It closed in disaster and overthrow.

Hordes of invaders poured into Egypt from Asia and overran the whole country.

They are known as the Hyksos or Shepherds, and the greater part of them were of Semitic descent.

For 669 years they ruled the valley of the Nile in three dynasties, and the recollection of their hated sway never faded from the Egyptian mind.

At first they burned and plundered, then they established themselves in Memphis and Zoan, and from thence governed the rest of the country.