Benson, Margaret; Gourlay, Janet: The temple of Mut in Asher: an account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians (London, 1899)

chap. ix.]

HYKSOS INVASION.

U7

Of the 14th dynasty our knowledge is even more ^ ^112-
shadowy. Egypt seems to have fallen by degrees x928-
into a state of disorganisation and weakness after the
strong hands of the 12th dynasty were withdrawn.
Numerous kings, whose reigns are of the shortest,
seem to point to the breaking-up of the country into
petty kingdoms with contemporaneous kings.

Into a country thus weakened poured the strong-
fierce bands of the Shasu, a Semitic people from
the highlands of Syria, who, after a hundred years
of fighting, established their chiefs as kings over the
whole of Egypt.

Much controversy has centred round the name
" Hyksos," but no better derivation has been found
than the orthodox Heq-Shasu, ''chief of the Shasu."

It is to be noted that the word Hyksos occurs
only in Manetho. This people is always called
Amu by the monuments. The sceptre used by
these princes was in the form of a shepherd's crook,,
and this crook, which has the hieroglyphic value
heq (prince), was retained by the native kings after
their restoration, as a symbol of sovereignty.

The kings of the 15th and 16th dynasties were b.c.

1 . 1 - c. 2098-

Hyksos ; the best-known name among them is that of 1738.
Apepi. Although a nomadic people they were by no
means barbarians, but they earned the bitter hatred
of the Egyptians by the iron severity of their rule.

The Hyksos kings of the 16th dynasty held
all Egypt, governing from the Delta through the
native princes, who acted as local administrators.

l 2