dynasties altogether; and the power of the kingdom was so far weakened that it was unable to keep out the invader. The Shepherd Kings, coming from Midian, or perhaps from Mesopotamia, established themselves in the Delta, and held possession for several centuries. Their conquest, however, did not extend to Upper Egypt, and so the native dynasties reigned contemporaneously, enthroned at Thebes, while the Hyksos kings were seated at Zoan.
It was probably towards the close of the Hyksos period that Joseph was made governor of Egypt, under the latest of the Shepherd Kings. The seventeenth dynasty saw the last of these foreigners, and after their expulsion the New Empire began, near the end of the eighteenth century before Christ. The eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties included several monarchs of great renown; and as the Israelitish sojourn falls chiefly within this period, it will be useful to give here a chronological list.
Monarchs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, with approximate dates, according to Brugsch.
| Eighteenth Dynasty. | B.C. |
| Aahmes, Amosis; its founder | 1700 |
| Amenhotep I. (Amenophis) | 1666 |
| Thothmes I. (Thotmosis) | 1633 |
| Thothmes II. and his sister-wife Hatshepsu | 1600 |
| Thothmes III. | |
| Amenhotep II., Son of Thothmes III. | 1566 |
| Thothmes IV. | 1533 |
| Amenhotep III., Son of Queen Mutemna | 1500 |
| Amenhotep IV., afterwards called Khuenaten | 1466 |
| Nineteenth Dynasty. | |
| Rameses I. | 1400 |
| Seti I. (Sethos) Menephtah | 1366 |
| Rameses II. (Sesostris) Miamun | 1333 |
| Menephtah II. (Menepthes) | 1300 |
| Seti II. Menephtah III., son of Menephtah II. | 1266 |
| Setnakht-Merer-Miamun II. | 1233 |
Rameses II. was the Pharaoh of the Oppression; and the Israelites left Egypt in the reign of his successor, Menephtah.
