a shepherd; but this according to the ordinary dialect; and of these is
compounded Hycsos: but some say that these people were Arabians." Now
in another copy it is said that this word does not denote Kings, but,
on the contrary, denotes Captive Shepherds, and this on account of the
particle Hyc; for that Hyc, with the aspiration, in the Egyptian tongue
again denotes Shepherds, and that expressly also; and this to me seems
the more probable opinion, and more agreeable to ancient history. [But
Manetho goes on]: "These people, whom we have before named kings,
and called shepherds also, and their descendants," as he says, "kept
possession of Egypt five hundred and eleven years." After these, he
says, "That the kings of Thebais and the other parts of Egypt made an
insurrection against the shepherds, and that there a terrible and long
war was made between them." He says further, "That under a king, whose
name was Alisphragmuthosis, the shepherds were subdued by him, and were
indeed driven out of other parts of Egypt, but were shut up in a place
that contained ten thousand acres; this place was named Avaris." Manetho
says, "That the shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was a
large and a strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessions
and their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis the son
of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege,
with four hundred and eighty thousand men to lie rotund about them, but
that, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to a
composition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go, without any
harm to be done to them, whithersoever they would; and that, after
this composition was made, they went away with their whole families and
effects, not fewer in number than two hundred and forty thousand, and
took their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria; but
that as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then the dominion
over Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea,
and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called
it Jerusalem." [9] Now Manetho, in another book of his, says, "That
this nation, thus called Shepherds, were also called Captives, in their
sacred books." And this account of his is the truth; for feeding of
sheep was the employment of our forefathers in the most ancient ages
[10] and as they led such a wandering life in feeding sheep, they
were called Shepherds. Nor was it without reason that they were called
Captives by the Egyptians, since one of our ancestors, Joseph, told the
king of Egypt that he was a captive, and afterward sent for his brethren
into Egypt by the king's permission. But as for these matters, I shall
make a more exact inquiry about them elsewhere. [11]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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