A fine example of an ancient Egyptian steatite scarab featuring hieroglyphs to the reverse. The obverse features incised anatomical details of the scarab beetle, including the head, eyes, clypeus and prothorax. Horizontal incisions encircling the sides denote the legs. The flat reverse depicts a male figure with a uraeus held in his left hand. He is depicted atop a neb basket with a large crocodile depicted to the right. Earthly encrustations to the surface and signs of wear as consistent with age. The scarab has been pierced longitudinally for suspension. The term ‘Hyksos’ can be traced back to the Egyptian expression ‘heka khasewet’, which means, “rulers of foreign lands”. The Hyksos of the fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling during the Second Intermediate Period, were thus of non-Egyptian origin. They were probably Canaanite, and one tends to find the names of rulers on their scarabs. The Hyksos Kingdom was centred in the eastern Nile Delta and Middle Egypt. It was limited in size, never extending south into Upper Egypt, and it had Memphis as its capital. Measurements: L 1.8cm x W 1.3cm Provenance: Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.