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The

"Shepherd Kings."

"1

as he says, "kept possession of Egypt five hundred and eleven years.' On the whole it seems that these observations of Manetho are correct. Of Salatis, the first Hyksos king, nothing is known historically, and there are no monuments known which can correctly be asserted to be the work of the kings of the first Hyksos dynasty. The country from which the Hyksos came, also, is unknown. Some Egyptologists consider the Hyksos to be Cushites, and some think they are to be identified with the Accadians; others, again, believe them to be Phoenicians or Semites. The features of the statues that have come down to us which are attributed to the Hyksos, have the following characteristics: The eyes are comparatively small, the nose is broad but aquiline, the cheek bones are prominent and the cheeks thick, the mouth is broad, the lips thick, and the chin protrudes slightly. From these facts some have stated decidedly that the Hyksos cannot have been Semites, but it must be proved that the monuments attributed to the Hyksos were really made by them, before this question can be considered to be definitively disposed of. Of the two meanings of the name Hyksos put forth by Josephus, the first being Manetho's explanation, and the second that of Josephus, based on another copy of Manetho's work scen by him, the former seems to be the more correct, and we may perhaps give the Egyptian

Hierogly-
phic equiv-
alent of
'Hyksos." it.

Ḥequ-shaåsu, as an equivalent of

it. The Shaȧsu are a well known enemy of Egypt, who came from the deserts east and north-east of Egypt, and "Hequ-shaȧsu" or "princes of the Shaȧsu" would be a name such as we might expect the Egyptians to bestow upon the invaders, just as they spoke of Ḥeq Cheta, "Prince of Cheta."

The kings belonging to this period, made known to us by the Egyptian monuments, are Apepȧ I., Apepȧ II., and Nubti. Of Apepȧ I. very little is known, but of Apepȧ II. a number of monuments remain, and among others one which records the submission to him of a number of Ethiopian tribes. Bar-Hebraeus relates that there "reigned in Egypt the fourth king of the Shepherds called Apapus, fourteen years.

1 Josephus, Contra Apion, i. 14, translated by Whiston, p. 610.

It was this king who dreamed dreams, and who made Joseph Joseph in ruler according to the writings of Chaldeans and it Egypt. seems that these kings were called "Shepherd Kings" because of Joseph's brethren." It is known from a granite stele found at Tanis, a city formerly inhabited by the Apepȧ kings, that the four hundredth year from the reign of Nubti fell in the reign of Rameses II. Dr. Birch, Wiedemann' and other Egyptologists, compare this period of 400 years with the 430 years of the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and, as Israel in the Exodus probably took place during the reign of the Egypt. immediate successor of Rameses II., we may assume that the statement of Bar-Hebraeus was based on some trustworthy tradition. It has also been pertinently remarked that it would be easier for Joseph to hold high office under the Shepherd Joseph and kings than under the rule of an ancient hereditary aristocracy. herd the "ShepThe Shepherd kings worshipped a god called Sut or Sutech, Kings." who was to the Egyptians a veritable abomination. They lived in the cities of Tanis and Avaris, on the east side of the Pelusiac arm of the Nile. They adopted the manners and customs and writing of the Egyptians, and whatever may have been their severity when they first began to rule, they were of great service to the Egyptians. It is doubtful, however, how far south their rule extended. The names of a number of kings whom Wiedemann attributes to this period are to be found in his Geschichte, pp. 295-297.

The kings of the XVIIth dynasty were of Theban origin, The kings and are famous as those who defeated the Shepherd kings and of Thebes expel the expelled them. According to Manetho, “under a king whose Hyksos. name was Alisphragmuthosis, the shepherds were subdued by him, and were indeed driven out of other parts of Egypt, magol Kasï? koil? ooi lalso wideo 10010101 ges of 10 KÖLN SOIN? WOTO) HOT : Imil Lï, ama? 0705) VASO? Lasoro : So you? Masso

· Mas? Pälso: 500 OOTSON).

1 Ed. Bruns, p. 14, at the top; ed. Bedjan, p. 13, at the top.

2 An English translation is given by Birch in Records of the Past, V., p. 33 ff. 3 Egypt, p. 76.

4 Aeg. Geschichte, p. 294.

the

but were shut up in a place that contained ten thousand acres this place was named Avaris." Manetho says that "the Shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was a large and strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessions and their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis the son of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege with 480,000 men to lie round about them; but that, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to a composition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go without any harm to be done them, whithersoever they would; and that, after Retreat of this composition was made, they went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number than 240,000, and "Hyksos." took their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria but that, as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then the dominion over Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem.” 1 Of more value than this account of Josephus for the expulsion of the Shepherd kings, is the mutilated papyrus in the British Museum which treats of Àpepå and the native Theban Seqenen king Tau-aa-qen or Seqenen-Ra III. According to it, Egypt belonged to her foes and had no king, although Seqenen-Ra, who is described as a heq or prince, was master of a town in the south. Apepȧ received tribute from all parts of the Delta, and part of it he devoted to building temples to his god Set. He wished all Egypt, both south and north, to worship this god, and to pay tribute to himself, and he sent a messenger from Avaris to Thebes requiring Seqenen-Ra to worship Set alone. This king returned answer saying that he could worship no god but Amen-Rā. Some time after another messenger of Apepȧ arrived with threats, which caused Seqenen-Ra much trouble, and he gathered together his generals and councillors to decide upon a plan of action. What the decision was the mutilated state of the papyrus prevents us from knowing, but there is no doubt about the ultimate result of their deliberations. One of the officers of

Rā III.

1 Contra Apion. I. 14, Whiston's translation, p. 611.
For the text see Select Papyri, ed. Birch, pl. 2.

2

Seqenen-Rā was called Baba, the son of Re-ånt, and he had

the

general.

a son called Aāḥmes who was born in the city of Eileithyia. Aāḥmes This Аāḥmes became an officer on board a ship of war called the "North," and in the inscription on the walls of his tomb it is said that he went with the king to besiege the city of Avaris. He was next promoted to a ship called Cha-emMennefer, and he took part in the battle fought upon the canal of Pat'etku of Avaris. Here he performed mighty deeds of valour, and he distinctly says, "We took Avaris, and I carried off as captives from thence one man and three women, in all four heads." The war of independence begun Egyptians by Seqenen-Ra III., was brought to a successful issue by Hyksos. Aāḥmes or Amāsis I., and Egypt was delivered. Seqenen-Rā probably lost his life in battle with the enemy, and must in any case have been seriously wounded, judging by the smashed skull and broken bones which his mummy exhibits.

defeat the

DYNASTY XVIII.

B. C. 1700

in Asia and

Aāḥmes I., son of Ka-mes and his wife Aaḥ-ḥetep, was the first king of the XVIIIth dynasty, and the first native ruler of all Egypt for a period of about five hundred years. Having captured Avaris, Amasis marched into Asia, where he captured the town of Sharhana, the of Joshua xix. 6, and made himself master of the land of T'ahi. Returning Egyptian to Egypt he marched into Nubia and defeated several tribes conquests who had rebelled systematically for many years past. Nubia. Having made the borders of his country safe from invasion, Amasis began to build at Memphis and Thebes and other places. Thebes, the home of the kings who had expelled the Hyksos, became the first town in Egypt, and Åmen-Rā, who hitherto had enjoyed the reputation of a mere local god, became the head of Egyptian deities. Amenophis I., son of Amāsis I., marched into Nubia, and brought it into subjection to him, and in the north of Egypt he defeated a people called the Aamu-kehak. In the reign of this king the horse is first represented on the monuments.

1 Records of the Past, VI. p. 8.

1666

B.C.

1633

Limits of Egyptian territory in Asia.

1000

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Thothmes I., like his father Amenophis I., marched into Nubia1 and defeated the rebel tribes; he made the people slaves and carried off much spoil to Thebes. Soon after his return to Thebes he set out with his army on an expedition to Mesopotamia, passing through the Arabian desert and Palestine by the way, and finally arrived on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris. This expedition was the last in which the officer Aāḥmes took part, and he again distinguished himself by his personal bravery as on former occasions. To commemorate this expedition Thothmes I. set up two stelæ near the Euphrates to mark the limits of Egyptian territory. It would seem that no Egyptian king ever possessed permanent hold upon the country of Mesopotamia, Nehern (compare or 120), and it is clear that Egypt only held even a nominal dominion over it as long as each king on his accession marched into the country to terrify the nomad tribes afresh, and to decide what amount of tribute each petty king or head of a tribe should pay to Egypt. The governors of cities in Mesopotamia and Ruthen, or Syria, made treaties among themselves and planned wars against each other, or a common foe, without any reference to the authority of Egypt over them. Each king of Assyria, if he wished to maintain his authority, found it necessary on his accession, or soon after, to undertake a series of military expeditions to punish the peoples who, on the death of a king, always revolted. If this were necessary for a power actually resident in Mesopotamia, how much more necessary would it be for a remote and shadowy power like that of Egypt. Thothmes I. continued the buildings at Thebes, and set up two granite obelisks. Towards the end of his reign he associated his daughter Maat-ka-Rā, or Ḥāt-shepset, with him in the rule of the kingdom.

Thothmes II. married his sister Hatshepset and became king of Egypt. The tribes of Nubia were again re-conquered, and the Shaȧsu were once more defeated. After a short reign, the greater part of which was occupied in continuing the buildings at Karnak, the king died and Hatshepset his sister

The office of "Prince of Cush" is first mentioned in the reign of Thothmes I.

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