    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

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