Over the centuries the Pharaonic Kings of Waset in Upper Kemet battled for control of the nation with the Libyan chieftains of the Delta, raiding Bedouin parties from the Sinai Peninsula and invading forces from the Levant. The reunification of the nation under Mentuhotep II ushered in a new sense of security throughout the country and established Kemet’s Middle Kingdom, an era that was to become a golden age for artistic and literary creation and a truly revolutionary period in regard to religion and royal ideology. However, this golden age would be interrupted by political and social instability which would come to be known as the Second Intermediate Period.
"There is a king who will come from the south...He is the son of the Land of the Bow (Nubia), he is a child of the Heartland of Nekhen (near Aswan). He will take up the White Crown, he will raise up the Red Crown, he will unite the Two Mighty Goddesses, he will appease the Two Lord Gods, with what they desire.
Prophecy of Neferti: The Asiatic Invasion
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During the indigenous rulership of the 13th Dynasty a period of political fragmentation would begin, and would kick off the Second Intermittent Period. In the north around the eastern Delta regions of Lower Kemet a seismic demographic shift had been occurring for generations which had irreversibly altered the cultural and political landscape of the region. Since at least 2000 BC groups of people from Western Asia known as the Aamu had been settling in Kemet around the Delta region.
While many Asiatics entered into the nation as war captives and slaves, many came as immigrants to find work and managed to establish a large presence in the city of Avaris. Avaris became their strong hold and was an economic epicenter and trading hotspot, which attracted many more from the near east to the Hapi (Nile) Valley. While there is evidence of populations from as far as Cypress settling in the Delta region during this time period, the most populous group by far, even outnumbering the native Kemites (Egyptians) were populations from the Levant.
It was during this time period foreign nomarchs in the Delta became more powerful than the Pharaonic Kings of Waset in the South. Following the death of King Amenemhat IV, these foreign rulers were able to found their own government and usher in the 14th Dynasty. They ruled from the city of Avaris, controlled the eastern Delta, and perhaps all of Lower Kemet becoming politically and economically independent from the Native Kingship in Waset (Theban). The 14th Dynasty was a foreign occupation. They ruled for nearly two centuries and left little to no records. This breakdown in Kemetic governance and values would leave the nation vulnerable and give rise to the invasion of the hekau khasut 𓋾𓈎𓈉, better known as the Hyksos (Shepards of foreign lands).
The Sumerians indigenously known as the sag̃-gíg-ga, or "the Black Headed People" invented the war chariot around 3000 BC in southern Mesopotamia. The Hyksos would later acquire this technology giving them a military advantage over the Kemites, one they would exploit. They would ride into Kemet around 1638 BC on their chariots causing destruction, pillaging and plundering the royal tombs. Due to Kemets already weakened state and political fragmentation, they met little to no resistance. The Ptolemaic historian Mantheos describes this event a thousand years later in the following passage:
Manetho, Aegyptiaca., frag. 42, 1.75-79.2
"Tutimaeus. In his reign, for what cause I know not, a blast of God smote us; and unexpectedly, from the regions of the East, invaders of obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land. By main force they easily overpowered the rulers of the land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly, razed to the ground the temples of the gods, and treated all the natives with a cruel hostility, massacring some and leading into slavery the wives and children of others. Finally, they appointed as king one of their number whose name was Salitis. He had his seat at Memphis, levying tribute from Upper and Lower Egypt, and leaving garrisons behind in the most advantageous positions. Above all, he fortified the district to the east, foreseeing that the Assyrians, as they grew stronger, would one day covet and attack his kingdom."
The Hycksos conquerers ushered in what would becomes known as the the 14th Dynasty of Kemet and the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period which would span across the 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasty's. Although they would rule over only Lower Kemet and not the heartland in the South, before native rulership would once again be established during the 18th Dynasty around 1550 BC.
It was Ahmose I who was finally able to expel the foreigners in the Delta, unite the country and establish the 18th Dynasty which ruled over all of Kemet, beginning the New Kingdom period in 1550 BC. The Medjay were instrumental in his campaign as well as future campaigns which would solidify the divine authority of the Wa-Setian Kings of the south over Lower Kemet and the Delta region and expelling the foreigners.
"I sailed north to my victory to drive back the Asiatics, my courageous Army in front of me like a flame of fire, with the Bowmen of the Medjay upland of our encampment ready to seek out the Asiatics." - Stela of King Ahmose
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