Hyksos

A foreign people group—whose name means, in Egyptian, "ruler of foreign/hill countries,"—who seized power over Egypt about 1730 BC, during what is now known to scholars as the Second Intermediate Period (13th-17th Dynasties). They were eventually expelled by Pharaoh Ahmose about 1530 BC.

The precise identity and origin of the Hyksos remains an enigma—though most scholars are agreed that they were Asiatic, possibly Palestinian—largely because they established their capital, Avaris (modern Tell el-Dab'a), in the delta region of Egypt, where environmental factors do not make for effective preservation. Nor is it currently clear to what was the extent of their rule over Egypt. What seems clear, though, is that they brought with them knowledge of bronze weaponry, chariots and the composite bows. To them too we owe the oldest known surgical handbook, as well as the most important document on Egyptian mathematics.

There is some suggestions that it was under one of the Hyksos pharaohs that Joseph served as minister as narrated in the book of Genesis; being foreigners themselves, they were more likely to be open to accepting a foreigner like Joseph into high office. Much, however, remains uncertain about them, though continuing archaelogical work at Avaris will add further to our understanding of these people.