The Egyptian priest, Manetho, writing in the 3rd century BC, left us with a detailed list of the dynasties of Egypt. Although no complete copies of his history, Aegyptiaca, have been preserved, we have a lengthy excerpts of his work in the writings of other historians. Josephus, writing in the 1st century AD, cites Manetho at length with reference to an invasion by a group of ‘shepherd-kings’ who ruled Egypt for 300 years.

Josephus puzzled over this account provided by Manetho, as have generations of historians after him.  Where did the Hyksos come from?  How did they gain control of Egypt?  Is there any relation between them and the Israelites who, according to the Bible, dwelt in the land of Goshen not far from the Hyksos capital at Avaris? 

The name Hyksos itself is the Greek pronunciation of the Egyptian word “heqa-khaset” which means “rulers of foreign lands”.  The origins of these foreign rulers remains enigmatic.  Some scholars think that there never was a ‘Hyksos invasion’ as Manetho claimed.   They argue that when centralized power fragmented at the end of the 12th dynasty, foreigners who had already dwelt in the delta region for many centuries, established an independent kingdom in the Nile Delta.  This became the 15th dynasty which is also known as the 2nd Intermediate Period.  Was Manetho mistaken in attributing the rise of the Hyksos dynasty to a sudden invasion of “foreigners of obscure race?”  We will come back to this question.  But before we do, let’s take a closer look at the capitol of the Hyksos at Avaris.

Avaris in the 12th Dynasty

Avaris became a major trade depot towards the latter half of the 12th dynasty.   Not only did it boast a good harbor, it was also situated on the main road to Canaan – the so-called ‘Way of Horus’.   Wine, oil and timber were unloaded from ships at the harbor at Avaris while donkey caravans brought goods overland through the Sinai.  Archaeologists have found fragments of over two million amphorae in the excavations at Avaris.  These vessels did not originate in Egypt but in Canaan. 

A large proportion of the population of Avaris were foreigners. There is good evidence to suggest that many of the residents of Avaris were Amorites who came from north western Mesopotamia.   The Amorites spoke a western Semitic language related to Phoenician and Hebrew.  Already, in the later half of the Old Kingdom period, we find Egyptian texts that refer to a people called the ‘Aam’ – which is likely a reference to the Amorites. According to the book of Genesis, Amorites living in the region around Hebron were allied with Abraham (Gen. 14:13).

Archaeologists have found a number of tombs at Avaris. They were located in close proximity to dwelling places, oftentimes directly under the floors of houses.  This practice was foreign to the Egyptians but was a common practice in Syria and Canaan.  A pair of donkeys was also sometimes found buried at the entrance to the tombs and occasionally also the burial of a servant.  This is an example of a “retainer sacrifice” in which the living are killed and buried next to an important man or woman so that they may accompany them in the afterlife. This practice is known from the 3rd millennium in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

One tomb at Avaris seems to have received special veneration.  It had a chapel attached to the tomb in which archaeologists found a larger-than-life size statue of an Asiatic official.  He is wearing a distinctive mushroom shaped coiffure (hairdo) and carries a bent staff, a symbol of authority.  The statue seems to have been intentionally defaced, an indication, perhaps, of the political discord that was about to consume Egypt.  Bietak dates these tombs to the very end of the 12th dynasty.  Thus, this Asiatic official would have served in the court of pharaoh in the period before the Hyksos ruled the delta region.

Avaris During the 13th Dynasty

A new palace / temple complex was constructed at Avaris at the beginning of the 13th dynasty.  The size of the temple—the largest of its kind from the Middle Bronze period—shows the high status Avaris attained by this time.  An altar was found in the courtyard of the temple with a large number of bones scattered around it and the charred remains of acorns on top.   To complete the picture archaeologists found a large ‘tree pit’ next to the altar suggesting that a large tree had once stood in the temple courtyard next to the altar.   The altar may perhaps have been dedicated to the goddess Asherah, who was also called by the name ‘Elat’ which means oak tree.  Pairs of donkeys were found buried in front of the temple.  In Mari ‘to slaughter a donkey’ is synonymous with ‘to make a covenant’ so perhaps these donkeys were used for that purpose.¹

Two door jambs were found inside the temple inscribed with the name of King Nehesy (Nehesy = Nubian) “beloved of Seth, Lord of Avaris”.   This King Nehesy seems to have carved out a small kingdom for himself in the eastern delta region (c. 1710 BC).   It is surprising that King Nehesy should have adopted the Egyptian god Seth as his dynastic god since traditionally Seth was viewed as a force of evil and chaos.  But this began to change in the 12th dynasty when Egyptians began to equate Seth with the Syrian storm god Baal instead.

The Intermediate Period

The 13th dynasty in Egypt marked the beginning of a period of political chaos that ultimately led to the Hyksos seizing control of the Nile Delta.  Did the Hyksos spring from foreigners already resident in Egypt, or did they come from outside?  Scholars are divided on the matter.  Even if the Hyksos are identified with the Amorites, this does not mean that they were allied with the Amorites living in Avaris.  The tribes of Amorites were numerous and varied and did not all get along.  So, for example, both Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim where Amorite kings who fought with each other. There are, in fact, some interesting parallels between the Hyksos Period and the Old Babylonian, enough to suggest that they are contemporaneous.   For example, a fragment of a cuneiform tablet dated to the reign of Hammurabi that was found at Avaris.  A lion inscribed with the name of Khian, a Hyksos king, was found in Babylon.  Both were Amorite kingdoms that rose and fell around the same time.   

The 16th Dynasty

While the Hyksos ruled in Lower Egypt, a native Egyptian dynasty (the 16th dynasty) based in Thebes controlled Upper Egypt, resulting in an overlap between the 15th and 16th dynasties.   Egypt remained divided until Ahmose, a Theban prince, mounted a campaign to expel the foreigners from Egypt.  In inscriptions dating to his reign, Ahmose calls the Hyksos by the term ‘Aam’ and refers to their king as ‘ruler of Retjenu’. 

Ahmose attacked the Hyksos in their city of Avaris, with its high walls and great harbour. A description of the city from this time period claims that the harbor at Avaris was capable of docking 300 cedar ships filled with all kinds of goods: gold, silver and ‘all the fine products of Retjenu’.  Around a century later, Queen Hatshepsut boasted that she had restored what was destroyed during the Hyksos period when the Nile Delta was occupied by the abominable ‘Aam’ people. 

The Exodus

All of this raises some interesting questions with regards to the Israelites and the Exodus.  The Bible places the Israelites in Egypt around the same time as the Hyksos.  Both the Israelites and the Hyksos shared a similar language and ethnicity.  So do we locate the Biblical narrative of the Israelites in Egypt with relation to the Hyksos dynasty?

It seems to me that we should look for Joseph in the 12th dynasty.  This was a period of prosperity during which all of Egypt was united under a single ruler.   Perhaps the enslavement of the Israelites took place at the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th dynasty, when a new ruler assumed the throne.  Early traditions that reach back as far as the Hellenistic period place the Exodus in the 13th dynasty.  One interesting source is Artapanus of Alexandria who wrote a rather imaginative account of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt.  It is full of fanciful tales, probably intentionally so, but it also records some interesting details.  For example, Artapanus states the the pharaoh who persecuted Moses was Khenephres, a name which scholars generally agree should be identified with Sobekhotep IV, a pharaoh of the 13th dynasty.  Furthermore, he places the exodus in the reign of “Thutimos” which would then be identified Sobekhotep’s successor, Dudimose I.   It is noteworthy that Josephus, who does not seem to have been aware of the writings of Artapanus, also places the exodus in the days of a Thutimose.  If this tradition is correct, then the Exodus occurred before the Hyksos ruled Egypt.  The chaos of that period may then be understood as a result of the Exodus.  However, the standard chronology places the reigns of Sobekhotep IV and Dudimose I much too early.  Either we need to adjust our chronology or look for the exodus in a later dynasty.  Many scholars, if they believe that an exodus occurred, are inclined to place it in the 18th dynasty or even in the 19th.  For further discussion, see the Merneptah Stele.