The Hyksos

The Hyksos were a Semitic group of people from western Asia. They were quite intelligent and very skilled in battle. With their skill in battle and their modern day weapons they worked to take over the Middle Kingdom of Egypt in the 17th century B.C. They began the 15th dynasty in Egypt which would rule until about the 16th century B.C. when the Hyksos were driven out of Egypt by a revolt led by Ahmose who began the 18th dynasty in Egypt.
According to Encarta Encyclopedia in the 17th century B.C. the Hyksos swept south into Egypt, probably coming from Palestine and Syria, they and their nomadic followers captured Memphis using their superior military tactics. Mounir A. Farah and Andrea Berens Karls tells us that when the Hyksos invaded Egypt they traveled across the desert into Egypt bringing with them many new tools for war. Encarta Encyclopedia tells us that the Hyksos introduced the horse into Egypt. Farah and Karls tells us that when they invaded Egypt they did so with horse-drawn chariots and bronze weapons which were much more advanced than the Egyptians, who fought on foot with copper and stone weapons. The Hyksos superior military easily destroyed the Egyptians rather weak military. After the Hyksos captured M

Although not much is known about the Hyksos culture we do have an idea of what kind of people they were like. They were very skilled in certain areas of life. They were a very successful group of people and not only conquered Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, but they also began a new dynasty that lasted for 108 years.

After the Hyksos established their rule in Egypt they began the 15th dynasty that was not of Egyptian origin. According to the Encarta Encyclopedia the Egyptians referred to the Semitic people from Asia who established the 15th dynasty as Heka-khasut , which means “Ruling of Foreign Lands.” The ragz-international website tells us that these people today are known as the Hyksos, the Greek term which was based on that Egyptian phrase.

According to the ragz-international website the Hyksos main deity was the Egyptian storm and desert god, Seth, who they identified with an Asiatic storm god. The website also tells us that the Hyksos ruled as pharaohs and were listed as legitimate kings in the Turin Papyrus. They did however take part in some Egyptian customs and took habit to some of the Egyptian ways but did not go far beyond the political aspects of the culture. Although not much is known about the Hyksos culture and way of life we do know that they were very skilled in battle and were very advanced in the ways t