The Hyksos Rule in Egypt

IN the nineteenth century B.C. Egypt was the strongest state in the Near East. To the south, Lower Nubia was occupied by Egyptian forces, and still farther to the south trade flourished in the Egyptian factory at Kerma in the Sudan. From these southern provinces gold and other valuable goods came to Egypt in huge quantities. This political and commercial strength permitted Egypt to play a dominant role also in the north, and at least the kinglets of Byblos in Syria seem to have been Pharaoh's vassals. They used regalia of an Egyptian design and were possibly anointed at their coronation with oil from vessels bearing the name of the Egyptian king.2 It is probable that other Syrian cities, too, such as Ras Shamra-Ugarit, were politically dependent on Egypt.3 After the fall of the Twelfth Dynasty (c. 1778 B.C.4) there followed a short periodlet us say about a generation-when the unity of Egypt was no longer upheld, but a number of ephemeral kinglets ruled the country contemporaneously.5 However, Egypt soon recovered its political unity and strength, and this passing weakness had not changed Egypt's political position in the Near East.6