnotes
Genesis 46:13Samaritan Pentateuch and Syriac (see also 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text Puvah
Genesis 46:13Samaritan Pentateuch and some Septuagint manuscripts (see also Num. 26:24 and 1 Chron. 7:1); Masoretic Text Iob
John Calvin comments: “Since the patriarchs fell into such a state of insensibility, let us learn from their example to fear, lest by the righteous anger of God the same lethargy should seize upon our senses.” Genesis 37 New International Version Joseph’s Dreams Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate [ a ] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his bro...
Genesis 41 (NIV) 45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. … 50 Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Genesis 44 A Silver Cup in a Sack 1 Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. 3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after tho...
Painting of foreign delegation in the tomb of Khnumhotep II circa 1900 BCE (detail of "Abisha the Hyksos")
Hyksos characters The Hyksos (/ˈhɪksɒs/; Egyptian ḥqꜣ(w)-ḫꜣswt, Egyptological pronunciation: heqau khasut,[4] "ruler(s) of foreign lands"), in modern Egyptology, are the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt[5] (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC).[a] Their seat of power was the city of Avaris in the Nile Delta, from where they ruled over Lower Egypt and Middle Egypt up to Cusae.
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