Hyksos
Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC).
T ...
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of the
Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt
The Fifteenth Dynasty was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt. The 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combi ...
, ruling over some part of Lower Egypt during the
Second Intermediate Period
The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 by ...
, possibly in the early
16th century BC
The 16th century BC is a century that lasted from 1600 BC to 1501 BC.
Events
* 1700 BC – 1500 BC: Hurrian conquests.
* 1601 BC: Sharma-Adad II became the King of Assyria.
*c. 1600 BC: The creation of one of the oldest surviving astronomic ...
.
Attestation
Sakir-Har is attested by a single inscription on a
doorjamb
A jamb (from French ''jambe'', "leg"), in architecture, is the side-post or lining of a doorway or other aperture. The jambs of a window outside the frame are called “reveals.” Small shafts to doors and windows with caps and bases are known ...
Avaris
Avaris (; Egyptian: ḥw.t wꜥr.t, sometimes ''hut-waret''; grc, Αὔαρις, Auaris; el, Άβαρις, Ávaris; ar, حوّارة, Hawwara) was the Hyksos capital of Egypt located at the modern site of Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern r ...
—by
Manfred Bietak
Manfred Bietak (born in Vienna, 6 October 1940) is an Austrian archaeologist.Nebti and Golden Falcon names, as well as his nomen. The doorjamb reads
Theories
The doorjamb confirms the identity of Sakir-Har as one of the kings of the Hyksos
Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt
The Fifteenth Dynasty was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt. The 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combi ...
. His immediate successor could have been the powerful Hyksos ruler,
Khyan
Seuserenre Khyan (also Khayan or Khian and Apachnan from the West Semitic Apaq-khyran) was an Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over Lower Egypt in the second half of the 17th century BCE. His royal name Seuserenre translates ...
, if he was the third Hyksos king of this dynasty, although Sakir-Har's precise position within this dynasty has not yet been established firmly. The name Sakir-Har may translate as "Reward of Har", or may alternatively derive from the
Amorite
The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...
''Sikru-Haddu'' meaning "The memory of
Hadad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad (Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
", in which case Sakir-Har may have reigned after Khyan and Yanassi and immeditely before Apophis.
The fact that Sakir-Har bears an Egyptian titulary as well as the title of ''heka-khawaset'' (Hyksos) suggests that the line of kings to which Sakir-Har belongs may have deliberately taken this title for themselves as had been proposed earlier by scholars, including Donald Redford. Bietak shared this opinion, writing that "although this new term 'heka-khawaset''perhaps was originally applied by the Egyptians in a disparaging way to the new rulers of the land, the rulers themselves employed ‘Hyksos’ as an official ruler's title". Research has since then refuted the idea that the Egyptians originated the term, further proving that the title of ''heka-khawaset'', "Ruler of Foreign Lands", was invented by the Hyksos rulers possibly to emphasize their origins or, more explicitly, their Amorite affiliation.