The Hyksos were a Semitic people who gained a foothold in Egypt c. 1782 BCE at the city of Avaris in Lower Egypt, thus initiating the era known in Egyptian history as the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1782 – c. 1570 BCE). Their name, Heqau-khasut, translates as ‘Rulers of Foreign Lands’ (given by the Greeks as Hyksos), suggesting to some scholars that they were kings or nobility driven from their homes by invasion who found refuge in the port city of Avaris and managed to establish a strong power base during the decline of the 13th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE). Most likely, they were traders who were at first welcomed at Avaris, prospered, and sent word to their friends and neighbors to come join them, resulting in a large population which was able to finally exert political and then military power.
Although the later Egyptian scribes of the New Kingdom (c. 1570-1069 BCE) would demonize the Hyksos as ‘invaders’ who conquered the land, destroyed temples, and slaughtered without mercy, there is no evidence for any of these claims. Even today, the Hyksos are referred to as invaders and their advent in Egypt as the ‘Hyksos Invasion,’ but actually, they assimilated neatly into Egyptian culture adopting Egyptian fashion and religious beliefs, with some modifications, as their own. Contrary to many claims throughout the years, there is no reason to identify the Hyksos with the Hurrians nor with the Hebrew slaves from the biblical Book of Exodus.
The main source of information on the Hyksos in Egypt comes from the 3rd century BCE Egyptian writer Manetho whose work has been lost but was extensively quoted by later writers, notably Flavius Josephus (37- c. 100 CE). Manetho’s flawed understanding of the meaning of the Hyksos’ name, and Josephus’ further misinterpretation gives the translation of ‘Hyksos’ as ‘captive shepherds,’ and this complete misunderstanding has given rise in recent years to the claim that the Hyksos were a Hebrew community living in Egypt whose expulsion provides the basis for the events recorded in the Book of Exodus. There is no evidence, however, to support this claim. No Egyptian, nor any other culture’s, records indicate the Hyksos were slaves in Egypt, and there is absolutely no indication they were Hebrew, only that they spoke and wrote a Semitic language. The ethnic origins of the Hyksos are unknown as is their fate once they were driven from Egypt by Ahmose I of Thebes (c. 1570-1544 BCE) who initiated the era of the New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1570-1069 BCE).
The Arrival of the Hyksos
For the greater part of Egypt’s history, the country was insular even though foreigners regularly came to work in the country, serve as mercenaries, or were taken as slaves for the gold mines. Egyptians lived in the land of the gods, and those of lesser quality (regularly referred to as ‘Asiatics’) were off beyond the borders. The popular story of The Contendings of Horus and Set from the New Kingdom relates how, once the god Set is bested by Horus, he is given a kind of consolation prize of ruling over the desert regions beyond Egypt’s borders. Set had murdered his brother, the god-king Osiris, and usurped the rule of Egypt. Osiris was brought back to life by his sister-wife Isis who bore his son Horus, the god who would eventually avenge his father and restore order to the land. The story’s conclusion of placing Set outside of Egypt’s borders is significant because Set was considered the god of chaos, darkness, storms and winds, and the Egyptians would have wanted such a deity as far from them as possible; out in the wilds where the ‘other people,’ the ‘Asiatics,’ would get the kind of god they deserved.
Early campaigns by the Egyptian military, up until the time of the New Kingdom, were domestic for the most part, and when Egyptians did travel beyond their borders, it was never far. When the Hyksos first arrived, therefore, they would not have posed any great danger to Egyptian security because an actual threat from outside the country was simply unthinkable. By c. 1782 BCE, Egypt had developed as a civilization for over 2,000 years, and the possibility of a people taking their country would have been dismissed as easily as a full-scale invasion of earth by flying saucers from Mars would be by most people today.
When the period of the Middle Kingdom began, Egypt was a strong, unified country. The king Amenemhat I (1991-1962 BCE), who founded the 12th Dynasty, was a strong, effective, ruler who, perhaps in an effort to further unify the country, moved the capital from Thebes (in Upper Egypt) to a middle ground between Upper and Lower Egypt near Lisht and named his new city Iti-tawi (also Itj-tawi) which means “Amenemhat is he who takes possession of the Two Lands” (van de Mieroop, 101). He also founded the town of Hutwaret in Lower Egypt as a port of trade. Hutwaret (better known as Avaris, the Greek name) had access to the Mediterranean Sea and overland routes to the region of Syria-Palestine.
The 12th Dynasty is considered by many the high point of Egyptian culture and gives the Middle Kingdom its reputation as the ‘classical age’ of Egypt. The 13th Dynasty, however, was not as strong and made a number of ill-advised decisions which weakened their influence. The first of these mistakes was to move the capital from Iti-tawi back to Thebes in Upper Egypt. This decision essentially left Lower Egypt open to whatever power felt it had enough support to dominate it. The port town of Avaris, quickly expanding into a small city through commerce, attracted many of the people known to the Egyptians as ‘Asiatics,’ and as it flourished, their population grew. The Hyksos gained control of the eastern Delta commercially and then moved north making treaties and forging contracts with various nomarchs (governors) of other regions in Lower Egypt until they had taken a sizeable amount of the land and were able to exert political power.
