Th e Greek historians mention a Seventh Dynasty, per-
haps dominated by the northern city of Memphis, or Mit
Rahina. Most modern historians believe that there was no
Seventh Dynasty, noting the unlikely description that it had
70 kings in 70 days. Th e Eighth Dynasty may have lasted from
about 2150 to 2134 b.c.e., with 18 or more kings.
FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
(CA. 2134-CA. 2040 B.C.E.)
Th e Greeks erred in identifying two separate Ninth and Tenth
Dynasties by duplicating the kings in their lists, though the
Greek historians may have found the dynasties listed this
way in Egyptian sources. Th e Ninth and Tenth^ were only one
dy nast y, lasting from ca. 2134–ca. 2040 b.c.e. Later Eg y ptian
w rit ings cha racterize t his period as one of chaos, w it h people
forsaking their old gods and proper worship. Th ese accounts
may have been written more to justify contemporary kings’
absolute power rather than to provide an accurate commen-
tary of the First Intermediate Period. However, it is known
that a civil war began between the Tenth Dynasty kings
of Lower Egypt and the Eleventh Dynasty kings of Upper
Egypt, with an army of the Tenth Dynasty looting and des-
ecrating tombs at the town of Abydos, north of Th ebes. Th is
attack would have been regarded as a terrible off ense against
religion and morality.
Modern historians are uncertain about the exact events
that occurred during this civil war. Because the battles were
between two diff erent dynasties, most historians classify the
fi rst half of the Eleventh Dynasty as overlapping with the end
of the Tenth Dynasty. Th ere is also some consensus that the
Th eban king Mentuhotep (or Montjuhotep) II (r. ca. 2061–ca.
2010 b.c.e.) defeated the northern kings of Heracleopolis in
about 2040 b.c.e., thereby reunifying Upper and Lower Egypt
and establishing the relative calm of the Middle Kingdom.
Other historians identify Mentuhotep I, the Th eban governor
Wast, as the founder of the Eleventh Dynasty, followed by In-
tef (or Inyotef) I, II, and III. Some believe Mentuhotep I and
Mentuhotep II were the same person.
MIDDLE KINGDOM (CA. 2040–CA. 1640 B.C.E.)
Aft er defeating the northern kings, Mentuhotep II spent the
remainder of his reign strengthening the reunifi cation of
Egypt. He kept most government offi cials in their posts, re-
placing some who were not loyal to him, and his administra-
tion worked to reintegrate provinces into a single government.
Mentuhotep II proved to be an exceptional administrator,
and by the time of his death he had succeeded in bringing
war-torn Egypt together as one nation.
Th e Twelft h Dynasty (ca. 1991–ca. 1783 b.c.e.) began
when Mentuhotep IV (r. ca. 1998–ca. 1991 b.c.e.) was suc-
ceeded by his vizier Amenemhet I (r. ca. 1991–ca. 1962 b.c.e.).
Th e transfer of power was peaceful. Amenemhet I was a re-
former who tried to restore Egyptian government to the form
it had during the Old Kingdom. He moved his residence from
Th ebes to the town of Itjtawy, near Saqqara, where sacred
pyramids such as that of Djoser were located. Amenemhet
I became an absolute ruler, and all government authority
came from him. During the Middle Kingdom, beginning
with Amenemhet I, eldest sons sat beside their fathers on the
throne, sharing in royal authority, and wives and daughters
of kings also were considered divine.
Th e Twelft h Dynasty was a period of great prosperity.
Th e government pursued large public works projects, includ-
ing building great tombs for kings and impressive tombs
for regional governors. Beginning with Mentuhotep II, the
Tw e l ft h Dynasty’s army extended Egyptian dominance in
Nubia, reaching its fullest extent under Senusret III (r. ca.
1878–ca. 1841 b.c.e.), securing major trade routes into sout h-
ern Africa that brought much wealth to Egypt. Th e last ruler
of the Twelft h Dynasty was Sobeknefru (r. ca. 1787–ca. 1783
b.c.e.), a female king.
Her reign was followed by the Th irteenth Dynasty (ca.
1783–ca. 1641 b.c.e.), which was composed of a series of per-
haps 33 kings, most of them with unknown names and dates.
Th e early king Neferhotep I and others were powerful rulers
of a central government, but during the middle of the Th ir-
teenth Dynasty the kings’ power waned. In the Nile Delta
many small principalities became independent; their gover-
nors oft en called themselves kings.SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
(CA. 1641–CA. 1550 B.C.E.)
Th e Second Intermediate Period is a confusion of dynasties
that overlapped because they ruled diff erent parts of Egypt.
Th ere was the Fourteenth Dynasty, Fift eenth Dynasty, Six-
teenth Dynasty, and Seventeenth Dynasty (ca. 1641–ca. 1550
b.c.e.). Of these dynasties, only the Seventeenth Dynasty has
a coherent history of kings, all ruling Upper Egypt. Th e Four-
teenth Dynasty had 76 kings, possibly more, and the Sixteenth
Dynasty had 32 or more kings. Th ese kings probably do not
represent family lineages, as Egyptian historians of the 1200s
b.c.e. may have included the kings of even small territories in
these dynasties. Th e Fift eenth Dynasty consisted of six kings
of the city of Avaris, located in the northeastern Nile Delta.
Th ey were prosperous because of trade with the Near East,
and Avaris was a well-defended fortress city. Th ese kings are
known as Hyksos, and historians still debate their origins.
According to Egyptian records, they were Asiatic kings from
the Near East who were remembered as cruel overlords.
Th e kings of the Seventeenth Dynasty ruled from Th ebes.
Th ey saw themselves, not the Hyksos, as the true inheritors of
the Th irteenth Dynasty kings and believed that Egypt should
be one country. Th ey focused on boosting the economy by
freeing up trade routes that were blocked both to the north
and south. Th e last king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, Kamose
(r. ca. 1555–ca. 1550 b.c.e.), succeeded in recovering southern
territory all the way to Elephantine, then known as Abu. Th is
was just north of the region of Wawat, which was the focus of
trade routes. Kamose attacked Avaris in about 1540 b.c.e. but
did not breach its walls.empires and dynasties: Egypt 393