Many have heard of a people referred to as the ‘Shasu’, since they are sometimes identified with the Israelites of the ‘Egyptian Captivity’ and/or their later descendants in Canaan. The term (meaning ‘to wander’ in ancient Egyptian) has come to be understood as referring to nomads or Bedouin from the area of Syria–Palestine. However, what the ancient Egyptians themselves meant by ‘Shasu’ is hotly debated. The term read as ‘Shasu’ in English is rendered from hieroglyphs, using the standard transliteration, as š3sw (=Sh+a+s+u).
The original meaning of the term is not clear, but it may have been ‘pastoralist’ or ‘plunderer’. The earliest known occurrence of this term is still uncertain. It may date back to the Old Kingdom, but only became commonly used during the New Kingdom. It has been suggested that the term may occur as part of a damaged text next to a fallen ‘Semite’-type figure in a scene appearing on the causeway of the Fifth Dynasty funerary complex of Unas (c.2375-2345 BC) at Saqqara. This scene, carved in relief on a single block, depicts six Egyptian and foreign figures fighting each other. To the left of the aforementioned Semite figure appear the hieroglyphs sw+w that form the end of a word (‘su’); the beginning has been lost due to damage to the block. However, in this damaged region, there would have been space for the requisite hieroglyphs for ‘Sha’.
Alternatively, it is proposed that the term is first known from the reign of Thutmose II (c.1492-1479 BC), and that the preceding Hyksos Period was a logical time of origin for the introduction of a new term referring to an Asiatic people. This is because it was initially thought to have referred to the Semitic Bedouin of southern Palestine and Transjordan, especially the region of the ancient kingdom of Edom.
