Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/103

 CHAPTER VII.

Invasion and Rule of the Hyksos—War of Liberation. (Circa 2100-1600 )

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.