Hyksos

A word probably derived from *haq*, a desert. Of the Hyksos—erroneously called Shepherd Kings—very little is known that is absolutely certain. They appear to have been a barbaric people from the east, who, taking advantage of a period of weakne , poured down into Egypt, established their own government, and, after restoring Hat-uart (Tanis), governed from Memphis. After 511 years they were expelled from Lower Egypt by Aahmes I. and forced into the Delta. Thothmes I. finally expelled them, and they retreated into the country from whence they originally came. Up to the present time there have only been found the remains of three Hyksos kings, Khian and Apepi I. and II., under the last of whom it is thought that Joseph served. The genuinene of many of the so-called Hyksos monuments found in museums has been doubted by eminent Egypt ologists.