Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
1–10 of 35 posts
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#2Could thirteenth dynasty papyrus rolls have contained marginalia saying "HOT single Hyksos girls in the Tell el-Dabca area"?
Might egyptian men have sent unsolicited scrolls full of EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH D052 and EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH D053 in hopes of getting EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH M032 in reply?
Ancient internet theorists say yes.
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#3The authors don't say which race the Hyksos have traditionally been associated with. Do they mean the Hebrews?
It is interesting that the strontium isotope analysis suggests they did not come from a single homeland, but were from a variety of locations across the near East.
I'm not sure I'm identifying the race they are referring to correctly (too many History Channel documentaries maybe). For example, I don't think the Hebrews are supposed to have had a homeland at that point in history.
Nonetheless, the evidence that a significant number of them spent their childhood outside the Nile Delta region does indicate that they were not a race of people who were born, grew up and lived in Egypt the whole time.
Is someone able to confirm that the authors were referring to the past tentative identification of the Hyksos with the Hebrews? If not, to whom are they referring?
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#4The Near East. That's what, Haifax NS? Rio de Janiero?
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#5The authors don't say which race the Hyksos have traditionally been associated with. Do they mean the Hebrews? It is interesting that the strontium isotope analysis suggests they did not come from a single homeland, but were from a variety of locations across the near East. I'm not sure I'm identifying the race they are referring to correctly (too many History Channel documentaries maybe). For example, I don't think…
> Do they mean the Hebrews?
According to [1]:
> The Hyksos... were people of probable Levantine origin, who established the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1650–1550 BC) based at the city of Avaris in the Nile delta, from where they ruled the northern part of the country. While the Hellenistic Egyptian historian Manetho portrayed the Hyksos as invaders and oppressors, modern Egyptology no longer believes that the Hyksos conquered Egypt in an invasion. Instead, Hyksos rule had been preceded by groups of Canaanite peoples settled in the eastern delta who probably seceded from central Egyptian control near the end of the Thirteenth Dynasty.
So Canaanites [2]. The paper supports the theory that Hykos were settlers rather than invaders.
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#6The Near East. That's what, Haifax NS? Rio de Janiero?
> The Near East is a Eurocentric geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region comprising Western Asia, Turkey (both Anatolia and East Thrace), and Egypt (which is completely located in North Africa). [1]
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#7The authors don't say which race the Hyksos have traditionally been associated with. Do they mean the Hebrews? It is interesting that the strontium isotope analysis suggests they did not come from a single homeland, but were from a variety of locations across the near East. I'm not sure I'm identifying the race they are referring to correctly (too many History Channel documentaries maybe). For example, I don't think…
Archaeologically speaking, the Hebrew people didn’t exist at that time in history.
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#8The Near East. That's what, Haifax NS? Rio de Janiero?
> The Near East is a Eurocentric geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region comprising Western Asia, Turkey (both Anatolia and East Thrace), and Egypt (which is completely located in North Africa). [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East
I know you’re quoting Wikipedia, but I don’t believe the Near East in this context ever refers to Egypt.
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The Near East is a Eurocentric geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region comprising Western Asia, Turkey (both Anatolia and East Thrace), and Egypt (which is completely located in North Africa). [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East
I know you’re quoting Wikipedia, but I don’t believe the Near East in this context ever refers to Egypt.
Search “Near East” using Google Scholar to quickly lose that belief.
Re: Who were the Hyksos? Strontium isotope analysis of remains from ancient Egypt
#10The authors don't say which race the Hyksos have traditionally been associated with. Do they mean the Hebrews? It is interesting that the strontium isotope analysis suggests they did not come from a single homeland, but were from a variety of locations across the near East. I'm not sure I'm identifying the race they are referring to correctly (too many History Channel documentaries maybe). For example, I don't think…
>I'm not sure I'm identifying the race they are referring to correctly (too many History Channel documentaries maybe). For example, I don't think the Hebrews are supposed to have had a homeland at that point in history.
The relationships between biblical accounts of pre-classical periods is necessarily shaky. The pre-kingdom parts of the bible read very much like mythology, metaphor and heroic ancestor tales.
That said, there are various points of intersection or allusion to actual known history. The migration of the Hyksos could relate to the biblical story of Joseph. It's basically an account of migration from Canaan to Egypt because of a famine. Like the article said, there do seem to have been migrations to egypt of various semitic people. The hyksos are the best known of them.
Exodus relates to a later period. It's a story of a semitic slave migration out of egypt, becoming an independent nomadic tribe in canaan, midia & sinai. Historically, egypt had just lost these territories and receded to its core territory. Among many chaotic things happening, egypt was in conflict with various barbarian tribes from these regions...
It's not that solid historical accounts from egypt confirm the biblical narrative. They make almost no reference to hebrews, escaped slaves, etc. But, the biblical account does make some sort of sense.