CHAPTER VII.
Invasion and Rule of the Hyksos—War of Liberation. (Circa 2100-1600 B.C.)
The close of the twelfth dynasty was followed
at no distant date by confusion and
disaster. It appears, indeed, that the succeeding
dynasty held for a time, at least nominally,
the supremacy of Egypt; but sooner or later
we find there was a rival dynasty (the fourteenth)
ruling at Xois, in the Delta. To the
kings composing it is assigned an average
length of reign of little over two years, and this
has led some to suppose that they were not in
any sense Kings of Egypt, but were ruling in
the Delta merely as governors—viceroys of
foreign invaders. But all details, all records,
fail us here, and we have no account of the
events that led up to the crisis, when the long
threatening storm broke over the land at last.
