Twelfth Egyptian Dynasty 1991 - 1802 BCE

Pharaoh Amenemhat I: Amenemhet I was the first ruler of the 12th Dynasty, and some Egyptologists believe that recovery from the First Intermediate Period into the Middle Kingdom only really began with his rule. He was almost certainly not of royal blood, at least if he is the same Vizier that functioned under his predecessor, Mentuhotep IV.

XII Egyptian Dynasty 1991 - 1802 BCE

Amenemhat I/Sehetepibre 1991 - 1962 BCE
Sesostris I/kheperkare 1971 - 1926 BCE
Amenemhat II/Nubkhaure 1929 - 1895 BCE
Sesostris II/Khakheperre 1897 - 1878 BCE
Sesostris III/Khakaure 1878 - 1839 BCE
Amenemhat III/Nimaatre 1860 - 1814 BCE.
Amenemhat IV/Maakherure 1815 - 1806 BCE
Nefrusobek/Sobekkare 1806 - 1802 BCE

Perhaps either Mentuhotep IV had no heir, or he was simply a weak leader. This vizier, named Amenemhet, recorded an inscription when Mentuhotep IV sent him to Wadi Hammamt. The inscription records two omens. The first tells us of a gazelle that gave birth to her calf atop the stone that had been chosen for the lid of the King's sarcophagus. the second was of a ferocious rainstorm that, when subsided, disclosed a well 10 cubits square and full of water. Of course that was a very good omen in this barren landscape.

Many Egyptologists believe that Amenemhet's inscription implies that a great ruler will come to the throne of Egypt upon the death of Mentuhotep IV, who will lead the country into prosperity. It is fairly certain that Amenemhet the vizier was predicting his own rise to the throne as Amenemhet I. However, we are told that he had at least two other competitors to the throne.

 One was called Inyotef, and the other a Segerseni from Nubia. It would appear that he quickly dealt with these obstacles.

We believe that he ruled Egypt for almost 30 years. Peter A. Clayton places his reign between the years of 1991 and 1962 BC while the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt gives him a reign lasting from 1985 through 1956 BC. Dodson has his reign lasting from 1994 until 1964 BC.

Amenemhet I's Horus name, Wehem-mesut, means "he who repeats births", and almost certainly was chosen to commemorate the new dynasty and a return to the values and prosperity of a united Egypt. Amenemhet (Amenemhat) was his birth name and means "Amun is at the Head". He was called Ammenemes I by the Greeks. His throne name was Sehetep-ib-re, which means "Satisfied is the Heart of Re".

Pharaoh Sesostris I
In Herodotus' Histories there appears a story told by Egyptian priests about a Pharaoh Sesostris, who once led an army northward overland to Asia Minor, then fought his way westward until he crossed into Europe, where he defeated the Scythians and Thracians (possibly in modern Romania and Bulgaria). Sesostris then returned home, leaving colonists behind at the river Phasis in Colchis.

Herodotus cautioned the reader that much of this story came second hand via Egyptian priests, but also noted that the Colchians were commonly known to be Egyptian colonists.

According to Diodorus Siculus (who calls him Sesoosis), and Strabo, he conquered the whole world, even Scythia and Ethiopia, divided Egypt into administrative districts or nomes, was a great law-giver, and introduced a caste system into Egypt and the worship of Serapis.

Herodotus also relates that when Sesostris defeated an army without much resistance he erected a pillar in their capital with a vagina on it to symbolize the fact that the army fought like women. Pliny the Elder also makes mention of Sesostris, who, he claims, was defeated by Saulaces, a gold-rich king of Colchis.

Nubkhaure Amenemhat II was the third pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Not much is known about his reign. He ruled Egypt for 35 years from 1929 BC to 1895 BC and was the son of Senusret I through the latter's chief wife, Queen Nefru His queen is not known; although recently a certain 'king's wife' named Senet has been proposed. His prenomen or throne name, Nubkaure, means "Golden are the Souls of Re."

The most important monument of his reign are the fragments of an annual stone found at Memphis, reused in the New Kingdom. It reports events of the first years of his reign. Donations to various temples are mentioned as well as a campaign to Southern Palestine and the destruction of two cities. The coming of Nubians to bring tribute is also reported. Amenemhat II established a coregency with his son Senusret II in his 33rd Regnal Year in order to secure the continuity of the royal succession.

His pyramid was constructed at Dahshur and is only little researched. Next to the pyramid were found the tombs of several royal women some of them were found undisturbed and still contained golden jewelery.

His name means 'Man of Goddess Wosret' . It was the name that seems to enter the royal linage because of this king's non-royal, great, great grandfather, the original Senusret and father of the founder of the Dynasty, Amenemhet I. Senusret II's name is also found in various references as Senwosret II, or the Greek form, Sesostris II. His throne name was Kha-khaeper-re, meaning "Soul of Re comes into Being".

Khakeperre Senusret II was the fourth pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1897 BC to 1878 BC. His pyramid was constructed at El-Lahun. Senusret II took a great deal of interest in the Faiyum oasis region and began work on an extensive irrigation system from Bahr Yusuf through to Lake Moeris through the construction of a dike at El-Lahun and the addition of a network of drainage canals. The purpose of his project was to increase the amount of cultivable land in that area. The importance of this project is emphasized by Senusret II's decision to move the royal necropolis from Dahshur to El-Lahun where he built his pyramid. This location would remain the political capital for the 12th and 13th Dynasties of Egypt. The king also established the first known workers' quarter in the nearby town of Senusrethotep (Kahun).

Pharaoh Sesostris III: During the reigns of his predecessors, the provincial nobles of Middle Egypt had enhanced their power through royal favours and intermarriage with the families of neighbouring potentates. Around the middle of Sesostris III’s reign, the rich provincial tombs, which were a mark of the nobles’ power, abruptly ceased to be built.

 Simultaneously, the memorials of middle-class persons increased at Abydos, the Upper Egyptian shrine of the popular god Osiris.

Sesostris III strengthened the central government, minimizing the power and influence of the feudal nobility. Egypt was divided into four great districts, each of which possessed a hierarchy of officials and scribes directly responsible to the vizier. The vizier possessed a ministry, and countrywide departments of the treasury, agriculture, war, and labour resources were created. These assumed governmental functions and kept strict accounts of income and disbursement. So effective were the reforms that in the following dynasty, in spite of weak rulers, the central government under the viziers continued to function effectively for over a century.

Amenemhat III, also spelled Amenemhet III was a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from c.1860 BC to c.1814 BC, the latest known date being found in a papyrus dated to Regnal Year 46, I Akhet 22 of his rule. He is regarded as the greatest monarch of the Middle Kingdom.[citation needed] He may have had a long coregency (of 20 years) with his father, Senusret III.
Towards the end of his reign he instituted a coregency with his successor Amenemhet IV, as recorded in a now damaged rock inscription at Konosso in Nubia, which equates Year 1 of Amenemhet IV to either Year 46, 47 or 48 of his reign. His daughter, Sobekneferu, later succeeded Amenemhat IV, as the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty. Amenemhat III's throne name, Nimaatre, means "Belonging to the Justice of Re."

He built his first pyramid at Dahshur (the so-called "Black Pyramid") but there were construction problems and this was abandoned.

 Around Year 15 of his reign the king decided to build a new pyramid at Hawara The pyramid at Dahshur was used as burial ground for several royal women.
His mortuary temple at Hawara (near the Fayum), is accompanied by a pyramid and may have been known to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus as the "Labyrinth."

Strabo praised it as a wonder of the world. The king's pyramid at Hawara contained some of the most complex security features of any found in Egypt and is perhaps the only one to come close to the sort of tricks Hollywood associates with such structures. Nevertheless, the king's burial was robbed in antiquity.

His daughter, Neferuptah, was buried in a separate pyramid (discovered in 1956) 2 km southwest of the king's The pyramidion of Amenemhet III's pyramid tomb was found toppled from the peak of its structure and preserved relatively intact; it is today located in the Egyptian Cairo Museum.

Amenemhat IV, or Amenemhet IV was Pharaoh of Egypt, likely ruling between ca. 1815 BC and ca. 1806 BC. He served first as the junior coregent of Amenemhat III and completed the latter's temple at Medinet Maadi, which is "the only intact temple still existing from the Middle Kingdom" according to Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

 The temple's foundations, administrative buildings, granaries and residences were recently uncovered by an Egyptian archaeological expedition in early 2006. Amenemhat IV likely also built a temple in the northeastern Fayum at Qasr el-Sagha.

The Turin Canon papyrus records a reign of 9 Years 3 months and 27 days for Amenemhat IV. He served the first year of his reign as the junior co-regent to his powerful predecessor, Amenemhat III, according to a rock graffito in Nubia. His short reign was relatively peaceful and uneventful; several dated expeditions were recorded at the Serabit el-Khadim mines in the Sinai. It was after his death that the gradual decline of the Middle Kingdom is thought to have begun.

Amenemhat died without a male heir, though it is possible that the two first rulers of the next dynasty, Sobekhotep I and Sonbef were his sons. He was succeeded by his half-sister (or perhaps his aunt) Sobeknefru, who became the first woman in about 1500 years to rule Egypt. He may have been Sobeknefru's spouse but no historical evidence currently substantiates this theory.

Sobekneferu (sometimes written "Neferusobek") was an Egyptian pharaoh of the twelfth dynasty.

  Her name meant "the beauty of Sobek." She was the daughter of Pharaoh Amenemhat III. Manetho states she also was the sister of Amenemhat IV, but this claim is unproven. Sobekneferu had an older sister named Nefruptah who may have been the intended heir.

Neferuptah's name was enclosed in a cartouche and she had her own pyramid at Hawara. Neferuptah died at an early age however. Sobekneferu is the first known female ruler of Egypt, although Nitocris may have ruled in the Sixth Dynasty, and there are five other women who are believed to have ruled as early as the First Dynasty.

Amenemhat IV most likely died without a male heir; consequently, Amenemhat III's royal daughter Sobekneferu assumed the throne. According to the Turin Canon, she ruled for 3 years, 10 months, and 24 days in the late 19th century BC. She died without heirs and the end of her reign concluded Egypt's brilliant Twelfth Dynasty and the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom as it inaugurated the much weaker Thirteenth Dynasty.