The Amalekites were progenitors of separate Arab tribes. The Amalekites had at least a partial seat at Petra and the country about the head of the Red Sea till near the year 700 B.C., when they were driven thence probably in a southern direction. Mahomedan legend speaks of Amalekite tribes as the earliest inhabitants both of Medina and Mecca, and of the country lying to the south of Syria. The Amalekites are associated with the ([[שם|Shemau]]) lesser [[Hyksos ]] invasion of Avaris in Egypt. The greater [[hyksos ]] were supposed to have founded the Greek empire after being evicted by the Egyptians () while the Trojan refugees under Aeneas founded Rome.
