Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

The Enigma of the Hyksos

Objective

The Hyksos (Greek rendering of the Egyptian title “rulers of the foreign countries”) were a dynasty of foreign rulers of Egypt between c.1640 and 1530 BC. Some modern researchers, following the ancient historian Flavius Josephus (1st cent. AD) thought they were ancestors of the early Israelites, others suggested that their appearance should be tied to the Hurrian expansion to the Levant. Most scholars today think, according to the onomastic data, that they were western Semites. Their geographical origin in the Levant, their seizure of power and their role in history, remains, however, an enigma, as the period is poorly represented in texts. Nevertheless the Hyksos phenomenon has thus far mainly been studied by text-based Egyptology.
In the last decades, however, excavations at T. el-Dab‘a, T. el-Rotaba, T. el Maskhuta and other places in the eastern Delta have produced an enormous wealth of new data such as urban settlements, palaces, tombs, temples, offering remains, besides enormous quantities of material culture and physical remains which can be attributed to the carriers of the Hyksos rule and their predecessors. These materials, left thus far largely aside in the historical discussion, can be utilised as first class historical sources. The envisaged investigations will be conducted in 8 interrelated research tracks, incorporating an array of archaeological, historical, theoretical and analytical sciences. The aim is to reveal in a holistic approach the origin, the dialogue with and the impact of western Asiatic people on culture of the host country and finally their heritage. They played a much greater role in the history of the Old World than envisaged and pushed Egypt into the focus of what happened in the Near East in the 2nd millennium BC. This innovative exploration of the Hyksos phenomenon has the potential to write a new chapter in the history of this salient region and offer a model.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2014-ADG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 957 506,50
Address
DR. IGNAZ SEIPEL-PLATZ 2
1010 Wien
Austria

See on map

Region
Ostösterreich Wien Wien
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 957 506,50

Beneficiaries (2)

My booklet 0 0