Hyksos

The Hyksos (Egyptian heka khasewet) were an ethnically mixed group of Western Asiatic people who appeared in the eastern Nile Delta during the Second Intermediate Period. They overthrew the weak Egyptian Thirteenth Dynasty, whose capital was near Memphis, and formed the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties of Egypt, (ca. 1674-1548 B.C.E. See Egyptian chronology), ruling Lower and Middle Egypt for over one hundred years.

Related Topics:
Egyptian - Nile Delta - Second Intermediate Period - Thirteenth Dynasty - Memphis - Fifteenth - Sixteenth Dynasties - Egyptian chronology

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Traditionally, only the six Fifteenth Dynasty rulers are called "Hyksos". The Hyksos had names that bear strong similarities to Canaanite names, and archaeologists think of the Canaanites as being indistinguishable from the Phoenicians. The Hyksos introduced new tools of warfare into Egypt, most notably the composite bow, the horse, and the horse-drawn chariot.

Related Topics:
Phoenicians - Composite bow - Chariot

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The numerous Sixteenth Dynasty princes are believed to be a mixed collection of "Hyksos", Asiatic Semites, and local native Egyptian princes who had no choice but to support their new overlords. The names of the Fifteenth Dynasty Hyksos are known from Egyptian monuments, scarabs and other small objects, and Manetho's history of Egypt, written during the time of Ptolemy II.

Related Topics:
Semites - Manetho - Ptolemy II

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