DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0033
THE IIYKSOS.
19
Manetho, was driven out by the mountaineers of
Blam, and it pushed on as far as Egypt. It is
evident that here we launch out into con-
jecture ; but this hypothesis seems to me to
account in the best way for the few facts on
which we can argue. "Phoenicians" or "Arabs "
are the geographical names assigned to the
Hyksos by Manetho and Josephus ; " Phoeni-
cians " meaning, in my opinion, invaders
coming through Palestine, which was the natural
way; as for the term "Arabs," it may be
synonymous with that of" nomads." One fact
remains, the absence in the Egyptian insciup-
tions of a specific name connecting the Hyksos
with a definite country, while they are always
mentioned by vague and general epithets—the
eastern shepherds, t}ie nomads, and the like.
Such qualifications may very well apply to a
wandering crowd without fixed residence, which,
after having perhaps made several intermediate
stations, came down upon Egypt and conquered
it without great difficulty.
The name Hyksos, given them by Manetho,
is of recent formation, and certainly later than
the campaigns of Seti I. and Barneses II. in
Syria. It does not occur in this form in the
Egyptian inscriptions ; but it is certain that it is
formed in a regular way, and it reminds one of
other words of the same kind. Egyptologists
are divided with respect to the interpretation
to be given to the name. Some, like Prof.
Krall,8 adopt the translation of Josephus, and
derive it from the word ^ _^ hah, meaning
a prisoner. It would thus be a term of contempt,
such as we often meet with,
i i
hah n Shasu, the Shasu
prisoners, or bound with chains, al^fxaXcoTOL ttol-
/xeVes, would be like the file Kheta, and other
expressions of the same nature. It may be
objected that the word
A
hah is not
8 Aeg. Studien, ii. p. 69 et seq. De Cara, Gli Hyksos,
p. 212 et seq.
employed as an epithet, but always applies to
actual prisoners. Once, for instance when it
precedes the name of the Shasu, we see on the
sculpture the captives tied by the elbows and
brought to Egypt. I believe, with the majority
of Egyptologists, that the other interpretation
is the best, and that the . first syllable of the
word Hyksos must be derived from the
Egyptian a prince or a chief. There is
nothing extraordinary in the fact that the
whole nation is called the chiefs of the Shasu.
We have an expression quite parallel in a
papyrus of the twelfth dynasty.9 The wanderer
Saneha, after having settled in the land of
Tennu, is obliged to repel the chiefs of the
mountains, f/l"^ hihu setu. There
setu, by
}
the word chief evidently refers to the whole tribe
of hi^hlanders. Let us replace the word
j^JLi! ®fMSU> anc^ we nave
the expression Hyksos. As for the second
part of the word, it clearly comes from the
word T^T^^^J^ I the best translation of
which is nomad or shepherd, and which became
the Coptic tyuuc, a shepherd. The Shasu were
vagrants, the Bedouins of the present day,
wandering over the eastern portion of Egypt, in
the desert, the crossing of which they en-
dangered.. If the word TiM
i is not
very ancient in Egypt, as Prof. Krall observes,
it is because of its Semitic origin. It is
connected with the word nP^, to pillage, and
it was introduced into Egypt under the New
Empire, when the Semitic words were adopted
in abundance.
Thus in the 23rd century B.C. nomad tribes
coming from Mesopotamia, and ruled by J^1^^
© ^ \chiefs, overran Egypt, and took possession
of the Delta. The conquest was facilitated, if
not by anarchy, at least by the instability and the
0 Pap. de Berlin, i. 1. 98. Leps. Koenigsb. pi. 26.
U 2
19
Manetho, was driven out by the mountaineers of
Blam, and it pushed on as far as Egypt. It is
evident that here we launch out into con-
jecture ; but this hypothesis seems to me to
account in the best way for the few facts on
which we can argue. "Phoenicians" or "Arabs "
are the geographical names assigned to the
Hyksos by Manetho and Josephus ; " Phoeni-
cians " meaning, in my opinion, invaders
coming through Palestine, which was the natural
way; as for the term "Arabs," it may be
synonymous with that of" nomads." One fact
remains, the absence in the Egyptian insciup-
tions of a specific name connecting the Hyksos
with a definite country, while they are always
mentioned by vague and general epithets—the
eastern shepherds, t}ie nomads, and the like.
Such qualifications may very well apply to a
wandering crowd without fixed residence, which,
after having perhaps made several intermediate
stations, came down upon Egypt and conquered
it without great difficulty.
The name Hyksos, given them by Manetho,
is of recent formation, and certainly later than
the campaigns of Seti I. and Barneses II. in
Syria. It does not occur in this form in the
Egyptian inscriptions ; but it is certain that it is
formed in a regular way, and it reminds one of
other words of the same kind. Egyptologists
are divided with respect to the interpretation
to be given to the name. Some, like Prof.
Krall,8 adopt the translation of Josephus, and
derive it from the word ^ _^ hah, meaning
a prisoner. It would thus be a term of contempt,
such as we often meet with,
i i
hah n Shasu, the Shasu
prisoners, or bound with chains, al^fxaXcoTOL ttol-
/xeVes, would be like the file Kheta, and other
expressions of the same nature. It may be
objected that the word
A
hah is not
8 Aeg. Studien, ii. p. 69 et seq. De Cara, Gli Hyksos,
p. 212 et seq.
employed as an epithet, but always applies to
actual prisoners. Once, for instance when it
precedes the name of the Shasu, we see on the
sculpture the captives tied by the elbows and
brought to Egypt. I believe, with the majority
of Egyptologists, that the other interpretation
is the best, and that the . first syllable of the
word Hyksos must be derived from the
Egyptian a prince or a chief. There is
nothing extraordinary in the fact that the
whole nation is called the chiefs of the Shasu.
We have an expression quite parallel in a
papyrus of the twelfth dynasty.9 The wanderer
Saneha, after having settled in the land of
Tennu, is obliged to repel the chiefs of the
mountains, f/l"^ hihu setu. There
setu, by
}
the word chief evidently refers to the whole tribe
of hi^hlanders. Let us replace the word
j^JLi! ®fMSU> anc^ we nave
the expression Hyksos. As for the second
part of the word, it clearly comes from the
word T^T^^^J^ I the best translation of
which is nomad or shepherd, and which became
the Coptic tyuuc, a shepherd. The Shasu were
vagrants, the Bedouins of the present day,
wandering over the eastern portion of Egypt, in
the desert, the crossing of which they en-
dangered.. If the word TiM
i is not
very ancient in Egypt, as Prof. Krall observes,
it is because of its Semitic origin. It is
connected with the word nP^, to pillage, and
it was introduced into Egypt under the New
Empire, when the Semitic words were adopted
in abundance.
Thus in the 23rd century B.C. nomad tribes
coming from Mesopotamia, and ruled by J^1^^
© ^ \chiefs, overran Egypt, and took possession
of the Delta. The conquest was facilitated, if
not by anarchy, at least by the instability and the
0 Pap. de Berlin, i. 1. 98. Leps. Koenigsb. pi. 26.
U 2