A (probably) Semitic people who invaded Egypt during the 1700's BCE from the Levant. Their origins are unknown but they may have been connected to the loose grouping of tribes referred to as "Hebrew". The Greek word Hyksos is usually translated as deriving from the Egyptian for "Shepherd Kings" but may actually derive from the Egyptian phrase "Hikau Khausut" meaning "Lords from Other Lands". Though their hegemony was short-lived, the Hyksos left a lasting impact on Egypt; they introduced the composite bow, the khopesh sword, the horse and the chariot as well as many Canaanite gods and religious concepts. Despite their contributions and relatively peaceful reigns they were hated as foreigners by Egyptians such as Manetho, who fulminates about them at length. Their putative invasion may actually have been a peaceful settlement, especially in light of the fact that the Fourteenth

Dynasty that preceded them was almost certainly Semitic as well. Manetho’s nationalist pride notwithstanding, much of the Fifteenth Dynasty appears to have been a prosperous and peaceful time. The extent of the Hyksos’ overlordship over most of Egypt is disputed among scholars. Traditionally they were supposed to have utterly dominated the Two Lands; more recent scholarship suggests that their direct rule was over only a small part of Lower Egypt, and that while they extracted tribute from other rulers (including the Theban dynasts of the Seventeenth Dynasty), they were content to refrain from meddling in internal affairs. They formed alliances with the Nubians and various Libyan peoples, possibly as a counter to the growing power of the Theban kings.

Apepi appears to have provoked a war with the Theban king Tao II by writing a shockingly insulting letter complaining, inter alia, that the noise of Tao’s pet hippos (located hundreds of miles away) was interrupting his sleep. The letter is now in the British Museum. Tao immediately marched to war, beginning the sequence of events leading to the Hyksos’ ouster.

The Hyksos were defeated by Ahmose, a client prince from Thebes, who then declared himself Pharaoh - first of the XVIIIth Dynasty, the beginning of the New Kingdom. The Hyksos were gradually driven out of Egypt and eventually chased all the way to the town of Sharuhen, in Canaan (modern day Tel Ajjul, Israel). After a 3-year seige, according to the Egyptian account, Sharuhen was sacked and the Hyksos annihilated. The Hyksos are identified with the group of peoples referred to as "Shasu" by the Egyptians. Groups connected with the Shasu may have included the Midianites, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and possibly the ancestors of the ancient Israelites.