2/26/2012
Lecture 12: Middle Kingdom
HIST 213 Spring 2012
Middle Kingdom (2040-1720 BCE)
Resurgence of Centralization • Thebes Power of the King • strong military ability • dispenses justice – “Dispute of a Man with his Ba” • socially and culturally superior – “Tale of Sinuhe” • Massive stone architecture • Complex funerary rituals • High point in literary production
Origins of Middle Kingdom 11th Dynasty Theban King: Nebhetepre Mentuhotep II (c. 2060-2010 BC) • finally succeeded to take control of Lower Egypt • Changes his name to “Unifier of the Two Lands” • establishes peace over the entire country
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Economic Revival in Middle Kingdom
• heightened prosperity of the country gave rise to new (smaller but richer) pyramids of wealthy aristocrats • lavishly decorated private tombs • more human and less god-like status resulted in profound changes in government and religion. – first evidence of a priestly class is from this era.
“First” Golden Age of Egypt • The renewed military strength led to expedition – Sinai – Levant Levant – Nubia • Mentuhotep II centralized bureaucratic control – created the office of Overseer (Governor) of Lower Egypt. (office for Upper Egypt already existed Nubia – curtailed nomarch power
Architectural Accomplishments
• complete change in tomb buildings – chose a site in the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes (the present-day Deir el-Bahri) for his mortuary temple and tomb. – The other side of the Nile was the Temple of Amun at Karnak.
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Three competing conjectures of Mentuhotep II’s funerary complex
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Nubian Imports
• gold • wealth used to fund construction projects • Nubian archers • regularly employed in the Egyptian army • played crucial part in future campaigns.
12th Dynasty
• Amenemhat I founds a new capital at el-Lisht • Golden Age of Egyptian literature written in the fully developed Middle Egyptian or Classical Egyptian language. • Change in religious perceptions: – place for eternity moved from the sky to the underworld ruled by Osiris whose cult was centered at Abydos.
The 12th Dynasty: Amenemhat I
Mentuhotep IV’s vizier, Amenemhat founder of the 12th Dynasty • (1991-1962 BCE0 a low-born man of great abilities. The purpose of the expedition was to quarry stone for the Inscription of Amenemhat I at royal sarcophagus. Wadi Hammamat explaining the miracles of the gazelles.
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Amenemhat’s Tomb Inscription
Beni-Hasan prince Khnumhotep I mentions the elimination of one of his enemies referred to by “him” as follows: “I went down with his majesty to ---in twenty ships of cedar which he [led], coming to ---. He expelled him from the two regions (Egypt). Nubians---Asiatics fell; he seized the lowlands, the highlands, in the two regions---with the people---remain in their positions.”
“Royal” Propaganda
Had Amenemhet I come to the throne by legitimate means of royal appointment or succession, he would not have needed a piece of propagandistic literature such as this. • Amenemhat I was unquestionably one of the greatest pharaohs in Egyptian history.
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Amenemhat’s major accomplishments • Restoration of order in Egypt. • The conquest of Lower Nubia. • The fortification of the northern border (the so-called Walls of the Ruler, still undiscovered site) against invasion of Asiatics. • Relocation of the capital from Thebes to (Amenemhat-itj-tawy) – --still undiscovered site near the Faiyum. • Reduction of power of the nomarchs. • Invention of co-regency with son Senusret I – ensure smooth transition of power after his death.
Egyptian fort of Buhen near 2nd cataract on Nile
Co-regency
The double-dated stele of Intef in Cairo states “Year 30 of Amenemhat I, Year 10 of Senusret I” • Despite the co-regency, while his young son Senusret I (or Senwosret I) was away on a military campaign in Libya, Amenemhat I almost certainly fell victim to a palace conspiracy – “The Instruction of King Amenemhat I for His Son Senusret I” (Senusret I’s inagural address) asserts.
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Senusret II (son and co-regent)
• Extensive buildup of dams and canals for regular irrigation of the Faiyum oasis. • Elevation of the crocodile-god, Sobek, chief deity of the Faiyum, in the Egyptian pantheon. • Pyramid complex in the Faiyum and a nearby worker’s village in Kahun (or Lahun). – The Kahun Papyri contain important information about the life in the town. • Advancement of the scarab beetle (symbol for regeneration).
Classical Era of Literature
The Middle Egyptian language highlights the classical era of literature. Many literary masterpieces were created during the Middle Kingdom – “The Story of Sinuhe” (prose tale); – The Eloquent Peasant (didactic literature, also a treatise on the concept of Maat) – The Shipwrecked Sailor (prose tale) – The Dialogue between a Man Tired of Life and his ‘Ba’ is the earliest treatise on suicide.
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Evidence of palace coups Such a palace coup is referenced in the famous “Middle Egyptian novel” “The Story of Sinuhe”: Plot: – Overhearing the messenger to Senusret I about the murder of his father, Amenemhat I, Sinuhe fears that Senusret I will not survive the coup. – He goes to exile to Retjenu, makes a good career in the land of Asiatics, but when the pharaoh calls him to return in his old age, he goes back to Egypt. – Note for example that in his flight from Egypt, Sinuhe has to sneak through the Walls of the Ruler which is mentioned in the text.
Sinuhe plotline
Sample Instruction
“The High Steward Nebankh. He says: Heart of my mother, heart of my mother! Do not stand up against me, do not witness against me, Do not oppose me in the tribunal, Do not incline against me in the presence of the keeper of the scales. You are my ka, the one within my body, The Khnum who makes my body whole. You come to happiness with me.”
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“Dispute of a Man with His Ba”
• a rather pessimistic dispute of a man and his ba whether life is worth living • starts by the man telling his ba that is wishes to commit suicide • His ba threatens to leave him which, of course, would mean his total annihilation. • In a sequence of four poems the man reverses his wish and at the end his ba promises that it will stay with him.
The motto of the Instruction is that Ma’at eventually prevails against all evil and the gods will grant eternity for those who act according to the rules of Ma’at The Instruction is the first known written document that contains the Egyptian final judgment predating by 1500 years the Judaic and Christian concepts.
Execration Texts A new cultural phenomenon of the Middle Kingdom • A list of dead, alive, real, or potential enemies written on bowls of clay figures of bound captives. – After having been made, in a ritual they were cursed, burned, broken and buried • The magic of this ritual was believed to annihilate the living enemies or the ba’s of the deceased enemies – The Execration Texts are important because they provide references to various foreign tribes, cities and individuals.
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Book of the Dead
Rise in Importance of Amun
• Upper Egypt • local and obscure god from Thebes • main god: Montu, the hawk-headed war deity • Amenemhat means “Amun in front.” • Amun eventually became the head of the Egyptian pantheon, absorbing along the way the old fertility god Min.
Egyptian potters started making use of the potter’s wheel during the 1st Intermediate Period
This explains the appearance of baglike and drop-like sagging shapes
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