8
embr
yonic city-states when Egypt united as a 600-mile-long kingdom
under its first Pharaoh, Menes.2   That was 5,000 years ago.
Militarily, Egypt towered over its neighbors.  Its public buildings
were carved with solemn scenes of Egyptian warriors leading huge
masses of conquered peoples off to slavery and beheading the unruly
types who refused to go along with captivity.  No one could challenge
the mighty empire.  Not if he wanted to live to talk about it.
Like ants in the colony with the biggest territory, Egyptians lived
the good life.  Consumer comforts were a dime a dozen.  In one splurge
downtown, you could stock up on cosmetics, perfumes, and an
occasional statuette of a cat to decorate the living room.3  Bread, beer
and kitchenware were available at the local market in dizzying
abundance.4  A nationwide irrigation system kept the fresh food
coming.  And a state-run system for storing agricultural surplus made
sure that even in a bad season, everyone had plenty to eat.
The government was stable.  The system of pharaohs had
worked like a charm for 1,300 years (our constitutional democracy has
only made it a skimpy 200 plus).   The country's architects were
building pyramids while most of Egypt's neighbors were still
struggling to put up pup tents in the desert.  And things seemed to be
getting better all the time.
Numerous tribes roamed like animals in the wastelands far
beyond Egypt's boundaries.  A good Egyptian would have sneered at
the notion that these third world clowns could ever constitute a serious
threat.  Then a churlish mob no one had ever heard of swept down
from the north.  They were cultural nobodies, contemptible yahoos.
Their lifestyle was fourth rate.   Aside from their lack of couth, they
had only three distinguishing characteristics--they were excellent
horsemen, they reveled in violence, and they had a knack for inventing
military hardware.5
They were called the Hyksos.  And they totally overwhelmed the
smug  Egyptians,  chopping  up  the  fine-tuned  Egyptian  army  like
<<  <  GO  >  >>