User:Archaeobuf/sandbox/hyksos
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The Hyksos (/ˈhɪksɒs/ or /ˈhɪksoʊz/;[1] Ancient Greek: Ὑκσώς or Ὑξώς) were rulers of foreign origin who reigned over the Nile Delta and other parts of Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650-1530 BCE). The name derives from the Ancient Egyptian: ḥeqaꜣ ḫaꜣsuwt, "ruler of the foreign countries", which was both employed as a title by some of these rulers and as a derogatory epithet for these rulers by Egyptians who denied their legitimacy. Their principal capital was located at Avaris on the former Pelusiac branch of the Nile, where several successive palaces have been excavated. The Hyksos are perhaps most famous for having been "expelled" by Ahmose, who reunified Egypt at the start of the 18th Dynasty. Native Egyptian sources are almost invariably hostile and derogatory towards the Hyksos, and generally refuse to recognize them as having been legitimate kings of Egypt.
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The rise of the Hyksos to power signalled the end of the unified Egyptian Middle Kingdom. It inaugurated the Second Intermediate Period, during which Egypt was fragmented into many pieces each with its own local rulers. The Hyksos Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt reigned from Avaris in the Delta concurrently with the native Egyptian Seventeenth Dynasty (and possibly an earlier Sixteenth Dynasty) from Thebes, and a Nubian dynasty based at Kerma. The reunification of Egypt under the native Egyptian ruler Ahmose I brought an end to Hyksos rule, the rise of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and the inauguration of the unified New Kingdom.[2]
Very little is known with confidence about the the political history and institutions of the Hyksos. Modern scholars disagree as to the identity of these rulers; their order, family relationships, and chronology; the circumstances under which they came to power; the extent of their territorial jurisdiction; their political institutions; and much else, as all of this must be inferred from scanty scraps of evidence. Very few contemporary inscriptions refer to these rulers, and most of these provide little historical information. The names of many, if not most, of these rulers are known only from scarab-shaped stamp-seal amulets, or from seal impressions made from such stamp-seal amulets. The relevant section of the Turin King List is badly damaged, and these rulers were never included in the King Lists from Abydos, Karnak, or Saqqara. The relevant sections of Manetho's History of Egypt are preserved only in three conflicting summaries. Except for Apophis, none of the rulers listed in any of the extant synopses of Manetho can be confidently identified from these contemporary monuments and stamp-seal amulets. Only the end of Hyksos rule is reasonably-well documented, thanks primarily to campaign accounts and later literature emanating from their native Egyptian opponents.
Much more is known about the material culture of the population over which the Hyksos reigned, thanks to extensive archaeological investigation in the eastern Nile Delta. During this period, much of the population of the Eastern Nile Delta was West Semitic of Canaanite or Syrian extraction. Sometimes, the term "Hyksos" is employed loosely but imprecisely as an ethnic designation for this foreign population of the Delta. The Egyptians referred to this foreign population as ꜥAꜣmu, conventionally but somewhat confusingly translated as "Asiatic". The name or names by which this population referred to itself are not known.
One reason for interest in the Hyksos is the possibility that the Biblical Exodus account may be based upon events surrounding the expulsion of the Hyksos. According to Josephus' quotes from Manetho, these two events had already been identified by Manetho himself. Many modern Egyptologists, including Alan Gardiner[3] and Donald Redford[4], agree that the expulsion of the Hyksos is the only known historical event upon which the Biblical Exodus account could possibly be based. However, most Biblical historians place the Exodus later, if they treat the Exodus as a real historical event at all.