ly upon other races. In Elam an aggressive spirit
had sprung up, and military expeditions had been conducted by Elamitic
kings, which started from the shores of the Persian Gulf and terminated
in Southern Syria and Palestine. The migration of the tribes which moved
with Terah and Abraham from Ur to Haran, and from Haran to Hebron, is
but one of many indications of the restlessness of the period. The
Hittites were growing in power, and required an enlarged territory for
their free expansion. It was now probably that they descended from the
hills of Cappadocia upon the region below Taurus and Amanus, where we
find them dominant in later ages. Such a movement on their part would
displace a large population in Upper Syria, and force it to migrate
southwards. There are signs of a pressure upon the north-eastern
frontier of Egypt on the part of Asiatics needing a home as early as the
commencement of the twelfth dynasty; and it is probable that, while the
dynasty lasted, the pressure was continually becoming greater. Asiatics
were from time to time received within the barrier of Amenemhat I., some
to sojourn and some to dwell. The eastern Delta was more or less
Asiaticized; and a large portion of its inhabitants was inclined to
welcome a further influx from Asia.

We have one account only of the circumstances of the great invasion by
which Egypt fell under a foreign yoke. It purports to come from the
native historian, Manetho; but it is delivered to us directly by
Josephus, who, in his reports of what other writers had narrated, is not
always to be implicitly trusted. Manetho, according to him, declared as
follows: "There was once a king of Egypt named Timaeus, in whose reign
the gods being offended, for I know not what cause, with our nation,
certain men of ignoble race, coming from the eastern regions, had the
courage to invade the country, and falling upon it unawares, conquered
it easily without a battle. After the submission of the princes, they
conducted themselves in a most barbarous fashion towards the whole of
the inhabitants, slaying some, and reducing to slavery the wives and the
children of the others. Moreover they savagely set the cities on fire,
and demolished the temples of the gods. At last, they took one of their
number called Salatis, and made him king over them. Salatis resided at
Memphis, where he received tribute both from Upper and Lower Egypt,
while at the same time he placed garrisons in all the most su