slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (10/24/85)
In an earlier posting I wrote: >As for the Hyskos, there are reams of speculation--Semitic tribes >are suspected for some linguistic reasons (the name hyskos itself, >for instance) and because they seem to have been light-skinned and >bearded. This still leaves room for lots of candidates. (They are >not in the right time-frame to be the Hebrews, by the way.) I was not at home at the time and had not consulted my sources. (A mistake...) I did some checking at home and found that one of my books (which I recently got and had looked at but not read yet) indicated that the Hyskos were really a group of rebel Egyptians, and not foreigners--in spite of their name (which is a contraction of "foreign princes" or something to that effect.) Certainly they affected Egyptian customs quickly; there is no evidence that they left any foreign influence on Egyptian culture, which one might expect from an outside conqueror. (I am not so sure of that as an argument, myself. One can use the example of the Mongol conquest of China. They were absorbed pretty rapidly, also.) The same book (An Introduction to Ancient Egypt, put out by the British Museum--a lovely book by the way) stated that they were probably not so much thrown out of Egypt in a massive war, as just withered away from within. Whether this is just one author's opinion or not, I don't know. It is different than the other books I've read. -- Sue Brezden ihnp4!drutx!slb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity, location, and musical ability are as yet unknown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~