The Influence of Syro-Levantines on Egyptian Society: A Connection to Joseph's Story

In this next stage of the study, the move within the Punctular Time division of Braudelian Historiography is made from people and events related to Mesopotamia to those related to Egypt, beginning with a treatment of the Asiatics in Egypt and how they relate to Biblical Joseph. 

	Mesopotamia	Egypt	Levant
1300	Dark Age	New Kingdom	Middle Bronze
1400
1500
1600	Old Babylonian
1700	Second Intermediate
1800	Middle Kingdom
1900
2000
2100	Ur III	First Intermediate	Early Bronze
2200	Guti
2300	Dynasty of Akkad	Old Kingdom
2400	Early Dynastic III
2500
2600	Early Dynastic II Early Dynastic I
2700	Early Dynastic
2800
2900
3000
3100	Jemdet-Nasr

Syro-Levantines in Egypt at the Time of Joseph

The historical dating of Joseph has already been covered (this volume: chapter 23) when discussing Abraham and his journey to Canaan, but suffice it to say that the historical date of Joseph entering into Egypt, determined through the Biblical text, is ca. 1876 B.C. (Aling 2002A: 23). This places Joseph entering Egypt as a slave during the Middle Kingdom, rather than during the Second Intermediate or Hyksos Period as some have alluded to (cf. Moll 2009: 15).

Asiatics in Egypt.

The proximity between the two regions allowed that both Egypt and the Southern Levant have seen trade and influence from the very beginning, for example the domestication of sheep, and possibly cattle, spreading from the Southern Levant into Egypt (Abdurehman 2019: 8) during a wetter period when Savanah-like grasslands covered what is now desert (Mills 2007: 52). Interaction with Syro-Levantines, or Asiatics as they have come to be called in academic literature (Saretta 2016: 11), was dependent upon the period of time, the Southern Levant acting as something of a northern Egyptian territory during the Early Dynastic and New Kingdom Periods but almost ignored or hated during the Old and Middle Kingdoms (Cohen 2016: 9). 

Early Dynastic Trade

Although Egyptian contact with the Southern Levant began as early as the Badarian and Naqada I phase during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze IA periods, the contact intensified during Naqada II-III (EB IB) and reached its apex during the First Dynasty (Cohen 2016: 4). It was around this time that the state began the use of writing for documentation, and the position of vizier may date back to this period, though this is uncertain (Muhs 2016: 13-14). 

The interregional trade that developed in the Pre- and Protodynastic times (Cohen 2016: 4) which had allowed for the exchange of prestige goods, gifts, and the sharing of cultural values (Hassan, Serrano, and Tassie 2006: 694), continued in the First Dynasty, but it was at this time that Egypt closed its borders to outsiders (Stevenson 2016: 449). Trade continued into the Second Dynasty, but rebellion caused a declining interest in the southern Levant that lasted through the Old Kingdom of Egypt (Cohen 2016: 5), correlating with Early Bronze II-III in Palestine. 

Old Kingdom Incursions

Still, although interest in the Southern Levant had waned, the Southern Levantine interest in Egypt did not. By the end of the Old Kingdom, toward the end of the Early Bronze Age, Asiatics had slowly infiltrated the Nile Delta, occupying the Delta and the eastern bank of the Nile well into Middle Egypt by the Tenth Dynasty of the First Intermediate Period (Brovarski 2005: 47). 

It is thought that the Levantine incursion into Egypt during the Old Kingdom period was the result of a long period of climatic changes (Bárta 2013: 29), the drying phase that ultimately brought an end to the Egyptian Old Kingdom, but also the Akkadian Empire (Ur 2015: 75), civilizations in Greece, and the Indus Valley (Emma 2014). This drying phase occurring all over the northern hemisphere brought drought and famine, and struggling families sought out new locations to establish farms and therefore a food supply. These migrations, including the flocks and herds of the Levantines, is known both from Egyptian texts and from archaeological discovery (Hoffmeier 2012: 13).

Avaris Statue

Pre-Hyksos: The Middle Kingdom.

As evidenced from the annals of Amenemhat II, Asiatics continued to enter into Egypt during the Middle Kingdom as prisoners of war, tribute offered by Semitic chieftains, through private slave trade (Kitchen 2007: 2), or by one’s own kinfolk (Guerin 2021: 120), similar to the Joseph narrative. The forcible relocation of Asiatics into Egypt, sometimes at great numbers, eventually changed the ethnic composition of the Delta (King 2018: 9).

Famine

There was a recurrence of famines during the Middle Kingdom (Hassan 2007: 363), though none as harsh as the great famine that occurred during the end of the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period, of which the latter contained a number a famine-related inscriptions (King 2018: 7). The great famine, due to low Nile floods, led to the collapse of the monarchy and strongholds in the provinces, and the Egyptian lower classes began to riot, loot, and even murder in order to find a way to feed themselves and their families (Hassan 2007: 365). 

The cultural memory of those discordant years no doubt imprinted upon the people the harshness of drought. Interestingly, in the tomb of Amenemhat I, the first king of the Twelfth Dynasty, the king is said to have prepared when “years of famine” had come so that none went hungry (Breasted 1906: 252-53). This famine is the earliest evidence of need in the Twelfth Dynasty and correlates to the co-regency of Amenemhat and his son, Senusret I, but this famine may be separate from famine later during Senusret’s reign referred to by a nomarch as “years of hunger,” possibly in relation to low Nile floods in the king’s twenty-fifth year (Brovarski 2010: 54). 

Middle Class Possibilities

The growth during the Middle Kingdom brought changes in literature, art, architecture, and religion, but it also stimulated the growth of the middle class (Callender 2003: 171). In fact, it was at this time that a person’s position within the class system became something that could be remedied and changed, allowing for that person to rise through the ranks and into a position of power (Morris 2006: 70-71). This new system came on the heals of major administrative reforms which expanded the range, number, and particularity of organizational titles, linking more people to the royal capital in order to track accountability in relation to documentation, etc. (Picardo 2015: 248). 

Of note, several examples of Semitic individuals are known to have moved into positions of power, such as the “Asiatic and Chief Craftsman, Tawti,” a name that correlates with the Semitic name David, and “the Chief Craftsman Epir,” a name that correlates to the Semitic name Ephron (Kitchen 2007: 71). Additionally, a number of asiatic statues have been discovered dating to the Middle Kingdom, including a two meter high statue of a seated man with Asiatic characteristics. Of note, non-royal statuary of larger than life-size is very unusual in Egypt, but those rare examples throughout the Twelfth Dynasty are limited to high ranking families (Schiestl 2007: 136).

Growing Fear of Outsiders

Unfortunately, the prosperity, creativity, and ingenuity of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt brought more and more outsiders into the land, and the traditional enemies of Egypt, the Asiatics, Nubians, and Libyans (Hassan 2007: 372), increasingly became a part of Egypt. The prosperity of the Middle Kingdom brought even more mobile pastoralists from the Southern Levant (García 2014: 240), likely seeking reprieve from drought and famine in Canaan, creating two different classes of Asiatics in the land: slave and free. Over time, free Asiatics became detached from Egyptian rule (García 2014: 240) and were considered enemies of Egypt (Arnold 1991: 19), a Middle Kingdom fortress being built in the northeastern Delta as an attempt to keep more Asiatics from entering the land (Bard 2015: 188). Those that remained were tolerated, as they paid crown taxes (Wilson 2007: 21), but the Egyptian kings began to fear what might become of the Asiatics.

Still, Egypt maintained close ties with its Levantine neighbors, particularly in the Sinai where logistical support for mining operations were provided by local rulers (King 2018: 9). In fact, inscriptions at the time record the integral nature of Asiatics working there, sometimes even as armed guards, and the continued interaction with Egyptian military scribes no doubt lent toward the creation of the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet for the writing of non-egyptian languages (Darnell 2007: 40).

Joseph in Egypt.

Although a direct confirmation of Joseph in Egypt has yet to be discovered, several points in the Joseph narrative coincide with Middle Kingdom practices. These not only allow the student of history to understand where Joseph fits into the chronology, but these allow the historian to understand better what transpired within the Joseph narrative and how these key facts bring to life the Biblical text. 

Dangerous Famine

For one, a history of serious famine was well known in Egypt, the first of which dates back to the Third Dynasty and finds similarities to the Joseph narrative. According to an inscription on Sehel Island, an island in the Nile River, under King Djoser, who had the infamous Stepped Pyramid constructed, a seven year famine brought widespread suffering; it was the dream of Djoser’s chief architect, Imhotep of Hollywood’s “The Mummy” fame, that revealed the reason for the lack of Nile floods, namely the ignoring of the Temple of Khnum at Aswan (Moll 2009: 16). 

Although dating to ca. 200 B.C., the content of the stela may originate from a document dating to ca. 2750 B.C. and authored by the same Imhotep noted above (Davidovits 1988: 5), and although not referencing the same famine cited in the Joseph Narrative, it is possible that knowledge of the original document or at least the oral history of the event caused the Egyptian king to seek out an interpretation to his own dream. This, and no doubt the social memory of the great famine described above, likely influenced the Pharaoh to seek a remedy for what he feared would come.

Attempting to find a link between Joseph’s famine years and a historical famine may be difficult. Famines described under Amenemhat I and Senusret I may relate to Joseph, particularly as texts describe “years of famine” (Breasted 1906: 252-53), but these famines were not only too early for the Joseph narrative but were said to have been so bad that the people resorted to cannibalism (Brovarski 2010: 71) rather than a redressed famine as described in Genesis. Notably, there are no famines listed to have occurred under Senusret III (Mark 2017), a possible Pharaoh at the time of Joseph (Aling 2002: 23), but if a famine had been prevented, perhaps it would not have been recorded. 

From Slave to Vizier

As noted above, several examples have been offered as evidence that during the Middle Kingdom, lower class individuals could rise through the social ranks to positions of power (Morris 2006: 70-71). This includes outsiders (Kitchen 2007: 71) sometimes through marriage to an Egyptian citizen (Loprieno 2012: 8), and it includes high ranking positions. 

Of particular interest, the above mentioned 2 m tall statue of a seated Asiatic found at Tell el-Dab’a may date to the time of Joseph, Middle Bronze IIA-B (Saretta 2016: 91). The statue, which appears to have been purposefully smashed (Schiestl 2007: 135), was partially discovered in a robber’s pit that had been dug into the chamber in order to remove the grave goods (Rohl 1995: 363) and even the body, itself, which is atypical (Wood 1997: 58). Noteworthy is the fact that the complex appears to have originally been a type of villa for a high ranking official, and that official was likely the individual who had been buried in Tomb 1 (Wood 1997: 57), the oldest burial at the site (Bietak 1996: 20). Whether this villa, which appears to match the style of the Levantine “four-room house” (Wood 1997: 56), belonged to Joseph or not is impossible to ascertain, but the time period, cultural artifacts, and even the missing body may allow for such an assertion. 

“Pharaoh Who Knew Not Joseph”

Toward the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, the status of Asiatics, outsiders, had declined (Bimson 1981: 234), no doubt beginning a period of ethnic isolation, and by the end of the Thirteenth Dynasty, Asiatics in the Delta region took advantage of the waning power of the Pharaoh and established their own rulership over parts of the Delta up to Hermopolis in Middle Egypt, though some within this region were also controlled by lesser Asiatic groups, making up the Sixteenth Dynasty, and by Egyptian vassals (Murnane 1995: 702). 

The Hyksos somewhat continued Egyptian administration tactics, used Egyptian writing, and engaged Egyptians in their service (Bard 2015: 216). They rather strongly Egyptianized themselves, possibly in an attempt to legitimize their authority (Morenz and Popko 2010: 104), and it may had been these fellow Asiatics who did not know Joseph (Ex 1:8) and enslaved the Israelites, forcing them to build the Hyksos capital at Avaris (Aling 2003F: 91), a site that would eventually be named Pi-Ramesses (Cline 1998: 201). 

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[This is a lecture written for the course 'HIST 262: History of the Ancient Near East,' taught Fall 2023 at God's Bible School and College, a regionally accredited College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bibliographical material will be posted under Research on this site.]