DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0031
THE HYKSOS.
17
their conquest of Egypt:—" The so-called Ti-
maos became king. Egypt during his reign lay,
I know not why, under the divine displeasure,
and on a sudden, men from the east county, of
an ignoble race, audaciously invaded the land.
They easily got possession of it, and established
themselves without a struggle, making the riders
thereof tributary to them, burning their cities,
and demolishing the temples of their gods. All
the natives they treated in the most brutal
manner; some they put to death, others they re-
duced to slavery with their wives and children.
" Subsequently, also, they chose a king out of
their own body, Salatis by name. He estab-
lished himself at Memphis, took tribute from
the Upper and Lower country, and placed
garrisons in the most suitable places. He
fortified more especially the eastern frontier,
foreseeing, as he did, that the Assyrians, whose
power was then at its height, would make an
attempt to force their way into the Empire from
that quarter. He found in the Sethroite nome
a city particularly well adapted for that purpose,
lying to the east of the Bubastite arm of the
Nile, called Avaris, after an old mythological
fable. This he repaired and fortified with
strong walls, and placed in it a garrison of
240,000 heavy-armed soldiers. In summer he
visited it in person, for the purpose of recruiting
them with a fresh supply of provisions, paying
their salaries, and practising militaiy exercises,
by which to strike terror into the foreigners.
" He died after a reign of nineteen years, and
was succeeded by another king, Beon by name,
who reigned forty-four years. After him
Apachnas reigned thirty-six years and seven
months; then Apophis, sixty-one years; then
la n !as, fifty years and one month; and lastly
Assis, forty-nine years and two months.
" These six were their first rulers. They
were continually at war, with a view of utterly
exhausting the strength of Egypt. The general
name of their people was Hyksos, which means
' Shepherd Kings;' for Hyh signifies, in the
sacred language, a king, and 86s, in the
demotic, is Shepherd and Shepherds. Some
say they were Arabs."
This is all that Manetho states, but Josephus
adds :—" It is mentioned in another work that
the word Hyh does not signify kings, but
shepherd prisoners. Hyh or Hah, signifies in
Egyptian, prisoners, and this seems to me more
likely, and more in conformity with ancient
history."3
It is useless to repeat here all the opinions
which have been expressed on this important
and much controverted passage, Few texts
have been the object of so much discussion. I
shall only state what seems to be most plausible
in the conflict of diverging views to which this
part of the history of Egypt has given rise.
We do not know when the inroad took place ;
it is certain, however, that under the thirteenth
dynasty, Egypt was still her own master; if the
strangers had already entered the land, it was
not as invaders nor as conquerors. In the
obscure period of the fourteenth dynasty, when,
according to the papyrus of Turin and Manetho,
the kings succeeded each other at short
intervals, after reigns which had not even the
duration of one year, these " men from the east
country, of an ignoble race, audaciously in-
vaded the land." The contemptuous qualifica-
tion applied by Manetho to the strangers, shows
that they were not a distinct nation, whose
name and original settlement were well known.
They were more or less barbarous hordes driven
from their native country, and over-running
Egypt a3 the barbarians over-ran the Roman
Empire. Their name has not been preserved;
neither the Egyptian inscriptions nor the Greek
writers mention it, although the Egyptian
texts are most minute when they describe the
adversaries of Rameses II. mustering at
Kadesh, or the invaders who threatened the
empire under Merenphthah or Rameses III.
1 Bunsen, Egypt's Place, vol. ii. p. 424.
D
17
their conquest of Egypt:—" The so-called Ti-
maos became king. Egypt during his reign lay,
I know not why, under the divine displeasure,
and on a sudden, men from the east county, of
an ignoble race, audaciously invaded the land.
They easily got possession of it, and established
themselves without a struggle, making the riders
thereof tributary to them, burning their cities,
and demolishing the temples of their gods. All
the natives they treated in the most brutal
manner; some they put to death, others they re-
duced to slavery with their wives and children.
" Subsequently, also, they chose a king out of
their own body, Salatis by name. He estab-
lished himself at Memphis, took tribute from
the Upper and Lower country, and placed
garrisons in the most suitable places. He
fortified more especially the eastern frontier,
foreseeing, as he did, that the Assyrians, whose
power was then at its height, would make an
attempt to force their way into the Empire from
that quarter. He found in the Sethroite nome
a city particularly well adapted for that purpose,
lying to the east of the Bubastite arm of the
Nile, called Avaris, after an old mythological
fable. This he repaired and fortified with
strong walls, and placed in it a garrison of
240,000 heavy-armed soldiers. In summer he
visited it in person, for the purpose of recruiting
them with a fresh supply of provisions, paying
their salaries, and practising militaiy exercises,
by which to strike terror into the foreigners.
" He died after a reign of nineteen years, and
was succeeded by another king, Beon by name,
who reigned forty-four years. After him
Apachnas reigned thirty-six years and seven
months; then Apophis, sixty-one years; then
la n !as, fifty years and one month; and lastly
Assis, forty-nine years and two months.
" These six were their first rulers. They
were continually at war, with a view of utterly
exhausting the strength of Egypt. The general
name of their people was Hyksos, which means
' Shepherd Kings;' for Hyh signifies, in the
sacred language, a king, and 86s, in the
demotic, is Shepherd and Shepherds. Some
say they were Arabs."
This is all that Manetho states, but Josephus
adds :—" It is mentioned in another work that
the word Hyh does not signify kings, but
shepherd prisoners. Hyh or Hah, signifies in
Egyptian, prisoners, and this seems to me more
likely, and more in conformity with ancient
history."3
It is useless to repeat here all the opinions
which have been expressed on this important
and much controverted passage, Few texts
have been the object of so much discussion. I
shall only state what seems to be most plausible
in the conflict of diverging views to which this
part of the history of Egypt has given rise.
We do not know when the inroad took place ;
it is certain, however, that under the thirteenth
dynasty, Egypt was still her own master; if the
strangers had already entered the land, it was
not as invaders nor as conquerors. In the
obscure period of the fourteenth dynasty, when,
according to the papyrus of Turin and Manetho,
the kings succeeded each other at short
intervals, after reigns which had not even the
duration of one year, these " men from the east
country, of an ignoble race, audaciously in-
vaded the land." The contemptuous qualifica-
tion applied by Manetho to the strangers, shows
that they were not a distinct nation, whose
name and original settlement were well known.
They were more or less barbarous hordes driven
from their native country, and over-running
Egypt a3 the barbarians over-ran the Roman
Empire. Their name has not been preserved;
neither the Egyptian inscriptions nor the Greek
writers mention it, although the Egyptian
texts are most minute when they describe the
adversaries of Rameses II. mustering at
Kadesh, or the invaders who threatened the
empire under Merenphthah or Rameses III.
1 Bunsen, Egypt's Place, vol. ii. p. 424.
D