Hyksos


The Hyksos or Hycsos ( /ˈhɪksɒs/; Egyptian heqa khasewet, "foreign rulers"; Greek Ὑκσώς, Ὑξώς, Arabic: الملوك الرعاة, shepherd kings) were an Asiatic people who took over the eastern Nile Delta, ending the thirteenth dynasty, and initiating the Second Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt.

The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt c.1800 BC, during the eleventh dynasty, began their climb to power in the thirteenth dynasty, and came out of the second intermediate period in control of Avaris and the Delta. By the fifteenth dynasty, they ruled Lower Egypt, and at the end of the seventeenth dynasty, they were expelled (c.1560 BC). The Hyksos may have introduced the horse-drawn chariot into Egypt.

The historian Josephus maintains that the Hyksos were in fact the children of Jacob who joined his son Joseph to escape the famine in the land of Canaan in the book of Exodus.

Read more about Hyksos:  Origins of The Hyksos, Hyksos 15th Dynasty, Was There A Hyksos Invasion?, Later Times