e pyramids scarcely suffered, though it
is possible that at this time their sanctity was first violated and
their contents rifled. The great obelisk of Usurtasen I., which still
stands at Heliopolis, was not overthrown. The humbler tombs at Ghizeh,
so precious to the antiquary, were for the most part untouched.
Amenemhat's buildings in the Fayoum may have been damaged, but they were
not demolished. Though Egyptian civilization received a rude shock from
the invasion, it was not altogether swallowed up or destroyed; and when
the deluge had passed it emerged once more, and soon reached, and even
surpassed, its ancient glories.

The Hyksos king who led the invasion, or who, at any rate, was brought
to the front in its course, bore, we are told, either the name of
Salatis, or that of Saites. Of these two forms the second is undoubtedly
to be preferred, since the first has in its favour only the single
authority of Josephus, while the second is supported by Africanus,
Eusebius, George the Syncellus, and to a certain extent by the
monuments. The "tablet of four hundred years" contains the name of
Sut-Aapehti as that of a king of Egypt who must have belonged to the
Middle Empire, and this name may fairly be regarded as represented in an
abbreviated form by the Greek "Saites." Saites, having made himself
absolute master of the Lower Country, and forced the king of the Upper
Country to become his tributary, fixed his residence at Memphis, at the
same time strongly fortifying and garrisoning various other towns in
important positions. Of these the most considerable was the city, called
Auaris, or Avaris, in the Sethroite nome, which lay east of the Pelusiac
branch of the Nile, and was probably not far from Pelusium itself, if
indeed it was not identical with that city. Another strong fort, by
means of which the Delta was held and overawed, seems to have been Zan
or Tanis, now San, situated on what was called the Tanitic branch of the
Nile, the next most easterly branch to the Pelusiac. A third was in the
Fayoum, on the site now called Mit-Fares. A large body of troops must
also have been maintained at Memphis, if the king, as we are told,
ordinarily held his court there.

How long the Egyptians groaned under the tyranny of the "Shepherds," it
is difficult to say. The epitomists of Manetho are hopelessly at
variance on the subject, and the monuments are silent, or nearly so.
Moderns vary in the time, which they assign to the peri