Aamu
{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian ethnonym for Western Asiatic peoples}}
{{for|the acronym AAMU|Alabama A&M University|Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art}}
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| header = Procession of the Aamu
| image1 = Procession of the Aamu, Tomb of Khnumhotep II (composite).jpg
| image2 = Drawing of the procession of the Aamu group tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan.jpg
| footer = A group of West Asiatic foreigners, possibly Canaanites, labelled as Aamu ({{lang|egy|ꜥꜣmw|italics=yes}}), including the leading man with a Nubian ibex labelled as Abisha the Hyksos (𓋾𓈎𓈉 ḥḳꜣ-ḫꜣsw, Heqa-khasut for "Hyksos"). Tomb of 12th-dynasty official Khnumhotep II, who served under Senusret III, at Beni Hasan {{circa|1900 BCE}}.{{cite book |last1=Mieroop |first1=Marc Van De |title=A History of Ancient Egypt |date=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-6070-4 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JADDYAZ9GIIC&pg=PA131 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Bard |first1=Kathryn A. |author-link=Kathryn A. Bard |title=An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-89611-2 |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFscBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA188 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Curry |first1=Andrew |title=The Rulers of Foreign Lands - Archaeology Magazine |website=www.archaeology.org |date=2018 |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/309-1809/features/6855-egypt-hyksos-foreign-dynasty}}{{cite journal |last1=Kamrin |first1=Janice |title=The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan |journal=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections |date=2009 |volume= 1 |issue=3 |s2cid=199601200 }}
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{{Hiero | Aamu|
File:Painting of foreign delegation in the tomb of Khnumhotep II circa 1900 BCE (Detail mentioning "Abisha the Hyksos" in hieroglyphs).jpg"
(𓋾𓈎𓈉 ḥḳꜣ-ḫꜣswt, Heqa-khasut for "Hyksos").
Tomb of Khnumhotep II, circa 1900 BCE.]]
Aamu ({{langx|egy|𓂝𓄿𓅓𓅱|ꜥꜣmw}}) was a name used to designate West Asians in ancient Egypt. It is often translated as "Western Asiatic", but it might refer specifically to Canaanites or Amorites. The Egyptologist and linguist Thomas Schneider states that ꜥꜣm was attested as early as the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and is likely a loanword from early Semitic term drmj, "inhabitant of the south (of Palestine)".{{cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Thomas |title=Language Contact in Ancient Egypt |date=20 June 2023 |publisher=LIT Verlag |isbn=978-3-643-96507-3 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nV0GEQAAQBAJ |language=en}}
Contemporary Egyptian sources from the time of the wars against the Hyksos also refer to the latter as {{lang|egy|ꜥꜣmw|italics=yes}}. Although they have left no inscriptions in their own language, some of their personal names have turned up in Egyptian records, which are a syntactical and lexical match for West Semitic dialects.{{Cite book |last=Redford |first=Donald B. |title=Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1992 |isbn=0-691-03606-3 |edition=1st |pages=100 |language=en}} An ancient Egyptian painting in the tomb of 12th Dynasty official Khnumhotep II, at Beni Hasan ({{circa|1900 BCE}}), shows a group of West Asiatic foreigners, possibly Canaanites, labelled as Aamu ({{lang|egy|ꜥꜣmw|italics=yes}}), including the leading man with a Nubian ibex labelled "Abisha the Hyksos" ({{lang|egy|𓋾𓈎𓈉}} ḥḳꜣ-ḫꜣsw, Heqa-khasut for "Hyksos").{{cite journal |last1=Curry |first1=Andrew |title=The Rulers of Foreign Lands - Archaeology Magazine |website=www.archaeology.org |date=2018 |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/309-1809/features/6855-egypt-hyksos-foreign-dynasty}}{{cite journal |last1=Kamrin |first1=Janice |title=The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan |journal=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections |date=2009 |volume= 1 |issue=3 |s2cid=199601200 }} The Aamu from this relief are further labeled as being from the area of Shu, which may be identified, with some uncertainty, with the area of Moab in southern Palestine around the Jordan River, or generally the southern Levant, just east of the Jordan and the Red Sea.{{cite journal |last1=Kamrin |first1=Janice |title=The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan |journal=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections |date=2009 |volume= 1 |issue=3 |page=25|s2cid=199601200 }}
File:Sotheby's Auction Art Hyksos Egyptian art.jpg}} "It is possible that this object formed part of the handle of an implement; " This piece was later in headlines for controversy. https://archive.today/20231226213938/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/03/archaeologist-urges-sothebys-cancel-auction-illicit-artefacts/ ]]
File:Word Aamu in two Egyptian scripts circa 1900 BCE.jpg|Word "Aamu" (from right to left) in two Egyptian scripts, in the
Procession of the Aamu, circa 1900 BCE
File:Aamu hieroglyphs.jpg|A more recent description of the word (left to right, 1898)
File:Asiatic people in Book of Gates (rendering).png|Aamu people (𓂝𓄿𓅓𓅱 characters spread alongside each individual) in the Book of Gates (rendering)