however, being the warrior and dominant class, were more
particularly considered the Hyksos.1
The name of From the preceding circumstances it would appear that the
babfy g\ve?to name of Shepherd, at least, was equally applied to the two
two races. races wh0 peopled Africa at distant intervals; such as the
Cushites in the first instance,2 and subsequently the Sukkims,3
and other Shemitic branches. But that a numerous people denominated
Pastors descended along the Nile, is manifest from
the remains of troglodyte dwellings at Axum as well as Meroe,
and likewise from the circumstance of their first stronghold
having been in the Theban district; to which it will be recollected,
they afterwards added Lower Egypt. Here, on account
of their vocation, which was an abomination to the Egyptians,
they continued to live almost as a separate people till the time of
their expulsion, when agreeably to the terms of the capitulation
they quitted Egypt, and the main body retired into Palestine.
Joseph seems to have been alive at that time, and it is probable
that the Israelites lived amongst them previously to their departure,
since Jacob and his followers, who were of the same
race, and followed a similar calling, obtained permission from
Pharaoh, who was a shepherd king, to settle in the land of Goshen.
The shepherds, as might be expected, were opposed to the
Egyptians, not only in the use of cattle for food, but also in
S a b a ism o f th e th e worship of images; they adored the heavenly bodies; and
Shepherds. a remarkable proof that they were conversant with the motions
of these is given by Syncellus, who states,4 that Assis or Asith,
their sixth king, added five intercalary days to the year, which
previously consisted of 360 days. The calf was deified as
Apis during the reign of that monarch.5
The inroad of the Hyk-sos,6 or Shepherd Kings of Arabia,
one of the most remarkable events connected with the history
of Egypt, has been placed as late as 1176 b . c ., and their ex-
1 Bruce’s Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, vol. I I ., pp. 20,21, 23,
Dublin, 1791. 2 See vol. I ., p. 281. 3 See preceding Chapter, p. 33.
4 P . 123. 5 Ancient Fragments, by I. Preston Cory, Esq., p. 141.
6 Hyk denotes a king, in the sacred dialect, and Sos, in the vulgar language,
signifies a shepherd, and hence shepherd king.—From Manetho,
p. 171 of Ancient Fragments o f Isaac Preston Cory, Esq. W. Pickering,
London, 1832.
pulsion in the year 1070 but both the inroad and the expul- Coming of the
r . 1 1 1 1 1 * i Shepherds and
s io n p r o b a b ly t o o k p l a c e a t a m o r e r e m o t e p e r io d .
In the second chapter of the second book, Manetho states
that the shepherds quitted Egypt during the reign of Tuthmosis, ~
the seventh king of the eighteenth dynasty,2 whose exploits in Egypt,
delivering the country are made prominent on the walls of the
Memnonium. The date of their departure is placed 393 years
before the flight of Danaus to Argos;3 that is, soon after
Joseph’s death, between 1620 b . c . and 1630 b . c. or, according
to Josephus, 1623 b . c . The latter period,4 with the addition of
259 years and 10 months for the reign of the first six shepherd
kings,5 and 100 for their successors up to the close of the
war, in the 9th year of Thummosis,6 would place the arrival
of the shepherds 1982 b . c .
It may, however, be observed that Manetho elsewhere mentions
that the Hyk-sos and their descendants, retained possession
of the country during a period of 511 years,7 which would
carry back their first invasion to about 2134 b , c. As this was
about two centuries after the time of the settlement of Mizraim’s
followers in Egypt, and is anterior to the departure of Kahtan
from Mesopotamia, it would in this case show that the earliest
shepherds were Cushites.
Josephus evidently confounded the exodus of the Israelites
with the departure of the shepherds, which mistake may pos- Mistake of
sibly be in some measure explained, by the latter being chiefly
composed of his own, that is, the Shemitic race.
1 Svnchronolosry, &c., by the Rev. Ch. Crossthwaite, pp. 116, 117, 240,
241. Parker, London, 1839.
2 Ancient Fragments, by Isaac Preston Cory, Esq., p. 116, from Manetho.
3 Ancient Fragments, p. 138, by Isaac Preston Cory, Esq.
4 Cont. Apion., lib. I., s. 16, and I I ., s. 2, in speaking of the departure of
the shepherds, on the authority of Manetho, 393 years before the flight of
Danaus, he places that event 612 years previous to the building of the
temple: 1011 + 612 = 1623.
5 Salatis, Baeon, Apaehnes, Apophis, Sethos or Ianias, and Assis, making
259 years 10 months.—Ancient Fragments, pp. 140 and 170, by Isaac Preston
Cory, Esq.
6 Amosis, Chebron, Amenophis, Memphres or Mephres, Mispharmuthosis,
and Tuthmosis (or Thummosis), 100 years.—Ibid., pp. 141, 142.
7 Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 171, from Manetho.