The Hyksos — Rulers of Foreign Lands
In the long history of Egypt, an intriguing chapter unfolded with the arrival of the Hyksos on the political scene as the new rulers of Egypt. This group, whose name translates to "rulers of foreign lands," left a lasting impact on Egypt that is still felt more than three thousand years after their fall. Today we will discuss the arrival of these mysterious people, their ascent to dominance, their fall, and how they are depicted in the YA fantasy novel, Treasures of Egypt: the Spear & the Scythe.
Arrival in Egypt
The story of the Hyksos began not within the borders of Egypt but in what we now call the Levant, the area in the Middle East between Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, and Arabia. Over time, either for trade or to flee from wars and natural disasters in their region, these people resettled in the Egyptian Delta region in the North. This settlement grew over time into a vibrant city called Avaris that, as far as we know, initially existed in harmony with the rest of Egypt. This on its own wasn’t a strange situation because there had been other settlements in the country that belonged to the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Nubians, and the Libyans. So, from an Egyptian perspective, the Hyksos were simply another group that settled peacefully in Egypt. However, the Hyksos would soon prove that they were the most unique newcomers to the Two Lands.
Rise to Power
The ascendancy of the Hyksos was neither rapid nor direct; it was a gradual infiltration that culminated in their seizing of power. Settling in the fertile Delta region, an area where the Nile fans out before merging with the Mediterranean, they strategically positioned themselves in a place of abundant resources and strategic importance. Over time, this enabled them to consolidate power and extend their influence over vast swathes of Egyptian territory.
A pivotal moment came when the state collapsed, marking the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the second intermediate period. That was when a Hyksos leader, presumably the local ruler of Avaris, assumed the mantle of king, effectively ruling over a significant portion of Egypt. This era, known as the second intermediate period, spanned approximately 100 to 150 years. During this time, they established a dynasty, setting up their capital in Avaris, located in the northeastern Delta. What set the Hyksos apart was their adaptive strategy; they adopted Egyptian customs, revered Egyptian deities alongside their own, and assimilated into Egyptian society by adopting its dress and language. This cultural integration facilitated their acceptance—in the North at least—and solidified their rule over the native Egyptians.
The Fall of the Hyksos
However, the narrative of the Hyksos is one of eventual decline, marked by the resurgence of Egyptian resistance in the South. The seeds of discontent among the Egyptians, sown during the Hyksos reign, gradually sprouted into a full-blown movement aimed at reclaiming their land from foreign rule. This movement was spearheaded by the Egyptian King and Queen, Seqenenra Tao and Ahhotep, in Thebes in the south, far from the Hyksos stronghold in Avaris. The battles between the Egyptians in the South and the Hyksos in the North were fierce, resulting in the death of King Seqenenra and later his son Kamose. But it was the resilience of Queen Ahhotep, history’s first recorded female military general, that kept the Egyptian spirit high during the war. Despite losing her husband and son, Ahhotep kept ruling her section of Egypt while simultaneously raising the next heir and preparing for the next phase of the war.
The tide truly turned when Queen Ahhotep’s second son Ahmose I came of age and ascended the throne. Instead of simply charging forward like his father and brother, Ahmose built upon his mother’s efforts during her regency and took inspiration from the military strategies and technologies used by the Hyksos for example by using more advanced chariots and newly designed bows that were used by his new allies, the fierce Medjay, the greatest archers of their time. His efforts culminated in a series of decisive battles that ultimately led to the fall of Avaris and the Hyksos' defeat.
The fall of the Hyksos marked a new era in Egyptian history—the New Kingdom. This period is celebrated for its architectural and artistic achievements and the reigns of some of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, such as Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ramesses the Great. The New Kingdom era is often seen as Egypt’s imperial age and a renaissance of Egyptian culture and power, spurred in part by the reunification of the country.
The Legacy of the Hyksos
Unfortunately, we don’t have much information about the Hyksos from the people of Avaris themselves. Avaris’s location in the fertile Delta region also didn’t help with the preservation of the events in historical records. Our modern primary source regarding the Hyksos are the pharaohs who, as one can imagine, were quite biased and usually had a habit of only recording the parts that served their propaganda. Ahmose for example recorded that he had chased the Hyksos outside of Egypt until he had killed the last one of them. However, it is known today that Avaris continued to exist as a city after it fell under Egyptian control, meaning that either Ahmose was outright lying or he merely chased down the Hyksos elite and exaggerated the count of casualties. Either way, it is quite difficult to know what exactly happened and until Egyptologists make new discoveries that uncover the real history, the Hyksos will remain a mysterious, albeit major, player in Egyptian History.
The Hyksos in Modern Egypt
Surprisingly enough, despite being the first of a long line of foreign rulers, modern Egyptians still hold a very special grudge toward the Hyksos specifically. That might seem strange until one puts that sentiment into perspective. The Egyptians had been ruled by foreign dynasties at best or foreign empires at worst for more than two thousand years and only regained self-rule in the year 1952. Lacking a modern counterpart, the Hyksos became the perfect symbol for foreign rule in modern Egyptian culture. This sentiment became further ingrained in Egyptian culture after Naguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian author and Noble Prize laureate, published his novel “Thebes at War” where he used the Hyksos as an allegory for British rule.
The Hyksos in Treasures of Egypt
Spoiler Warning: This section contains light world-building spoilers!
The Hyksos play a big part in the YA fantasy novel, Treasures of Egypt: the Spear and the Scythe. We are introduced to them centuries after the fall of Avaris under the rule of Ramesses II. In this version of history, I tried to flip the narrative I grew up with in Egypt and turned the Hyksos from the oppressors of the Egyptians into the oppressed.
This, of course, is completely made up. We have no records about the remnants of the Hyksos during the reign of Ramesses and chances are, by that time, the remaining people of Avaris had been fully assimilated into Egyptian society with the Egyptian-Hyksos war being remembered as something that had happened in the distant past.
The reason I chose the reign of Ramesses II as the period for this story was the location of his capital. Ramesses, and his family, came from the area where Avaris once stood, and for that reason, that’s where they chose to build the capital of their new dynasty, Per-Ramesses (spelled Peramessu in the novel). Ramesses’ reign is also both far enough from the fall of Avaris so that a new social structure could’ve formed but not too far so that people would’ve forgotten.
I also wanted to take part in the Egyptian tradition of using the Hyksos as an allegory but instead of showing them as oppressors, I wanted to use them to show how hatred can fuel an endless cycle of pain and suffering. In Treasures of Egypt, we are introduced to the remnants of the Hyksos who are trying to survive under Egyptian oppressive rule hundreds of years after the fall of Avaris. These Hyksos are trapped inside a decaying Avaris in what can only be described as an open-air prison. The Egyptians, of course, justify their treatment of the Hyksos by reminding them of what their ancestors had done while the Hyksos can only look at the new city of Peramessu looming over what remains of their once great city.
That is basically the setting of the story. But it quickly zooms in on Nefiri Minu and Khafset of Avaris, an Egyptian and a Hyksos who are forced to work together to save Egypt. This allows them to represent their people’s sides of the conflict.
Lastly, I do hope that you remember that this is a work of fiction and is by definition a lie. That is the reason why The Real History blog exists. It’s a place where I expose my “lies” and make it easier for you to know where history ends and fiction begins. However, I do hope this work of fiction will spark your interest in real history and if that’s the case, please search for sources made by experts whose goal is to educate rather than entertain. A source I highly recommend for anything ancient Egypt-related is the History of Egypt Podcast by Dominic Perry. From there it should be easy to find more sources about the topic
Conclusion
The saga of the Hyksos in Egypt is a captivating tale of foreign influence, cultural assimilation, and the desire of the people to reclaim their sovereignty. Their story is a perfect example of the complexities of history, where the lines between conqueror and conquered blur, and where the legacy of one era lays the foundation for the next. The Hyksos' reign, though marked by conflict and eventual downfall, contributed significantly to Egyptian history for without the Hyksos the New Kingdom wouldn’t have risen from the ashes of Avaris.
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