The Vilification of the Hyksos: A Consideration of the Terminology

What is it about?

This paper investigates how the Hyksos, a group of foreign rulers based in Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, were villainised in seventeen ancient textual sources. The paper considers the origins of the Hyksos’ defamation across Hyksos, Theban, and Egyptian sources from the Second Intermediate Period until the Nineteenth Dynasty. It demonstrates the development of terminology associated with the foreign rulers and the Egyptians and suggests that the growing hostility between Upper and Lower Egypt resulted in a shift in discourse to justify the conflict between the two kingdoms. Furthermore, the development of the Hyksos' vilification was found to be intricately connected to the ideology of Egyptian kingship and the establishment of a warrior ethos.

Featured Image