Predictably, it wasn’t just in warfare that Ankhtifi believed himself to excel. In his tomb autobiography, he describes Egypt as living through a War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 34
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time of famine, when people were forced to eat their children. Naturally, such chaos was confined to the areas north and south of Ankhtifi’s own
well-managed territory: he had plenty of barley to feed his people, and traded his surplus for oils from other nomes. He even sent barley to Lower Egypt (but doesn’t mention the ruling 9th Dynasty), and far south into the region of Wawat in northern Nubia. By presenting Egypt’s situation as so terribly dire, he was amplifying the success of his own actions. Not only was Ankhtifi a perfect warrior, but an excellent manager, and a philanthro-pist too.
Despite his exaggerations, however, Ankhtifi’s claims of famine are
reflected in other contemporary accounts. The Steward Seneni of the Coptite nome mentions measuring out Upper Egyptian barley to give to his whole
town ‘in the painful years of distress.’4 Meanwhile, in the Theban nome, a royal treasurer named Iti says that he fed the village of Gebelein, and gave barely to Armant and Moalla. Whatever the case may be – and these men
could each simply be playing on the same theme popular in self- presentation at the time – there’s currently no firm scientific evidence to prove that Egypt went through a period of famine during the First Intermediate Period.
So what made Ankhtifi tick? Was he truly a person fighting for the peo-
ple of his nomes? Had he tired of royal control from the north, and wanted better lives for the people of the south? Or was he simply a warlord, boastful and bombastic, whose ultimate aim was to expand his territory until he could declare himself the new king of Egypt? If the latter, he never achieved his aim. But the rulers of Thebes that came after him did.
The Rise of Thebes
The Theban nomarch that had tried his best to ignore Ankhtifi’s ‘inva-
sion’ was probably Intef the Great, born of Iku, who describes himself as a priest and great overlord of Upper Egypt. He appears to have extended Theban control north into Dendera, marking the beginning of the region’s ascendancy in the south, and is the first in a line of Theban rulers that would eventually become the 11th Dynasty – the kings of a newly united
Egypt. Intef the Great was succeeded by Montuhotep I (called tepi-a: ‘the ancestor’), who in turn passed his office to Intef I. To ensure the safety of the Theban nome from a hostile neighbour, and to stop his enemies from
controlling the desert, Intef sent his troops to close off one of the desert routes leading west. This forced Tjauti, nomarch of Coptos – loyal to the Herakleopolitan king – to create a new desert road. War followed, but it War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 35
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worked out well for Intef: he seized the nomes of Coptos, Dendera, and
Diospolis Parva, and may even have pushed into the Abydos nome. The
Thebans were taking over.
The wars for territory continued under Intef I’s son, Intef II, who ruled for around fifty years and called himself king of Upper and Lower Egypt, despite not controlling the north. Someone should have told him that
such hyperbole was unnecessary, for Intef ’s ‘kingdom’ – stretching from Elephantine to Abydos, according to his chancellor, Tjeti – was surely extensive enough to be worth boasting about without such exaggeration. Ankhtifi’s southern nomes had by now been swallowed into Intef ’s territory, and the nomes further north remained loyal to the Theban. But it was a different situation at Abydos: the Herakleopolitans wouldn’t give up this sacred city without a fight. The Overseer of Scouts Djari says that he fought to the west of the Abydos nome; and a letter sent from Intef II to the Herakleopolitan King Kheti says that Kheti had raised a storm over Abydos. Despite these setbacks, Intef eventually managed to push further north beyond Abydos
to establish his new border at the tenth nome of Upper Egypt – the region of modern Qau el-Kebir. The stele of Redikhnum from Dendera mentions
Intef II moving men from Elephantine into the tenth nome, presumably to defend his new border.
Whilst fighting to seize more territory in the north, Intef II reorganized the nomes already under his control. He assigned Hetepy from el-Qab to
manage Egypt’s seven southernmost nomes, with particular attention given to Elephantine, Edfu, and Hierakonpolis. Egypt’s nomes would no longer
be assigned to individual (potentially troublesome) nomarchs, but were to be overseen en masse by royally appointed managers. The governors of individual towns within the nomes received greater powers, and men of importance once again began to be buried close to the king, rather than in their own nomes. Intef II had broken the power of the nomarchs and succeeded in
pushing his territory to the edge of Asyut in Middle Egypt. On the basis of a single inscription at Aniba in Nubia, he may also have expanded his influence south beyond the First Cataract, where he could find highly-skilled fighters to join his cause.
The Nomarchs of Asyut
Intef II’s advance north must have worried the nomarchs of Asyut,
Egypt’s thirteenth Upper Egyptian nome. This family were loyal to the
Herakleopolitan kings and had actively tried to block the Theban king’s War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 36
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progress. The first of these nomarchs, Kheti I, lived during Thebes’ rise to power. On campaign, he organized his troops into divisions of 1,000
men, some placed into teams of bowmen, and others into teams armed with shields and spears. This same division of troops – between bowmen and
spearmen – can be seen in the tomb models of Mesehti, a descendant of
Kheti I, who also lived at Asyut. One set of models represents forty Nubian archers. Another represents Egyptian spearmen carrying shields. Nomarch Kheti also commanded a fleet of ships, capable of transporting his troops along the Nile to defend the interests of the Herakleopolitan kings.
Kheti’s son and successor, It-ibi also fought against the southern king.
His troops travelled by boat to different locations along the Nile, and he apparently succeeded in halting the southern advance north. After It-Ibi’s death, his son Kheti II was installed as nomarch by King Merikare, one of the last Herakleopolitan kings (and the man whose father may have fought Asiatic invaders in the Delta, mentioned at the start of this chapter). He too commanded ships, perhaps during the final war of reunification between
the Thebans and the Herakleopolitans, and mentions the temporary loss of Asyut to the southern invaders, followed by his successful attempt to remove them.
Nubians at Gebelein
During the First Intermediate Period, a population of Nubians lived at
Gebelein, about 25 km south of Thebes. They probably reached this village via the desert and oasis routes from Nubia. As Nubians were famous among the Egyptians as archers, they probably served in the Theban army, helping to seize the north of the country.
These men were buried according to Egyptian tradition, but portrayed
themselves as Nubian on their monuments. One man, Nenu, is depicted
on his funerary stele wearing a red sash around his waist, typical of Nubian dress at this time, and holds a bow and quiver. His son wears a pin through his hair, a style not followed by the Egyptians. Nenu’s wife, however, is shown in a traditionally Egyptian manner. The village’s Nubian population is also mentioned by the local Egyptians on their monuments.
Further attestations of Nubians in Egypt during these troubled times
are rare: a bowl of First Intermediate Period date depicting a Nubian archer was left in the forecourt of one of the tombs of Aswan’s late Old Kingdom governors; and two stelae from Naga ed-Deir in Middle Egypt me
ntion a
man named Nefernehesy, who might have been of Nubian origin. Nubian
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archers are depicted in various tombs of the First Intermediate Period, and imported vessels show that the Egyptians continued to trade with the C-Group in the south.
Montuhotep II: Man of Many Names
Montuhotep II, son of Intef III (who reigned for less than a decade), led the Thebans in the final war against the Herakleopolitans. It’s an important moment in Egyptian history, but the events surrounding this final push for unity are obscure, forcing us to rely on extremely limited evidence, including changes to royal names: you see, each pharaoh, upon his coronation, was given four additional names, among them one called a Horus Name. Normally,
these names remained the same throughout a king’s life, but he could alter them if he so desired, particularly if he wanted to highlight an important event or change in policy. After being crowned king, Montuhotep’s Horus Name was Sankhibtawy, ‘the one who causes the Two Lands to live,’ but
sometime after his fourteenth year he changed it to Netjeryhedjet, ‘Divine one of the White Crown.’ You’d think this would be enough name changes, but by at least his thirty-ninth year as king, he’d changed it once again, this time to Sematawy, ‘Unifier of the Two Lands.’ This has led scholars to argue that Montuhotep’s unification of Egypt occurred sometime before this
date. And with the reunification of Egypt under a single king, the Middle Kingdom began.
Following Egypt’s unification, the king stripped all nomarchs of their
office, but allowed their families to remain in key positions in their home regions. In Asyut, Kheti II’s son Iti-ibi-iqer, unable to inherit the office of nomarch, became an overseer of priests and general. In his tomb, he depicts rows of marching soldiers, including one Nubian. Iti-ibi-iqer was succeeded as overseer of priests by his son Mesehti, owner of the model soldiers of Nubians and Egyptians, discussed earlier. Given that this family, once so hostile to the south, remained in power after unification, we must wonder if they switched allegiance to the Thebans during the final war, allowing their former enemies to pass north unopposed through Asyut to take
Herakleopolis.
Montuhotep II’s Foreign Wars
As we can’t say for sure when exactly Montuhotep II unified Egypt, it’s possible that he was already campaigning beyond Egypt’s borders before
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he seized the north. One of his early targets, seemingly before unification, was Libya: at Gebelein, scenes show Montuhotep (still Netjeryhedjet at this point) clubbing a Libyan chief called Hedjwawesh. Another has him smiting an Egyptian, Nubian, and Asiatic, with a Libyan waiting in turn. And at Dendera, he is described as beating the Libyans, along with the Eastern Lands, Nubians, and Medjay (a Nubian group from the Eastern Desert). He is also shown smiting the symbol of Lower Egypt.
Montuhotep II also sent troops south into C-Group Nubia, initiating the Middle Kingdom domination of this territory. In an inscription from Deir el-Ballas, the king says that he annexed an oasis and the region of Wawat, and decapitated desert dwellers. It’s unclear which oasis he meant, but if Montuhotep had taken Kurkur Oasis, west of Aswan, he would have secured an important desert route into Wawat. A carved scene of Montuhotep at
Wadi Schatt er-Rigal might mark the starting point for this Nubian cam-
paign. Montuhotep II also seems to have married a Nubian woman named
Kemsit, who was buried in a shaft beneath his mortuary temple at Deir
el-Bahri in Thebes. On the sarcophagus of Ashayt, another of his wives, one servant is identified as a Medjay.
Scenes from Montuhotep’s mortuary temple at Thebes, showing an
attack on an Asiatic fortress, probably represents events after unification.
Egyptian soldiers march carrying axes, and use a siege ladder to enter the fortress. Enemies fall, pierced by arrows. A Nubian mercenary, armed with a bow, escorts a captured female prisoner, who carries a child. A similar scene is found in the tomb of the Overseer of Troops Intef, who served
Montuhotep II: soldiers march towards an Asiatic fortress; they carry axes, bows and arrows, shields, and spears. Some archers have placed their quivers on the ground while they shoot their arrows. Others have climbed a siege ladder to the top of the fortress and are attacking their enemies. Asiatics fall to the ground.
An insight into military life under Montuhotep II is provided by a
Nubian soldier named Tjehemau, who left a rock inscription about his
career at Abisko, south of Aswan. Tjehemau enlisted into the Egyptian
army at Buhen (bringing along his son), during a visit by Montuhotep II to Nubia. Just as in the Old Kingdom, Lower Nubia was a major recruit-ing ground for Nubian mercenaries: men who would give the Thebans the
extra fighting power needed to dominate and consolidate their control of the north. Tjehemau says that he attacked and defeated Asiatics in an obscure place called Djaty – perhaps in the Delta – and travelled to the Lake of Sobek in the Faiyum. He also seems to have fought in the region of Irtjet in War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 39
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Nubia, a place that may have bordered the emerging Kingdom of Kerma in
Upper Nubia (discussed in Chapter Five). Afterwards, Tjehemau returned
to Thebes, where the population gathered on the riverbanks to praise him.
The End of the 11th Dynasty
Although Montuhotep II initiated the Middle Kingdom, his family line –
the 11th Dynasty – didn’t last much beyond him. Two further Montuhoteps (III and IV) reigned in succession after his death, making little impact at home or abroad. In fact, the best-known event from this period occurred under Montuhotep IV, and the king isn’t even the star.
In around 2000 BCE, Montuhotep IV sent a procession of Egyptian
workmen, administrators, and soldiers into the Wadi Hammamat in the
Eastern Desert – a region famous for the quality of its stone – to procure a block of stone suitable for the court artisans to carve into a royal sarcophagus. The leader of this 10,000 strong expedition was the Vizier Amenemhat, overseer of everything in the land, who would find himself bearing witness to some rather dramatic ‘miracles’: for one, during the march to the quarry, a pregnant gazelle approached the expedition members and led them to a
particularly lovely piece of stone, where she gave birth – an event that the Egyptians took as a divine sign that this was the stone they’d been searching for. Such was the men’s devotion that they slit the gazelle’s throat and offered her as a burnt offering to the gods. As a second miracle, during a flash flood, the god Min unveiled a secret well, kept pure from the animals and the sight of all previous expeditions.
Dramatic indeed. But not as dramatic as what Amenemhat had planned
next. Not content with being vizier – the second most important man in the land – he set his sights on the only promotion available: the kingship.
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Chapter 4
An Expanding World
(2066–1781 BCE)
The events surrounding Amenemhat’s rise to power are not clearly
known. One moment there’s a king called Montuhotep IV and a
vizier named Amenemhat, the next, there’s a King Amenemhat sit-
ting on the throne as the first ruler of the 12th Dynasty. Although it can’t be proven that both Amenemhats were the same man, it would seem a rather
huge coincidence.
There are, however, a few pieces of evidence that can shed light on
these murky events. A series of inscripti
ons at the calcite quarry at Hatnub, in Middle Egypt, mention infighting among Egyptians. Nehri, the local
nomarch, proclaims that he rescued his city on a day of terror brought
about by the King’s House – seemingly the forces of the 11th Dynasty.
Nehri’s son Kay similarly describes a time of warfare, during which he
recruited and trained men from his home town. His opponent is again said to be the King’s House, aided by people from all directions – Nubians,
easterners (perhaps mercenaries), and people from the Delta. If Kay is to be believed, despite everyone in his known world ganging up against him, he was still the ultimate victor. It’s probable that this family of nomarchs had been caught up in a civil war, and had taken Amenemhat’s side against the 11th Dynasty.
More evidence for internal strife comes from the tomb of Khnumhotep
I, a nomarch buried at Beni Hassan, who served Amenemhat I. What’s
unusual here is that his tomb is decorated with scenes of Egyptians fighting Egyptians, armed with bows and arrows, axes, and shields, while the accompanying text describes the king as leading a military expedition of twenty ships against a rebel in the south, launched in order to expel this enemy from Egypt. One register, though perhaps unrelated to this campaign south, shows an Egyptian leading away Asiatic prisoners: men, women carrying babies on their backs, and livestock. Clearly, Khnumhotep was on Amenemhat’s side in the civil war: the winning side. Finally – and perhaps the most gruesome testament to warfare in the early 12th Dynasty – archaeologists found the skeletal remains of soldiers from Amenemhat I’s army in War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 41
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a cave at Thebes, many still with arrowheads embedded in their skeletons.
Others were killed by falling projectiles, suggesting that they’d taken part in an attack on a fortified city, perhaps Thebes itself.
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