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HYKOS
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HYKSOS, the founders of the Egyptian 15th dynasty; Asiatics who exercised
political control over Egypt between approximately 1655 and 1570 B.C.E. The
Hyksos established their capital at Avaris in the Eastern Delta, controlled the
Nile Valley as far south as Hermopolis, and claimed overlordship over the rest
of Upper Egypt. Avaris (Egyptian ḥwt- wʿrt) has been identified as Tell el-Dabʿa
in the Northeast Delta. Most of the Hyksos personal names are west-Semitic, in
the same language group as Amorite and the Canaanite and Aramaic dialects. There
seem to be no Hurrian names as was once thought. "Hyksos" reflects hekau khoswe,
"the rulers of foreign lands," the name given them by their Egyptian
contemporaries. They were also referred to as ʿmw, "Asiatics," the standard name
for the inhabitants of the Eastern Mediterranean littoral, Canaan and Syria.
After having infiltrated into the Nile Valley over a period of several
centuries, they managed to seize the kingship during the chaotic period which
ended the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. At the beginning of the 18th Dynasty (c. 1580
B.C.E.) Pharaoh Ahmes expelled the Hyksos from Egypt and pursued them to
southern Palestine. After besieging Sharuhen (Tell el-Farʿah) in the south, for
three years, he defeated them. His successors, Amenophis I, Tuthmosis I, and
Tuthmosis III, completed their expulsion from Egypt. Most of the archaeological
data on the Hyksos come from sites in the Eastern Delta. Among these are Tell
el-Dabaʿ, the largest, Tell el-Maskhuta, and Tell el-Yahudiyah. Other
information comes from scarabs and monuments from various sites in Nubia and
Palestine as well as Egypt. The material available at present shows Hyksos
culture to be that of Middle Bronze Age Palestine and Phoenicia (Redford 1992,
100). In the course of time Hyksos material culture shows increasing
Egyptianizing features. Scholars debate the extent of evidence of Hyksos
fortifications, with some comparing embankments found at Tell el-Yahudiyeh at
Heliopolis with similar structures in Western Asia, and others dissenting. The
horse and chariot made their appearance in Egypt during the rule of the Hyksos,
but there is no evidence that they were introduced specifically by the Hyksos.
Distinctively Hyksos is a new type of ceramic, called "Tell al-Yahudiyeh
ceramics," named after a center of Hyksos population, now called Tell al-Yahudiyyeh,
where this type was first discovered. The vessels which characterize this group
of ceramics are small juglets and bowls, brown-gray in color, decorated with
geometric designs, and made of punctures filled with white chalk. As might be
expected, the Hyksos initially retained their Levantine religious traditions
including the royal ancestor cult. Gradually, Egyptian elements were borrowed
and synthesized, so that Baal types were identified with the Egyptian god Seth,
brother and enemy of Horus, but in addition to him they also worshiped Canaanite
gods, such as Resheph, Ashtoreth, and Anath. In Contra Apionem, Josephus,
attempting to establish the great antiquity of the Jews, quotes the history of
the Ptolemaic Egyptian writer Manetho, who describes a brutal, savage invasion
of Egypt by a people from the east, their period of domination in Egypt, and
their subsequent expulsion by the rulers of the 18th dynasty. Manetho called
these Asiatic invaders "Hyksos" and interpreted their name as meaning
"king-shepherds" (1:82), although Josephus claims Manetho also had an
alternative interpretation, "captive shepherds" (1:83, 91). Josephus identified
the Hyksos as the patriarchal Jews, equating their appearance in Egypt with the
*Joseph story in Genesis and their subsequent expulsion with the biblical tale
of *Exodus. He made this identification partially following Manetho who made the
expelled Hyksos, together with a host of lepers, the founders of Jerusalem, and
partially because the Hyksos were "shepherds" and "captives" and, indeed,
"sheep-breeding was a hereditary custom of our remotest ancestors" (1:91) and
"Joseph told the king of Egypt that he was a captive" (1:92). Following
assumptions of Manetho and Josephus some scholars have attempted to set the
Exodus within the chronological framework of the 18th Dynasty, but with little
success. There is no warrant either in the Bible or outside it for simply
equating the Hyksos with the later Hebrews, although it is not impossible that
some of the latter may have been ultimately decended from some of the Hyksos. Of
special significance is the fact that some of the Hyksos rulers bore names
echoed in the Bible, e.g., Yaʿqb-hr; and that one of the kings of the period is
named Shesha which is similar to the name Sheshai, one of the ruling families in
Kiriath-Arba (Judg. 1:10).
In Biblical Palestine
The Hyksos are not mentioned explicitly in the Bible, but some reminiscences of
them can be detected. The connection made by Josephus and Manetho with the
exodus is correct to the extent that the traditions of descent into Egypt and
exodus therefrom were at least in part inspired by distant memories of the
Hyksos movements (Redford). There are two instances where the history of the
Hyksos is connected with Palestine. The first is during the beginning of their
penetration into Egypt, since their domination over Lower Egypt must have been
preceded by control over Palestine. The second is during the decline of the
Hyksos, when they were expelled from Egypt by the rulers of the 18th Dynasty
northward toward southern Palestine.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find signs which distinguish the culture
characteristic of the rule of the Hyksos in Egypt and in Palestine.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
T. Saeve-Soederbergh, in: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 37 (1951), 53–71;
A.H. Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs (1961), 155–73; S.R.K. Glanville (ed.), The
Legacy of Egypt (1963), 219–21, M.A. Murray, The Splendour that was Egypt
(1964), 26–32. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Redford, Egypt, Canaan and Israel in
Ancient Times (1992); D. Redford and J. Weinstein, in: ABD, 3:341–48 (extensive
bibliography); A. Rainey, in: BASOR, 295 (1994), 81–5; C. Redmount, in: BA, 58
(1995), 182–90; E. Oren (ed.), The Hyksos: New Historical and Archaeological
Perspectives (1997); COS II, 5–7.
[Alan Richard Schulman /
S. David Sperling (2nd ed.)]