The Hyksôs king who led the invasion, or who, at any rate, was brought
to the front in its course, bore, we are told, either the name of
Salatis, or that of Saites. Of these two forms the second is undoubtedly
to be preferred, since the first has in its favour only the single
authority of Josephus, while the second is supported by Africanus,
Eusebius, George the Syncellus, and to a certain extent by the
monuments. The "tablet of four hundred years" contains the name of
Sut-Aapehti as that of a king of Egypt who must have belonged to the
Middle Empire, and this name may fairly be regarded as represented in an
abbreviated form by the Greek "Saïtes." Saïtes, having made himself
absolute master of the Lower Country, and forced the king of the Upper
Country to become his tributary, fixed his residence at Memphis, at the
same time strongly fortifying and garrisoning various other towns in
important positions. Of these the most considerable was the city, called
Auaris, or Avaris, in the Sethroïte nome, which lay east of the Pelusiac
branch of the Nile, and was probably not far from Pelusium itself, if
indeed it was not identical with that city. Another strong fort, by
means of which the Delta was held and overawed, seems to have been Zan
or Tanis, now San, situated on what was called the Tanitic branch of the
Nile, the next most easterly branch to the Pelusiac. A third was in the
Fayoum, on the site now called Mit-Fares. A large body of troops must
also have been maintained at Memphis, if the king, as we are told,
ordinarily held his court there.
How long the Egyptians groaned under the tyranny of the "Shepherds," it
is difficult to say. The epitomists of Manetho are hopelessly at
variance on the subject, and the monuments are silent, or nearly so.
Moderns vary in the time, which they assign to the period between two
centuries and five. On the whole, criticism seems to incline towards the
shorter term, though why Manetho, or his epitomists, should have
enlarged it, remains an insoluble problem. There is but one dynasty of
"Shepherd Kings" that has any distinct historical substance, or to which
we can assign any names. This is a dynasty of six kings only, whose
united reigns are not likely to have exceeded two centuries. Nor does it
seem possible that, if the duration of the foreign oppression had been
much longer, Egypt could have returned, so nearly as she did, to the
same manners and customs, the same religious usages, the same rules of
art, the same system of government, even the very same proper names, at
the end of the period, as had been in use at its beginning. One cannot
but think that the _bouleversement_ which Egypt underwent has been
somewhat exaggerated by the native historian for the sake of rhetorical
effect, to enhance by contrast the splendour of the New Empire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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