For four thousand years prior to the Common Era the Jews and their progenitors, the Canaanites and Akkadians, brought civilization to Egypt. Virtually every technological and cultural advance can be attributed to the presence of these peoples in Egypt, or to the passage and activities of Semitic traders from Southeast Asia.
The most remarkable transformation of Egypt from a primitive society to a Bronze Age culture took place during the two centuries of the so-called Second Intermediate Period under the rule of six Semitic chief-of-all-chiefs, elected by the chieftains of the numerous Aamu villages that proliferated in Lower Egypt from the time of Biblical Joseph forward.
With harder, more durable metal for their arms and tools, with wheeled chariots, and with draft animals for cultivation and transportation of new agricultural products, Egypt became the equal of the nations to the north and east. Yet, of all the events that took place in the time of the Asiatic chieftains, the most important was one that did not occur: there was no war of any consequence throughout the period of Aamu rule, the rule of the Semitic chieftains!
This fact has been misunderstood, or deliberately distorted, for it is said in our histories that during this time the power and influence of Egypt declined. These Aamu rulers did not build statues of mythical Gods, nor self-aggrandizing statues of themselves, nor fill massive tombs with the rich accouterments for the next life. Thus it is said that, during this period, art likewise declined.
How did it happen that modern historians consistently overlook the contribution of the Semitic Asiatics to Egyptian civilization_
It is painfully evident that plunder was too often the prime objective not only of collectors and greedy tomb-robbers but of museums. The accumulation of artifacts rather than facts was too often the driving motivation of scientific institutions. The destructive tomb-robbing of natives for personal gain became the prerogative of archaeologists, museums, private collectors, and even governments. It is not surprising, therefore, that insofar as few grandiose monuments or rich royal accouterments were gathered from the period of the tenure of the Semitic chiefs, that the modern plunderers were prone to blithely pronounce that nothing of value was contributed by them, and that, perforce, Egyptian civilization suffered a decline.
How sad it is that power is measured by what can be enforced by arms, and not by what can be furthered by influence; that richness is measured by the quantity of loot wrested from one's neighbors, not by the wealth created through increased productivity. How absurd it is to gauge the wealth of a country by how many golden artifacts can be plucked from its ruler's tombs rather than by the adequate diet of the dwellers in the land.; how blind is judgment when the welfare of a country like Egypt is assessed according to the profligacy of its Pharaohs rather than by the prosperity of its people.
Historical obtuseness cannot be attributed merely to an obsessive interest in accumulating the emoluments from noble tombs and edifices. Anti-Semitism fostered a willingness to adopt tendentious precepts uncritically. Anti-Semitism bolstered the credibility of those who were all too prone to ignore or deny gains by Egypt under Semitic rule.
What is unjustifiable is that historians continue to confuse conquest with progress, an historical distortion which is not confined to the history of Egypt. Clucking with satisfaction over artifacts scavenged from the grandiose tombs and palaces of ambitious conquerors, historians are inclined to assert that these worthies were instrumental in boosting their societies to new heights of cultural and economic development. They skip lightly over the tens or hundreds of thousands slaughtered in the process of conquest. It seems beside the point to mention the cities decimated, the countryside ravaged, the peoples enslaved. It seems of little importance that under the despotic rule that usually follows bloody conquest, people are grievously taxed, forced into slave or corvee labor, and that a great proportion of their labor is consumed not in promoting the general welfare but in touting the glory of the conquerors by the creation of those very works that fill museums.
Thirdly, much of history is taken from what the conquerors had inscribed on these works. Herodotus put it succinctly: "Such as think the tales told by the Egyptians credible are free to accept them for history. As for me, I keep to the plan of this book, which is to record the traditions of the various nations just as I heard them related to me."
Must we continue to judge a civilization by the size of its palaces and monuments_ By the numbers of people subjugated_ By how profligate are its rulers_
Or do we measure a civilization by its dedication to peaceful pursuits_ By the economic well-being of its people_ By its technological and cultural achievements_ By the freedoms its citizens enjoy_
Of all the wonders wrought in Egypt under Aamu rule, none exceeds the Canal of Joseph for excellence, none testifies more eloquently to the their genius, none bears better witness to their accomplishments. Today, after more than three thousand years, the canal still functions vigorously and its feeder canals irrigate more territory than does the Aswan Dam. It performs its function benignly, unlike the dam, which increases the salinity of the soil and prevents the silting and natural fertilization of the farmland.
The canal has been and is still today designated the Bahr Youseff, which translates from the Egyptian to "The Sea of Joseph." It so appears on the maps of Biblical Mizraim, the land we call Egypt.
NOTES
Space considerations have obliged us to defer numerous sources for facts included in the text above to two books by Samuel Kurinsky, from which the above dissertation was largely taken. Sources for un-notated facts can be found in: "Ancient Egyptian Historiography;""Semitic Culture and Technology Arrive in Egypt;" "The Transformation of Egypt under Canaanite Rule," Chapters, 4, 5 and 6 respectfully of The Eighth Day, The Hidden History of the Jewish Contribution to Civilization," Jason Aronson, New Jersey, 1994, pp. 59-128, and in: "Egyptian (sic) Glass," chapter 3 of The Glassmakers; an Odyssey of the Jews , Hippocrene Books, PP. 53-78.
Both books are available from the Hebrew History Federation Ltd.
James Henry Breasted, A History of Egypt, 1905 (reprint, New York, Bantam Books 1964) p. 20.
A. Rosalie David, The Ancient Egyptians, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982, p. 12.
Percy S. P. Handcock, Mesopotamian Archaeology, New York, Kraus Reprint & Periodicals, 1963, p. 5
Sir Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 1961, reprint Oxford Un. Press 1979, p.35.
Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, 1935, reprint New York, Simon & Schuster, 1954, p. 135
F. Wendorf et al, "Egyptian Prehistory; Some New Concepts," Science, 1969, pp. 1161-1171.
Merimde beni-Salame was discovered by Professor Hermann Junker in the winter of 1927-28, director of the Vienna Academy of Science's expedition to Egypt
Michael A. Hoffman, Egypt Before the Pharaohs, (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, p. 169.
Hoffman, Ibid., p. 186.
H. J. Cantor, "The Relative Chronology of Egypt and its Foreign Correlations before the Bronze Age," in Chronologies on Old World Archaeology, ed. R. Ehrich, Chicago Un. Press, 1965, pp. 1-46.
B.G. Trigger et al, "The Rise of Egyptian Civilization," in Ancient Egypt: A Social History 1983, reprint Cambridge Un. Press, 1986, pp. 25-6.
Hoffman, Ibid., p. 214.
Sir Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 1951, reprint, Oxford Un. Press, ,1979. Pp. 156-7.
Manfred Bietak, "Urban Archaeology and the 'Town Problem' in Ancient Egypt", Egyptology (1979), 97, 119.
A.S. Hemmy, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, XXIII, 1937, p. 56. See also Charles Singer et al, A History o Technology, vol 1 (Weights and Measures) pp. 776-7, as for example: "The Egyptian short cubit of 6 palms and 24 digits (17.68 or 449 mm. Was also the early Jewish cubit at 17.60 (447 mm.).
James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament., Princeton, 1969, p. 492.
Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient Times, Princeton 1992, p. 444.
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