Middle Kingdom of Egypt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Middle Kingdom of Egypt
c. 2055 BC c. 1650 BC
Capital Thebes
Languages Ancient Egyptian
Religion Ancient Egyptian religion
Government Divine, Absolute Monarchy
Pharaoh
c. 2061 c. 2010 BC Mentuhotep II (first)
c. 1650 BC Last king depends on the scholar Merneferre Ay or the last king
of the 13th Dynasty
History
Established c. 2055 BC
Disestablished c. 1650 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by
First Intermediate Period of Egypt
Second Intermediate Period of Egypt
Today part of Egypt
Part of a series on the
History of Egypt
All Gizah Pyramids.jpg
Prehistoric Egypt pre3100 BC
Ancient Egypt
Early Dynastic Period 31002686 BC
Old Kingdom 26862181 BC
1st Intermediate Period 21812055 BC
Middle Kingdom 20551650 BC
2nd Intermediate Period 16501550 BC
New Kingdom 15501069 BC
3rd Intermediate Period 1069664 BC
Late Period 664332 BC
Classical antiquity
Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt 33230 BC
Roman and Byzantine Egypt 30 BC641 AD
Sasanian Egypt 619629
Middle Ages
Islamic Egypt 641969
Fatimid Egypt 9691171
Ayyubid Egypt 11711250
Mamluk Egypt 12501517
Early modern
Ottoman Egypt 15171867
French occupation 17981801
Egypt under Muhammad Ali 18051882
Khedivate of Egypt 18671914
Modern Egypt
British occupation 18821922
Sultanate of Egypt 19141922
Kingdom of Egypt 19221953
Republic 1953present
Flag of Egypt.svg Egypt portal
v t e
Dynasties of Ancient Egypt
All years are BC
Early[show]
Old Kingdom[show]
First Intermediate[show]
Middle Kingdom[show]
Second Intermediate[show]
New Kingdom[show]
Third Intermediate[show]
Late Period[show]
Ptolemaic (Hellenistic)[show]
v t e
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Period of Reunification) is the
period in the history of ancient Egypt between circa 2050 BC and 1800 BC,
stretching from the reunification of Egypt under the impulse of Mentuhotep II of
the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. Some scholars also include
the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period as well, in which case the
Middle Kingdom would finish c. 1650, while others only include it until Merneferre
Ay c. 1700 BC, last king of this dynasty to be attested in both Upper and Lower
Egypt. During the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in
popular religion.[1]

The period comprises two phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the
12th Dynasty onwards which was centered on el-Lisht.

Contents [hide]
1 Political history
1.1 Reunification under the Eleventh Dynasty
1.2 Early 12th Dynasty
1.3 Height of the Middle Kingdom
1.4 Decline into the Second Intermediate Period
2 Administration
2.1 Provincial government
3 Agriculture and climate
4 Art
5 Literature
6 References
7 Bibliography
Political history[edit]
Reunification under the Eleventh Dynasty[edit]
Further information Eleventh dynasty of Egypt

An Osiride statue of the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, Mentuhotep II

After the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt entered a period of weak Pharaonic
power and decentralization called the First Intermediate Period.[2] Towards the end
of this period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology as the Tenth and Eleventh,
fought for power over the entire country. The Theban 11th Dynasty only ruled
southern Egypt from the first cataract to the Tenth Nome of Upper Egypt.[3] To the
north, Lower Egypt was ruled by the rival 10th Dynasty from Herakleopolis.[3] The
struggle was to be concluded by Mentuhotep II, who ascended the Theban throne in
2055 B.C.[4] During Mentuhotep II's fourteenth regnal year, he took advantage of a
revolt in the Thinite Nome to launch an attack on Herakleopolis, which met little
resistance.[3] After toppling the last rulers of the 10th Dynasty, Mentuhotep began
consolidating his power over all Egypt, a process which he finished by his 39th
regnal year.[2] For this reason, Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the
Middle Kingdom.[5]

Mentuhotep II commanded military campaigns south as far as the Second Cataract in

Nubia, which had gained its independence during the First Intermediate Period. He
also restored Egyptian hegemony over the Sinai region, which had been lost to Egypt
since the end of the Old Kingdom.[6] To consolidate his authority, he restored the
cult of the ruler, depicting himself as a god in his own lifetime, wearing the
headdresses of Amun and Min[7] He died after a reign of 51 years, and passed the
throne to his son, Mentuhotep III.[6]
Mentuhotep III reigned for only twelve years, during which he continued
consolidating Theban rule over the whole of Egypt, building a series of forts in
the eastern Delta region to secure Egypt against threats from Asia.[6] He also sent
the first expedition to Punt during the Middle Kingdom, by means of ships
constructed at the end of Wadi Hammamat, on the Red Sea.[8] Mentuhotep III was
succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, whose name significantly is omitted from all ancient
Egyptian king lists.[9] The Turin Papyrus claims that after Mentuhotep III came
seven kingless years.[10] Despite this absence, his reign is attested from a few
inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and to
quarry stone for the royal monuments.[9] The leader of this expedition was his
vizier Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future pharaoh Amenemhet I, the
first king of the 12th Dynasty.[11][12]

Mentuhotep IV's absence from the king lists has prompted the theory that Amenemhet
I usurped his throne.[12] While there are no contemporary accounts of this
struggle, certain circumstantial evidence may point to the existence of a civil war
at the end of the 11th dynasty.[9] Inscriptions left by one Nehry, the Haty-a of
Hermopolis, suggest that he was attacked at a place called Shedyet-sha by the
forces of the reigning king, but his forces prevailed. Khnumhotep I, an official
under Amenemhet I, claims to have participated in a flotilla of 20 ships to pacify
Upper Egypt. Donald Redford has suggested these events should be interpreted as
evidence of open war between two dynastic claimants.[13] What is certain is that,
however he came to power, Amenemhet I was not of royal birth.[12]

Early 12th Dynasty[edit]

Main article Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt

The head of a statue of Senusret I.

From the 12th dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept well-trained standing armies,
which included Nubian contingents. These formed the basis of larger forces which
were raised for defence against invasion, or for expeditions up the Nile or across
the Sinai. However, the Middle Kingdom was basically defensive in its military
strategy, with fortifications built at the First Cataract of the Nile, in the Delta
and across the Sinai Isthmus.[14]

Early in his reign, Amenemhet I was compelled to campaign in the Delta region,
which had not received as much attention as upper Egypt during the 11th Dynasty.
[15] In addition, he strengthened defenses between Egypt and Asia, building the
Walls of the Ruler in the East Delta region.[16] Perhaps in response to this
perpetual unrest, Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt in the north, known as
Amenemhet Itj Tawy, or Amenemhet, Seizer of the Two Lands.[17] The location of this
capital is unknown, but is presumably near the city's necropolis, the present-day
el-Lisht.[16] Like Mentuhotep II, Amenemhet bolstered his claim to authority with
propaganda.[18] In particular, the Prophecy of Neferty dates to about this time,
which purports to be an oracle of an Old Kingdom priest, who predicts a king,
Amenemhet I, arising from the far south of Egypt to restore the kingdom after
centuries of chaos.[16]

Propaganda notwithstanding, Amenemhet never held the absolute power commanded in

theory by the Old Kingdom pharaohs. During the First Intermediate Period, the
governors of the nomes of Egypt, nomarchs, gained considerable power.[19] Their
posts had become hereditary, and some nomarchs entered into marriage alliances with
the nomarchs of neighboring nomes.[19] To strengthen his position, Amenemhet
required registration of land, modified nome borders, and appointed nomarchs
directly when offices became vacant, but acquiesced to the nomarch system, probably
in order to placate the nomarchs who supported his rule.[20] This gave the Middle
Kingdom a more feudal organization than Egypt had before or would have afterward.
[21]
In his 20th regnal year, Amenemhat established his son Senusret I as his coregent,
[21] establishing a practice which would be used repeatedly throughout the rest of
the Middle Kingdom and again during the New. In Amenemhet's 30th regnal year, he
was presumably murdered in a palace conspiracy. Senusret, campaigning against
Libyan invaders, rushed home to Itjtawy to prevent a takeover of the government.
[22] During his reign he continued the practice of directly appointing nomarchs,
[23] and undercut the auton