Manetho's statement that Dynasty XI consisted of 16 kings, who reigned for 43 years is contradicted by contemporary inscriptions and the evidence of the Turin King List, whose combined testimony establishes that this kingdom consisted of seven kings who ruled for a total of 143 years. However, his testimony that this dynasty was based at Thebes is verified by the contemporary evidence.
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| Inyotef II/Intef II |
It was during this dynasty that all of ancient Egypt was united under the Middle Kingdom.
This dynasty traces its origins to a nomarch of Thebes, "Intef the Great, son of Iku", who is mentioned in a number of contemporary inscriptions. However, his immediate successor Mentuhotep I is considered the first king of this dynasty. An inscription carved during the reign of Wahankh Intef II shows that he was the first of this dynasty to claim to rule over the whole of Egypt, a claim which brought the Thebeans into conflict with the rulers of Herakleopolis Magna, Dynasty X. Intef undertook several campaigns northwards, and captured the important nome of Abydos.
Warfare continued intermittently between the Thebean and Heracleapolitan dynasts until the fourteenth regnal year of Nebhetepra Mentuhotep II, when the Herakleopolitans were defeated, and this dynasty could begin to consolidate their rule. The rulers of Dynasty XI reasserted Egypt's influence over her neighbors in Africa and the Near East. Mentuhotep II sent renewed expeditions to Phoenicia to obtain cedar. Sankhkara Mentuhotep III sent an expedition from Coptos south to the land of Punt.
XI Egyptian Dynasty 2134 - 1991
Mentuhotep I 2134 - 2144? BCE
Inyotef I/Intef I/Sehertawy 2144 - 2118? BCE
Inyotef II/Intef II/Wahankh 2118 - 2069 BCE
Inyotef III/Intef III/Nakhtnbtepnefer 2069 - 2061 BCE
Mentuhotep II/Nebhetepre 2061 - 2010 BCE
Mentuhotep III/Sankhkare 2010 - 1998 BCE
Mentuhotep IV/Nebtawyre 1998 - 1991 BCE
Mentuhotep I was the first pharaoh of Eleventh dynasty. He is also known as Montuhotep and his name honors the god Menthu. He was at first a local Egyptian prince at Thebes during the First Intermediate Period. He became the first openly acknowledged ruler of the Eleventh dynasty by assuming the title of first "supreme chief of Upper Egypt" and, later, declaring himself king over all Egypt. He is named as a nomarch in Thutmose III's royal list of the 'Hall of Ancestors' monument at Karnak. Mentuhotep's wife was Neferu I. He was the father of Intef I, his successor, and Intef II.
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| Inyotef III/Intef III |
He was also a grandfather of Intef III. Mentuhotep I was a local Egyptian ruler at Thebes during the First Intermediate Period. He founded the Eleventh dynasty which eventually reunited Egypt under the Middle Kingdom. He is associated with Mentuhotep II. It is commonly thought that the two rulers were one and the same.
Pharaoh Inyotef I: Inyotef I was on of the founder of the 11th Dynasty. He took Thebes as the Capitol of Egypt and ruled it from there. He was the son of Montuhotep I, the "elder". The king took over a divided Egypt and tried to reunite the north and the south under his power. Herakleopolitans ruled Northern Egypt during the period of the 9th and 10th Dynasties' kings. Inyotef was buried in Thebes in the mortuary complex that he built. His royal successors honored his mortuary complex and did not modify it.
Intef II was a Pharaoh of the Eleventh dynasty during the First Intermediate Period. His capital was located at Thebes. At this time, Egypt was split between several local dynasties. After the death of the nomarch Ankhtifi, Intef was able to unite all the southern nomes down to the First Cataract. After this he clashed with his main rivals, the nomarchs of Herakleopolis Magna for the possession of Abydos. The city changed hands several times, but Intef II was eventually victorious, extending his rule north to the thirteenth nome. After these wars, more friendly relations were established and the rest of Intef's reign was peaceful. The discovery of a statue of Intef II, wrapped in a sed festival robe, in the sanctuary of Heqaib at Elephantine suggests that this king's authority extended to the region of the First Cataract and, perhaps, over part of Lower Nubia by his 30th year.
This impression would appear to be confirmed by an expedition led by Djemi from Gebelein to the land of Wawat (i.e.: Nubia) during his reign. Consequently when Intef II died, he left behind a strong government in Thebes which controlled the whole of Upper Egypt and maintained a border just south of Asyut. The earliest attested dating of the god Amun at Karnak occurs during his reign. The surviving sections of the Turin Canon for the Middle Kingdom with Intef II; it assigns this king a reign of 49 years.
Pharaoh Inyotef III: Intef III's father and predecessor reigned for 49 years and Intef III may thus have accessed the throne a middle-aged or even elderly man. Although Intef III's name is lost in a lacuna of the Turin canon, a king list compiled in the early Ramesside period, its reign length is still readable on column 5, row 15, and given as 8 years. The relative chronological position of Intef III as the successor of Intef II and predecessor of Mentuhotep II is secured by his established parentage to these two kings as well as the Turin canon and two blocks from the temple of Montu at Tod.
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| Mentuhotep II/Nebhetepre |
These blocks show the succession of kings from Intef I to Mentuhotep II and while Intef III's horus name is damaged, its position is certain. The absolute dating of Intef III's reign is less certain and several dates have been proposed:
Pharaoh Mentuhotep II: Mentuhotep II is considered to be the first ruler of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. The Turin Canon credits him with a reign of 51 years. Many Egyptologists have long considered two rock reliefs, showing Mentuhotep II towering over smaller figures labeled king "Intef", to be conclusive evidence that his predecessor Intef III was his own father; this is, however, not entirely certain, as these reliefs may have had other propagandistic purposes, and there are other difficulties surrounding Mentuhotep's true origin, his three name-changes, and his frequent attempts to claim descent from various gods.
Painted sandstone seated statue of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. When he ascended the Theban throne, Mentuhotep II inherited the vast land conquered by his predecessors from the first cataract in the south to Abydos and Tjebu in the north. Mentuhotep II's first fourteen years of reign seem to have been peaceful in the Theban region as there are no surviving traces of conflict firmly datable to that period. In fact the general scarcity of testimonies from the early part of Mentuhotep's reign might indicate that he was young when he ascended the throne, an hypothesis consistent with his 51 years long reign.
In the 14th year of his reign, an uprising occurred in the north.
This uprising is most probably connected with the ongoing conflict between Mentuhotep II based in Thebes and the rival 10th dynasty based at Herakleopolis who threatened to invade Upper Egypt. The 14th year of Mentuhotep's reign is indeed named Year of the crime of Thinis.
This certainly refers to the conquest of the Thinite region by the Herakleopolitan kings who apparently desecrated the sacred ancient royal necropolis of Abydos in the process. Mentuhotep II subsequently dispatched his armies to the north. The famous tomb of the warriors at Deir el-Bahari discovered in the 1920s, contained the linen-wrapped, unmummified bodies of 60 soldiers all killed in battle, their shroud bearing Mentuhotep II's cartouche. Due to its proximity to the Theban royal tombs, the tomb of the warriors is believed to be that of heroes who died during the conflict between Mentuhotep II and his foes to the north. Merykara, the ruler of Lower-Egypt at the time may have died during the conflict, which further weakened his kingdom and gave Mentuhotep the opportunity to reunite Egypt.
The exact date when reunification was achieved is not known, but it is assumed to have happened shortly before year 39 of his reign. Indeed, evidence shows that the process took time, maybe due to the general insecurity of the country at the time:
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| Mentuhotep III/Sankhkare |
commoners where buried with weapons, the funerary stelae of officials show them holding weapons instead of the usual regalia, and when Mentuhotep II's successor sent an expedition to Punt some 20 years after the reunification, they still had to clear the Wadi Hammamat of rebels.
Mentuhotep III was the son and successor of Mentuhotep II. One of the wives of Mentuhotep II, Tem, was given the title Mother of the Dual King and based on that title she is almost certainly the mother of Mentuhotep III. Pharaoh Mentuhotep III's family is a mystery and it is not known if his successor Mentuhotep IV was a son of his or not.Mentuhotep IV's mother is known to have been Queen Imi. If he was the son of Mentuhotep III, Imi must have been the wife of Mentuhotep III.
Sankhkare Mentuhotep had a mud-brick temple erected at Thoth Hill in Western Thebes. The temple was built on the site of an older archaic temple. It was dedicated to the god Horus. This temple may have been destroyed by an earthquake towards the end of the 11th dynasty. Sankhkare Mentuhotep was responsible for several building projects in the 12 years of his reign. His own mortuary temple was begun in Deir el-Bahari, but never completed. The temple was located a short distance from his father's mortuary temple. A causeway would have led up to a temple platform. Inscriptions show that the king was buried in a chamber cut into the rock-face.
Mentuhotep IV was the last king of the 11th Dynasty. He was the son of a woman named Imi, who was a secondary wife of either Mentuhotep II or Mentuhotep III.
