Middle Kingdom of Egypt

The Middle Kingdom is a period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, roughly between 2125 BC and 1648 BC.

The period comprises of 2 phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th Dynasty onwards which was centred around el-Lisht. These two dynasties where originally considered to be the full extent of this unified kingdom, but historians now Gae Callender, The Middle Kingdom Renasissance in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford, 2000 consider the 13th Dynasty at least to be partially belong to the Middle Kingdom.

The Eleventh Dynasty

The Twelfth Dynasty

After the reigns of his successors (Mentuhotep III) and (Mentuhotep IV) of the Eleventh Dynasty ended, there was a smooth transition into the illusturous Twelfth Dynasty. The first Pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty, (Amenemhat I), is, according to some sources, the same man as Amenemhat, the (Vizier) of (Upper Egypt), under the reign of Mentuhotep IV. This explains the smooth transition of power in which Amenemhat easily assumed the reins of power after the death of Mentuhotep IV.

Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt, known as Itjtawy, the location of this capital is unknown, but presumably the present-day el-Lisht, although Manetho claims their capital remained at Thebes. Amenemhet pacified any unrest in Egypt by force and curtailed the rights of the nomarchs. He is known to have at least launched one campaign into Nubia. In 1971 BC Amenemhat established his son Senusret I as his junior co-regent. In 1962 BC, he was presumably murdered by a royal bodyguard and Senuseret, campaigning against Libyan invaders, rushed home to Itjtawy with haste to prevent a takeover of the government. This proved the worth of the institution of the coregency since the new king had acquired useful experienced by the time he would start his sole reign. The co-regencies system lasted throughout the Twelfth Dynasty and provided great stability.

Senusret I (1971 BC - 1926 BC) continued the policy of his father to recapture Nubia and other territories lost during the First Intermediate Period. The Libyans were subdued under his 45 Year reign and Egypt's prosperity and security were secured.

Senusret's successor Amenemhat II (1929 BC - 1895 BC) made the position of the nomarchs hereditary again (weakening the centralized government though) and established trade connections with Nubia and a war seems to be conducted in the Levant.

Senusret II (1897 BC - 1878 BC) improved trade connections with Nubia, Palestine and the Levant.

His successor Senusret III (1878 BC - 1839 BC) was a warrior-king, often taking to the field himself. He led his troops deep into Nubia, and built an entire series of massive fortified forts throughout the country to establish Egypt's formal boundary with the unconquered areas of the territory. On the domestic front, he built a fine religious temple at Abydos; while it is now destroyed surviving reliefs show the high quality of the decorations. He was later deified at the end of the Middle Kingdom and worshipped by the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. He gave the Crown to his son in his 20th Year, according to evidence from Papyrus Berlin 10056, but remained the senior coregent.

Amenemhat III (1860 BC - 1815 BC) was the last great pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom. Egypt's population began to exceed the food production levels and Amenemhat III ordered the exploitation of the Fayyum and increased mining operations in the Sinaï desert. He made sure that nomarchs could no longer inherit their nomes as Amenemhat II had permitted. He also invited Asiatic settlers to Egypt to labor on Egypt's monuments. But late in his reign the annual floods began to fail and his successor Amenemhat IV ruled Egypt for 9 full years (1816 BC - 1807 BC) before dying prematurely.

The sister of Amenemhat IV briefly reigned as Queen Sobekneferu (1807 BC - 1803 BC). As she apparently had no heirs, the Twelfth Dynasty came to a sudden end as did the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom.

Pharaohs of the Twelfth through Eighteenth Dynasty are credited with preserving for us some of the most fabulous of Egyptian papyri:
* 1800 BC - Berlin papyrus
* 1800 BC - Moscow Mathematical Papyrus
* 1650 BC - Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
* 1600 BC - Edwin Smith papyrus
* 1550 BC - Ebers papyrus

Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties

Thirteenth Dynasty

The Thirteenth Dynasty ruled for approximately 453 Years according to Manetho but this is presumably an error for 153 Years since the digit 4 and 1 were very similar in Greek from surviving copies of his work. A few of the kings and their possible dates include:
*Neferhotep I 1696-1685
*Sihathor 1685-1685
*Sobekhotep IV 1685-1678
*Sobekhotep V 1678-1674
*Iaib 1674-1664
*Merneferre Ai 1664-1641 (not to be confused with Pharaoh Ay of the Eighteenth Dynasty)

Fourteenth dynasty

These kings appear to gradually lose their grasp over Egypt, and a Fourteenth Dynasty appeared in the Delta region, but the pharaohs of this dynasty seem to be minor monarchs in the Delta region.

The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties witnessed the slow decline of Egypt into the Second Intermediate Period in which some of the Asiatic settlers of Amenemhat III would grasp power over Egypt as the Hyksos.

References