Austrian archaeologists have found a Babylonian seal in Egypt that confirms contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos during the second
millennium B.C.
Irene Forstner-Müller, the head of the Austrian Archaeological Institute’s (ÖAI) branch office in Cairo, said today (Thurs) the find had
occurred at the site of the ancient town of Avaris near what is today the city of Tell el-Dab’a in the eastern Nile delta.
The Hyksos conquered Egypt and reigned there from 1640 to 1530 B.C.
She said a recently-discovered cuneiform tablet had led archaeologists to suspect there had been contact between the Babylonians and the
Hyksos.
The Hyksos were a Semitic people that ruled over Egypt during the second intermediate period.
(
source) Egypt by this point had fallen into a disorganized chaos, with incursions from
several peoples (from
Sacred-texts.com):
Egypt was thoroughly disorganized and unable to resist its enemies. These were ever watchful for an opportunity to strike. The Nubians had already
achieved some success, although they were ultimately expelled by the Thebans; the Libyans must have been active in the north, while the Asiatics were
pouring over the Delta frontier and possessing themselves of great tracts of territory. Then came the Hyksos invaders, regarding whose identity much
controversy has been waged. They were evidently no disorganized rabble, and there are indications that under their sway Egypt became, for an uncertain
period, a part of a great empire of which we, as yet, know very little.
Josephus, the patriotic Jewish historian, who believed that the Hyksos were "the children of Israel", quoted Manetho as saying that "they were a
people of ignoble race who had confidence to invade our country, which they subdued easily without having to fight a battle. They set our towns on
fire; they destroyed the temples of the gods, and caused the people to suffer every kind of barbarity. During the entire period of their dynasty they
waged war against the people of Egypt, desiring to exterminate the whole race. . . . The foreigners were called Hyksos, which signifies 'Shepherd
Kings'."
It was also during the Hyksos period the "children of Israel" appear to have settled in Egypt. A number of authors have written the Hyksos were none
other than the descendants of the Sumerians, and they "were part of a general movement of people which led to the rise of the Kassite Dynasty in
Babylon". (Schmidt,
A self-verifying chronological history of ancient Egypt: from the foundation of the kingdom to the beginning of the Persian
dynasty, pg 546). (The idea the Kassites might be descended from Sumer is a highly contentious theory since the Kassites have previously been
thought of as an invading Indo-European people)
A number of Hyksos/Egyptian seals and contemporary Babylonian (under Kassite rule) seals bear the name of a god shared by both, "Sutech" (Hyksos)
and "Uzi-Sutach" (Babylon).
The whole subject of the Hyksos and Kassites is a fascinating topic, in fact the Kassite invasion of Babylon marks the first appearance of an
Indo-European peoples known as the Aryans who aided the Kassites.
Additional info on the Hyksos here:
Who were The Hyksos? 
