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Ancient Egypt Magazine

Volume 6 issue 4 February 2006

THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

This month’s NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the World Wide Web has to say about The First Intermediate Period – a little documented period between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom.

ANCIENTEGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

The First Intermediate Period (c.2181-1991 BC) is the period of history that stretches between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. As such it is often overlooked in books, which tend to concentrate on the more colourful periods of Egyptian history. The reasons for the end of the Old Kingdom are diverse but undoubtedly the long reign of king Pepi II, the failure of the inundation of the Nile, and the growing independence of the nobility were all contributing factors to the eventual economic collapse of Egypt’s earliest period of civilization.

General outlines of the First Intermediate Period’s history can be found at a number of web-sites such as:

www.touregypt.net/hfirstin.htm
www.ancient-egypt.org/history/07_11/
www.thebanmappingproject.com/resources/timeline_3.html

whilst a site that includes a number of interesting textual references is

www.xs4all.nl/~willockx/ed_fip.html

After the death of king Pepi II we quickly enter the Seventh Dynasty, in which the kings continued to rule from Memphis, but appear to have controlled little outside this area. The historian Manetho mentions "seventy kings who ruled for seventy days", which, while not accurate, surely refers to the large number of short reigns during this Dynasty. One of these kings, a ruler called Ibi, did however, manage to build a small pyramid at Saqqara, and details of this pyramid can be found at:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/fipp.htm

Dynasty Eight was again centred in Memphis and it is thought that this line of kings may well have had a link back to the "old" royal line of the Old Kingdom. These kings ruled for about twenty years, but appear to have lost control over much of the Delta area as Asiatics moved in from the East, taking advantage of Egypt’s weakness.

Dynasty Nine, which lasted some thirty years, was based at Herakleopolis, as provincial Nomarchs took over control as "royal authority" collapsed. The line at Herakleopolis established control over much of Middle Egypt and exerted their authority as far north as the Delta. The old tradition of writing "Wisdom literature" appears to have continued and the Instruction of King Merikare can be read at:

http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/merikare_papyrus.htm

and the Instructions of Kheti II at:

http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/texts/kheti_ii.htm

Egypt at this time still appears fragmented and whilst the Ninth Dynasty ruled over much of Middle Egypt, separate rulers tried to establish control further South. The most famous of these local warlords was the Nomarch Ankhtifi who ruled from Hierakonpolis and then conquered the Nome of Edfu, bringing him into conflict with rulers from Thebes (modern day Luxor).

A power struggle appears to have commenced with Ankhtifi playing a major role in support of the Northern kingdom, who also launched attacks against Theban territory. Ankhtifi’s well-decorated tomb at Mo’alla survives including his bombastic inscription:

"I was the beginning and the end of mankind … nobody like me was ever born nor will he be born. I surpassed the feats of the ancestors, and coming generations will not be able to equal me in any of my feats within this million of years."

The tomb provides a great deal of information about conditions during this period. Refer to:

http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/texts/ankhtifi.htm

and

www.egyptsites.co.uk/upper/esna/moalla.html

for a description of his tomb, and to

www.nemes.co.uk/pics/ankhtifi.htm

for some photographs of the wall scenes.

Dynasty Ten, whose ruling family was called Akhtoy, was again based at Herakleopolis, and they continued the struggle with Thebes for supremacy over all Egypt. Unfortunately for them, the ruling family at Thebes was by now a breed of strong warrior kings called Inyotef (or Intef) who formed the Eleventh Dynasty. Refer:

www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_12/11.html

Dynasty Eleven, based at Thebes, continually battled with the Akhtoy princes and eventually pushed their Northern boundary as far north as Antaeopolis (North of Abydos). A stela of king Inyotef II can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum; refer:

www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phar/ho_13.182.3.htm

Inyotef III eventually established control as far north as Asyut, whereupon he made a truce with the kings of the Tenth Dynasty. The truce lasted for many years until the Tenth Dynasty king Merykare broke it by attacking Abydos in the fourteeth year of the reign of king Montuhotep II, the son of Inyotef III. Montuhotep II immediately counter-attacked and pushed the army of Merykare back out of Theban territory. The Tenth Dynasty was overcome, and Theban control was established as far north as the Mediterranean. Egypt was unified once more under the control of Theban king Neb-hetep-re Montuhotep II. The reunification that heralded the Middle Kingdom was established.

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