Egyp an History 21 October 2015
The Middle Kingdom I: overview and issues to the start of the 12th Dynasty Middle Kingdom Chronology
11th Dynasty (star ng in the middle) Nebhepetre Montuhotep (II) Seankhkare Montuhotep III Nebtawyre Montuhotep IV
12th Dynasty Amenemhat I (former vizier?) Senwosret I (probable co-regency with Amenemhat I) Amenemhat II (probable co-regency with Senwosret I) Senwosret II (probable co-regency with Amenemhat II) Senwosret III Amenemhat III (probable co-regency with Senwosret III) Amenemhat IV Sobeknefru
13th Dynasty many kings of whom Neferhotep I and Sobekhotep IV are the best a ested
Themes for the Middle Kingdom
Kingship: rela ons to gods, administrators, earlier kings co-regency royal burial programs temple building Administra on tles loca on and contents of private tombs rise of a “middle class” Religion changes in funerary and temple prac ce Lahun an example of Egyp an urbanism Interna onal rela ons wars (though we should pay a en on to civil war, too!) trade and tribute movements of people Literature and its rela on to history (discussion)
The Theban 11th Dynasty The 11th Dynasty
First Intermediate Period:
(Mentuhotep aa (the great)) Intef I (Horus Seherutawy) Intef II (Horus Wahankh) Intef III (Horus Nakhtnebtepnefer) Nebhepetre Montuhotep
Middle Kingdom:
Nebhepetre Montuhotep (s ll) Seankhkare Montuhotep Nebtawyre Montuhotep
Relief from Tod, reign of Nebhepetre Intef II column from Karnak From the stela of Redi-ui-khnum at Dendera: I have spent a long period of years under my mistress, the royal ornament Neferuayt (mother of Intef III)… being a king’s daughter and a king’s beloved wife. She had inherited it all from her mother. She has rese led Upper Egypt, the van of men from Elephan ne to the Wadjit nome (the 10th Upper Egyp an nome) with women together with estate managers and officials from the whole country.
I grew up under the feet of her majesty since my earliest youth…Then she placed me at Dendera in the great ca le farm of her mother, rich in record, a foremost enterprise, the greatest estate of Upper Egypt….
I managed the estate successfully. I enlarged all its departments… The developing tulary of Nebhepetre Montuhotep
1 Horus Seankhibtawy (“who causes the heart of the two lands to live”) 2 Horus Netjerihedjet (“divine one of the white crown”) + throne name 3 Horus Sematawy (“who unites the two lands”) + a Horus of Gold name Relief from a chapel at Gebelein, middle tulary, Nebhepetre Montuhotep
“overthrowing the heads of the two countries, founding of Upper and Lower Egypt, the foreign lands, the two riverbanks, and the nine bows”
Relief of Nebhepetre from Dendera chapel
Nebhepetre Montuhotep embraced by the gods (post- unifica on style) From Deir el-Bahri
Fragmentary war relief from the tomb/mortuary temple of Nebhepetre Montuhotep
Tomb of Intef at Thebes (middle 11th Dynasty)
Montuhotep III and Iunyt (consort of the god Montu) from Armant Ain Sukhna
Wadi Hammamat Montuhotep IV Wadi Hammamat inscrip ons (year 2, second month of innunda on, day 15):
“His Majesty commanded me to erect this stela for his father Min, lord of desert lands, at this august mountain…My Majesty has sent the prince, mayor of the city, vizier, chief of royal works, royal favorite, Amenemhat, with a troop of 10,000 men from the southern nomes of Upper Egypt, and from the garrisons of Thebes, in order to bring me a precious block of the pure stone of this mountain, whose excellence was made by Min, for the lord of life, who recalls eternity even more than the monuments in the temples of Upper Egypt, as a mission of the king who rules the Two Lands, so as to bring him his heart’s desire from the desert lands of his father Min.”
“This wonder happened to His Majesty: that the small ca le of the deserts came down to him; there came a pregnant gazelle, going with her face towards the people before her. Her eyes looked backward, but she did not turn back un l she arrived at this noble mountain at this block, it being s ll in its place for this lid of the sarcophagus. She gave birth upon it while this army of the king was looking. Then they cut her neck before the block and brought fire. It descended in safety.”