An outline, era by era

Middle Kingdom

Bronze Age · ~3300 – ~1200 BCE

The Middle Kingdom is the name modern historians give to the period of Egyptian history from about 2050 to about 1650 BCE. It began when Mentuhotep II of Thebes defeated the rival rulers of Herakleopolis and reunited Egypt after the First Intermediate Period, a time of weak central rule that followed the Old Kingdom. The kingdom's strongest rulers belonged to the Twelfth Dynasty, which moved the capital north to Itjtawy near the Faiyum.

Kings such as Senusret III and Amenemhat III campaigned in Nubia, built great fortresses along the Nile, and drained and developed the Faiyum oasis. Writing, art and jewellery flourished, and the period is seen as the classical age of Egyptian literature, with works such as the Story of Sinuhe and the Eloquent Peasant. Central power declined in the Thirteenth Dynasty, and Egypt later split, with the Hyksos ruling the north. The Middle Kingdom matters because it restored Egypt's unity and shaped the state that followed in the New Kingdom.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Mentuhotep II reunites Egypt

    Event

    What happened

    After the Old Kingdom, Egypt's central rule breaks down in the First Intermediate Period, and rival ruling houses hold the north and south. The Theban kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, from the south, fight a long war against the rulers of Herakleopolis in the north. In about 2050 BCE Mentuhotep II defeats Herakleopolis and brings the whole country under one king, and he rules from Thebes.

    The rest is history

    Historians usually take this reunification as the start of the Middle Kingdom. Mentuhotep II built his mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, in western Thebes, and sent expeditions to the quarries and mines and into Nubia. His dynasty ended around 1991 or 1990 BCE, at the start of the twentieth century BCE. Amenemhat I, who is generally thought to have been the vizier of the last Eleventh Dynasty king, Mentuhotep IV, then founded the Twelfth Dynasty and moved the capital north to Itjtawy. The Twelfth Dynasty built on the reunited state, and its kings campaigned in Nubia and developed the Faiyum. The exact details of the Theban conquest, and the dating of its stages, are still debated.

    Sources

    1. BookGrajetzki, Wolfram. The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History, Archaeology and Society. London: Duckworth, 2006.Survey of the reunification and the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties.
    2. BookShaw, Ian, editor. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

  2. The First Intermediate Period: collapse of the Old Kingdom state

    Event

    What happened

    After the long reign of Pepi II, which ended around 2180 BCE, the Sixth Dynasty fades and the Old Kingdom state loses its central authority. Around 2160 BCE the country divides, and regional governors, called nomarchs, hold power in their own provinces. Rival royal lines rule in the north from Herakleopolis and in the south from Thebes. Tomb inscriptions of provincial officials, such as those at Asyut, record local rulers who feed their people and raise their own armies.

    The rest is history

    Historians call this age the First Intermediate Period, from about 2160 to about 2050 BCE. The causes are debated. Scholars point to the long reign of Pepi II and the growing power of provincial officials, and some also point to a run of low Nile floods and a drier climate, though how much weight climate deserves is still argued. The division set the stage for the Middle Kingdom, since the war between Herakleopolis and Thebes ended in the reunification under Mentuhotep II around 2050 BCE. The provincial governors remained important in the early Middle Kingdom, until the Twelfth Dynasty kings reduced their independence.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTomb inscriptions of the nomarchs of Asyut (Tomb of Iti-ibi, Tomb of Khety). Egyptian autobiographical inscriptions, First Intermediate Period, c. 2100 BCE.
    2. BookShaw, Ian, editor. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
    3. BookSeidlmayer, Stephan. "The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160-2055 BC)." In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Chapter on the collapse of central rule and the rise of the provinces.

  3. Sinuhe, the courtier who fled and came home

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Sinuhe, an official in the royal household, overhears news that King Amenemhat I has died and flees in panic across the border. He is welcomed by a chieftain in Syria-Palestine, marries well, grows rich and wins a duel against a local champion. Old and homesick, he receives a kind letter from King Senusret I, returns to Egypt and is given a tomb.

    The rest is history

    The Story of Sinuhe is the most famous work of Middle Kingdom literature. It was written in the Twelfth Dynasty, and is known from papyri and many ostraca, so it was copied widely for centuries. It is fiction, though it is set around the real death of Amenemhat I, which several sources suggest followed a plot against him. Its picture of Egyptian contact with the Levant fits the archaeology of trade and diplomacy in the period. Berlin Papyrus 3022 preserves a main text, dated to about 1800 BCE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryThe Story of Sinuhe. Egyptian narrative in Middle Egyptian, Twelfth Dynasty composition, copies on papyrus including Berlin Papyrus 3022 and 10499, c. 1800 BCE.
    2. BookLichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.English translation of Sinuhe and other Middle Kingdom works.
    3. BookParkinson, R. B. The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 BC. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

  4. The Prophecies of Neferti

    Folk tale

    The legend

    King Snefru, bored, asks his court for entertainment and summons the wise priest Neferti. Neferti foretells a time of chaos, with the Nile dry, the land in foreign hands and order overturned. Then a king named Ameny, son of a woman from Upper Egypt, will arrive, drive out the enemy and restore justice.

    The rest is history

    The text is set in the Old Kingdom under Snefru, but was composed in the Twelfth Dynasty. Ameny is almost certainly Amenemhat I, who founded the dynasty, and the prophecy served as propaganda for his rule by presenting it as the end of chaos. The famous 'prophecy' therefore looks back at events the author already knew. The work survives in the Leningrad papyrus (Hermitage 1116B), copied in the New Kingdom, along with other copies on ostraca.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryThe Prophecy of Neferti. Egyptian literary text, composed under Amenemhat I, c. 1950 BCE; Papyrus St Petersburg 1116B, New Kingdom copy.
    2. BookLichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
    3. BookParkinson, R. B. Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings. London: British Museum Press, 1991.

  5. The Shipwrecked Sailor and the serpent of the island

    Folk tale

    The legend

    A sailor returning from a failed expedition tells how his ship sank in a storm and he alone was cast ashore on a magical island. There a gigantic bearded serpent speaks to him kindly, tells of its own lost family, and promises that a ship will come. The sailor is rescued and loaded with gifts, though the serpent says the island will vanish after he leaves.

    The rest is history

    The tale is a Middle Kingdom story, found in a single papyrus now in St Petersburg (Hermitage 1115), dated to about the Twelfth Dynasty. It is a framed narrative in which an official uses it to comfort a nervous colleague before an audience with the king. It is fiction, but reflects real Egyptian voyages down the Red Sea to the land of Punt, which are recorded in inscriptions from this period at Wadi Gawasis. The ship-timber, ropes and anchors discovered there from the Twelfth Dynasty confirm that such expeditions took place.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryThe Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor. Egyptian narrative, Middle Kingdom, Papyrus Hermitage 1115, c. 1900-1800 BCE.
    2. BookLichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
    3. ArticleBard, Kathryn A., and Rodolfo Fattovich. "Mersa/Wadi Gawasis and Ancient Egyptian Trade to Punt." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 98 (2012): 1-18.Overview of the Red Sea harbour used for Punt expeditions in the Middle Kingdom.

  6. The Lahun pyramid and the Labyrinth

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Greek writers tell of a vast Egyptian building in the land by Lake Moeris, with thousands of rooms above and below ground, so tangled that no stranger could find the way out. Herodotus says it surpassed even the pyramids. Later tellers link it to the labyrinth built for the Minotaur on Crete.

    The rest is history

    Herodotus, in the fifth century BCE, describes this Labyrinth near the Faiyum, and Strabo later says it was a palace of many courts. Most scholars link it with the mortuary temple of Amenemhat III at Hawara, built in the Twelfth Dynasty beside his pyramid, though almost nothing of it survives. Flinders Petrie excavated at Hawara in 1888-89 and found only remains of its foundations and limestone chips. The description was probably much exaggerated by visitors who saw the large ruined complex many centuries later.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryHerodotus. Histories, Book 2.148. Greek prose history, c. 430 BCE.
    2. PrimaryStrabo. Geography, Book 17.1.37. Greek geographical work, c. 20 CE.
    3. BookPetrie, W. M. Flinders. Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe. London: Field and Tuer, 1889.Petrie's report on his excavation at the site of the Labyrinth.

  7. The Eloquent Peasant

    Folk tale

    The legend

    A peasant named Khun-Anup is robbed by a greedy official on the road to market. He pleads his case nine times before the high steward Rensi with such beautiful speeches that the king orders Rensi to keep him talking, simply to hear more. In the end justice is done and the peasant is given his rights and the property of the thief.

    The rest is history

    The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is a Middle Kingdom work, known from several papyri including Berlin Papyri 3023 and 10499. It is generally treated as fiction, a showpiece of rhetoric and a reflection on maat, the Egyptian ideal of justice and order. It mirrors the period's concern that officials be fair and that even common people have access to the king's justice. Its manuscripts are dated to about 1800 BCE, and the tale itself is probably a little older.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryThe Tale of the Eloquent Peasant. Egyptian literary text, Middle Kingdom, Berlin Papyri 3023, 3025 and 10499, c. 1850-1800 BCE.
    2. BookParkinson, R. B. The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant. Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1991.
    3. BookLichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.

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