Egypt and the Hyksos

National Geographic has announced the discovery of a large fortress near the Suez Canal that probably was used in Egypt’s attempt at protecting the Delta region against foreign invaders. One of these invaders were the Hyksos.

The Hyksos were a group of Asiatic people who conquered Egypt in the 17th century and ruled Egypt for more than 150 years. The word Hyksos means “rulers of a foreign land.” Through Josephus, the Hyksos came to be known as “Shepherd Kings.”

The following news report was published by the National Geographic on July 27, 2007:

The largest known fortress from ancient Egypt's days of the pharaohs has been unearthed near the Suez Canal, archaeologists announced on Sunday.

The massive fortress, discovered at a site called Tell-Huba, includes the graves of soldiers and horses and once featured a giant water-filled moat, scientists said.

The discovery dates back to ancient Egypt's struggle to reconquer the northern Sinai Peninsula from an occupying force known as the Hyksos.

The campaign against the Hyksos was depicted in etchings on the ancient walls of the Karnak Temple, 450 miles (720 kilometers) south of Cairo.

Archaeologists said the new find shows those stone-chiseled tales to be surprisingly accurate.

"The bones of humans and horses found in the area attest dramatically to the reality of such battles," said Zahi Hawass, director general of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA).

"Previously, the area was known only from depictions in temples elsewhere in Egypt. We had no first-hand evidence of what was happening there during the pharaonic period."

The discovery was part of a broader effort called the North Sinai Archaeological Project, which was started in 1991 to identify and protect archaeological sites that were threatened by an industrial agriculture project.

The fort, called Fort Tjaru (or Tharo), was unearthed by a team led by Mohammed Abdul Maqsoud of the SCA. The fort dates from the 18th and 19th Dynasties (from 1560 to 1081 B.C.).

Ancient Empires Clash

Tjaru's mud brick walls were 42 feet (13 meters) thick, enclosing an area 546 yards (500 meters) by 273 yards (250 meters). Twenty-four watchtowers loomed over the parapets. A deep moat ringed the entire complex.

It was the biggest in a chain of 11 fortresses that stretched from Suez to the present-day city of Rafah on Egypt's border with the Palestinian territories.

The formidable defenses were built on bitter experience.

In the 17th century B.C., a people known as the Hyksos invaded from Canaan, sweeping across the Sinai to rule over the Nile Delta and northern Egypt.

The Hyksos' reign faded about a hundred years later. Subsequent pharaohs cast a wary eye to the east and militarized the northern Sinai.

By the reign of Ramses II, who ruled from 1279 to 1213 B.C., a new enemy was on the horizon: the Hittites, who came from present-day Turkey and battled the Egyptians until around 1258 B.C.

"The fort, built to secure the entrance to the Delta and protect Ramses II's city of Piramesse, demonstrates the importance to the Egyptians of securing the eastern border," Hawass said.

"The need to protect Egypt's eastern frontier was made clear by the invasion of the Hyksos, who were able to cross the desert into Egypt and establish themselves as rulers in the Delta region."

Much of this maneuvering is described at Karnak, the massive temple complex near Luxor.

"The most surprising thing about the fort is how accurately its architecture was depicted [at Karnak]," said Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

"The archaeologists have found evidence of the exact buildings shown, as well as of the moat which surrounded the citadel and of the large, wooden beams which spanned it."

An expedition led by archaeologist James Hoffmeier of Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, unearthed a smaller fort known as the Lion's Lair about four miles (seven kilometers) east of Tjaru at Tell el-Borg.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Egypt, Hyksos, Karnak

The Hyksos in Egypt

The National Geographic has published a news report announcing that Egyptian archaeologists have found documents that date to the time of the Hyksos in Egypt. The following is an excerpt of the article:

Egyptian archaeologists have announced that they have unearthed traces of solidified lava on the northern coast of Sinai that date to around 1500 B.C.-supporting accounts that ancient Egyptian settlements were buried by a massive volcanic eruption in the Mediterranean, they say.

The archaeological team, led by Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities, found houses, military structures, and tombs encased in ash, along with fragments of pumice, near the ancient Egyptian fortress of Tharo, on the Horus military road. Tharo is located close to El Qantara, where the Nile Delta meets the Sinai peninsula.

The new find seems to confirm accounts from ancient artwork and documents that recount the destruction of coastal cities in Egypt and Palestine during the 15th dynasty (1650-1550 B.C.), when foreigners known as the Hyksos ruled Egypt.

The archaeological mission also found a fort with four mud-brick towers dating to Egypt's 18th dynasty (around 1550 to 1307 B.C.).

In addition, an Egyptian archaeologist said:

The fort corresponded to reliefs found in the ancient temple of Karnak in Luxor. The sculptures describe Egypt's strategy to defend its eastern borders against future invasions by the Hyksos, who are thought to have been Semitic nomads from Syria and Palestine.

"It's very significant," said Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. "There are only a limited number of sites linked to the Hyksos." Ikram added that the site also contains some of the earliest known remains of horses found in Egypt.

The Hyksos occupy a very important place in the history of Egypt and Canaan in the 18th century B.C. According to John Bright (59-65), around 1710 B.C., the Hyksos, an Asiatic people, conquered Egypt and established their own government that included Canaan and southern Syria. They established their capital in the city of Avaris in the Nile Delta.

The name “Hyksos” means “foreign chiefs.” This name was given by the Egyptians to the invading people, who later adopted the title to designate the foreign elements who ruled Egypt for about 150 years.

The Hyksos were able to conquer Egypt because of their advanced weapons, which included the war chariot and the laminated bow. Many of the names associated with the Hyksos are Semitic. For this reason, some scholars have said that some of the ancestors of the Israelites who entered Egypt may have been associated with the Hyksos.

If Joseph entered Egypt during the time the Hyksos occupied the land, then, the settlement of Jacob and his family in the land of Goshen was made possible because of the affinity between the two groups. The Hyksos domination of Egypt came to an end when Ahmose I in 1570 B.C. attacked Avaris and expelled the Hyksos from Egypt.

Ahmose established the Eighteenth Dynasty, a dynasty that lasted through the end of the Amarna period, a time when, according to the book of Exodus, Israel was in Egypt.

Thus, the discovery of a site that confirms the presence of the Hyksos in Egypt is significant because it helps archaeologists shed light on a very debatable period in the history of Israel.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Exodus, Hyksos,