Hyksos
Definition:
The Hyksos are thought to have been foreign, probably Semitic people, from Canaan or Syria, who ruled Lower Egypt (the Egyptian section that runs to the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean Sea) during the fifteenth and sixteenth dynasties (c. 1650-1550 B.C.) of the Second Intermediate Period. They are thought to have taken control of the eastern delta area in the mid-late 17th century B.C., then the Egyptian capital city of Memphis, and finally, as Dynasty 15, the country.
It was a peaceful and prosperous period for Egypt.
The Hyksos capital was at the Delta city of Avaris (Tanis/Tell ed-Dab'a).
Egyptian historian Manetho (fl. c. 300 B.C., under the first two kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy I Soter and Ptolemy II Philadelphus), who divided the rulers of Egypt into the dynasties, and the first century Jewish historian Josephus wrote about the Hyksos. Read passages from them at Egypt: The Hyksos Dynasty, Manetho and Josephus Flavius.
Also Known As: Heqaw khasut 'rulers of foreign lands'
Examples:
The pharaoh of the story about the Biblical Joseph may have been Hyksos. They may have brought the horse and chariot to Egypt.
The Hyksos are thought to have been foreign, probably Semitic people, from Canaan or Syria, who ruled Lower Egypt (the Egyptian section that runs to the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean Sea) during the fifteenth and sixteenth dynasties (c. 1650-1550 B.C.) of the Second Intermediate Period. They are thought to have taken control of the eastern delta area in the mid-late 17th century B.C., then the Egyptian capital city of Memphis, and finally, as Dynasty 15, the country.
It was a peaceful and prosperous period for Egypt.
The Hyksos capital was at the Delta city of Avaris (Tanis/Tell ed-Dab'a).
Egyptian historian Manetho (fl. c. 300 B.C., under the first two kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy I Soter and Ptolemy II Philadelphus), who divided the rulers of Egypt into the dynasties, and the first century Jewish historian Josephus wrote about the Hyksos. Read passages from them at Egypt: The Hyksos Dynasty, Manetho and Josephus Flavius.
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Examples:
The pharaoh of the story about the Biblical Joseph may have been Hyksos. They may have brought the horse and chariot to Egypt.
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