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The Hyksos Invasion and Rule

Ancient Egypt

Strangers in the Delta

For nearly fifteen hundred years, Egypt had been ruled by Egyptians. Then, sometime in the 17th century BC, foreign kings seized power in the northern Delta. The Egyptians called them Heqau-khasut, "rulers of foreign lands," a phrase the Greek historian Manetho later rendered as "Hyksos." Manetho, writing in the 3rd century BC, described them as a savage horde that swept in and conquered without a battle, burning cities and enslaving the people. For centuries this dramatic account was taken at face value. Today most historians argue for a quieter story: groups of Semitic-speaking peoples from the Levant had been settling in the eastern Delta for generations, drawn by trade and Egypt's wealth. As central authority weakened during the Second Intermediate Period, these settlers' leaders rose to genuine power.

A Levantine Capital at Avaris

The Hyksos made their capital at Avaris, a city in the northeastern Delta now identified with the site of Tell el-Dab'a. Excavations there have revealed a thoroughly mixed culture: Egyptian-style buildings beside Levantine temples, Canaanite pottery, distinctive bronze weapons, and burial customs foreign to Egypt. The Hyksos rulers, who formed Egypt's Fifteenth Dynasty, did not erase Egyptian ways. They wrote in hieroglyphs, took pharaonic titles and throne names, and worshipped Egyptian gods alongside their own. Their favored deity was Seth, whom they associated with the storm gods of their homeland. This blending suggests rulers eager to be seen as legitimate kings of Egypt rather than mere occupiers.

The Gifts They Brought

Whatever resentment Egyptians felt, the Hyksos period reshaped the kingdom. These newcomers introduced or popularized technologies that would define Egypt's later military glory. The horse and the light, spoke-wheeled chariot arrived in this era, transforming warfare. So did the powerful composite bow, improved bronze-working, new types of daggers and swords, and even advances in pottery and weaving. Some scholars credit the period with introducing new musical instruments and humped zebu cattle as well. In a real sense, the tools that the New Kingdom pharaohs would later use to build an empire were absorbed during the very years foreigners sat on the Delta throne.

The Theban Resistance

The Hyksos never controlled all of Egypt. To the south, a line of native rulers at Thebes governed Upper Egypt, sometimes paying tribute, sometimes simmering with resentment. According to a later Egyptian tale, the Hyksos king Apophis sent an insulting message to the Theban ruler Seqenenre Tao, complaining that the roaring of Theban hippopotamuses kept him awake hundreds of miles away—a pretext for conflict. The story is preserved on a fragmentary papyrus and may be more literary than literal. What is not in doubt is the violence: Seqenenre Tao's mummy survives, its skull shattered by axe and dagger blows, grim evidence that he died in battle. His successors carried on the fight.

Expulsion and a New Dawn

Kamose, Seqenenre's son or brother, pushed northward against the Hyksos and boasted of his campaigns on stone stelae. But it was his successor, Ahmose I, who finished the work. Around 1550 BC, Ahmose captured Avaris and pursued the retreating Hyksos into the southern Levant, besieging their stronghold at Sharuhen. His victories reunited Egypt under native rule and launched the Eighteenth Dynasty, the beginning of the New Kingdom. An account of these wars survives in the autobiography of a soldier named Ahmose, son of Ibana, carved in his tomb. Out of the humiliation of foreign rule, Egypt emerged more militarized, more outward-looking, and ready to become the greatest power of the ancient Near East.

Key Dates to Remember

c. 1650 BC — Hyksos rulers establish the Fifteenth Dynasty, with their capital at Avaris in the eastern Nile Delta.
c. 1600–1560 BC — The Theban kings of Upper Egypt grow increasingly hostile to Hyksos overlordship; the reign of the Hyksos king Apophis falls in this era.
c. 1560 BC — The Theban ruler Seqenenre Tao dies in battle against the Hyksos, as shown by the violent wounds on his preserved mummy.
c. 1555 BC — Kamose of Thebes campaigns northward against the Hyksos and records his attacks on commemorative stelae.
c. 1550 BC — Ahmose I captures Avaris and expels the Hyksos, reuniting Egypt and founding the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom.

Fun Fact: The Egyptians may have borrowed one of their deadliest later weapons from their conquerors: the horse-drawn war chariot, which became central to New Kingdom armies, appears to have entered Egypt during Hyksos times—meaning the foreigners helped equip the very dynasty that drove them out.