Luxor4u The Kings of Pharaonic Egypt - Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period

The Kings of Pharaonic Egypt

by Connie Tindale

Middle Kingdom
and Second Intermediate Period

(All dates are approximate)

General Information

The Middle Kingdom was a time of political unity and during the 11th Dynasty Egypt was ruled from Thebes but later moved to Lisht, which was south of Memphis. There appears to have been some power-sharing and co-regency during this time as various stellae give an overlap of dates recounting the feats is various kings which makes dating their reigns difficult

Montuhotep II was the first king to rule the whole of Egypt and his achievement in reuniting the country was so tremendous that paintings in later 20th Dynasty tombs celebrate him. While there was great artistic development in tomb building during the period there appears to have been a decline in building large-scale monuments.

In religion, a marked growth occurred in the cult of Osiris and he became of the Great God of all the necropolises. One of the reasons for this rise was the patronage which rulers of the 12th Dynasty lavished on him in Abydos. Funerary rites then spread from being reserved for royalty to becoming available to common individuals and in an effort to enter the afterlife, mummification became widespread but it was not very effective. A further innovation was the introduction of Shabti, which are statuettes made of various materials that were magical substitutes for when work had to be done for Osiris.

Under the rulers of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt became more aware of Nubia, Asia and the Aegean and it benefited from exchanges of materials products and ideas. It was an age of invention and vision that then dissolved into the chaos of the Second Intermediate Period and the fragmentation of the two lands.

The rulers of the Second Intermediate Period abandoned List and made Thebes the seat of government again but the later divisions of the country meant that it developed in different ways and at different times. Also development was constantly hampered with fights with the Hyksos who were successful invaders of Upper Egypt.

The Theban kings of the 17th Dynasty mastered their own region and the scene was set for war until King Kamose waged a successful campaign against the Hyksos which brought about the reunification of Egypt. This ushered in the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom which was the most illustrious of Egypt's eras.

Middle Kingdom

11th Dynasty - (All Egypt) - c2055 - 1650 BCE

Montuhotep II
Montuhotep III
Montuhotep IV

2055 - 2004
2004 - 1992
1992 - 1985

12th Dynasty - c1985 - 1773 BCE

Amenemhat I (Ammenemes)
Senwosret I (Sesostris)
Amenemhat II
Senwosret II
Senwosret III
Amenemhat III
Amenemhat IV
Queen Nefrusobek (Sobeknefru, Sobekkare)

1985 - 1956
1956 - 1911
1911 - 1877
1877 - 1870
1870 - 1831
1831 - 1786
1786 - 1777
1777 - 1773

13th Dynasty/ 14th - c1773 - after 1650

Minor rulers in a choatic period

Second Intermediate Period

15th Dynasty (Hyskos) - c1650 - 1550

Salitis (Sheshi)
Khyan
Apepi I (Apophis I)
Apepi II (Apophis II)
Khamudi c.

c 1600
c 1555

1542 - 1532

16th Dynasty

Theban Early rulers conemporaty with the 15th dynasty

17th Dynasty - c1580 - 1550

Rahotep
Sobekhemsaf II
Inyotef VI (Sekhemra)
Inyotef VII (Intef VII)
Inyotef (Itef) VIII
Tao I (Sanakkhtenre)
Tao II (Seqenenre)
Kamose (Wadjkheperre) c.

c 1560
1555 - 1550

Source: Dates were taken from The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt