During the Hyksos dynasties in Egypt there lived a Pharaoh named Khyan who was of Semitic extraction; and there is some reason to suppose that he ruled from Baghdad to the Sudan, he and his fathers having created a great Egyptian Empire by the aid of foreign troops.  Egypt’s connection with Asia during the Hyksos rule is not clearly defined, but the very fact that these foreign kings were anxious to call themselves “Pharaohs” shows that Egypt dominated in the east end of the Mediterranean.  The Hyksos kings of Egypt very probably held Syria in fee, being possessed of both countries, but preferring to hold their court in Egypt.

We now come to the great Dynasty XVIII., and we learn more fully of the Egyptian invasions of Syria.  Ahmosis I. drove the Hyksos out of the Delta and pursued them through Judah.  His successor, Amenhotep I., appears to have seized all the country as far as the Euphrates; and Thutmosis I., his son, was able to boast that he ruled even unto that river.  Thutmosis III., Egypt’s greatest Pharaoh, led invasion after invasion into Syria, so that his name for generations was a terror to the inhabitants.  From the Euphrates to the fourth cataract of the Nile the countries acknowledged him king, and the mighty Egyptian fleet patrolled the seas.  This Pharaoh fought no less than seventeen campaigns in Asia, and he left to his son the most powerful throne in the world.  Amenhotep II. maintained this empire and quelled the revolts of the Asiatics with a strong hand.  Thutmosis IV., his son, conducted two expeditions into Syria; and the next king, Amenhotep III., was acknowledged throughout that country.

That extraordinary dreamer, Akhnaton, the succeeding Pharaoh, allowed the empire to pass from him owing to his religious objections to war; but, after his death, Tutankhamen once more led the Egyptian armies into Asia.  Horemheb also made a bid for Syria; and Seti I. recovered Palestine.  Rameses II., his son, penetrated to North Syria; but, having come into contact with the new power of the Hittites, he was unable to hold the country.  The new Pharaoh, Merenptah, seized Canaan and laid waste the land of Israel.  A few years later, Rameses III. led his fleet and his army to the Syrian coast and defeated the Asiatics in a great sea-battle.  He failed to hold the country, however, and after his death Egypt remained impotent for two centuries.  Then, under Sheshonk I., of Dynasty XXII., a new attempt was made, and Jerusalem was captured.  Takeloth II., of the same dynasty, sent thither an Egyptian army to help in the overthrow of Shalmaneser II.