Editing Middle Kingdom of Egypt (section)

===Reunification under the Eleventh Dynasty===
{{further|Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt}}
[[File:MentuhotepII.jpg|thumb|left|400px|A painted relief depicting pharaoh [[Mentuhotep II]], from his mortuary temple at [[Deir el-Bahari]]]]
[[File: Mentuhotep Seated edit.jpg|thumb|left|150px|An [[Osiris|Osiride]] statue of the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, Mentuhotep II]]
After the collapse of the [[Old Kingdom]], Egypt entered a period of weak pharaonic power and decentralization called the [[First Intermediate Period]].<ref name=" Grimal 156">[[#Grimal1988|Grimal. (1988)]] p. 156</ref> Towards the end of this period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology as the Tenth and Eleventh, fought for control of the entire country. The Theban Eleventh Dynasty only ruled southern Egypt from the [[Cataracts of the Nile|First Cataract]] to the Tenth Nome of Upper Egypt. To the north, Lower Egypt was ruled by the rival [[Tenth Dynasty of Egypt|Tenth Dynasty]] from [[Heracleopolis Magna|Herakleopolis]].<ref name="Grimal 155">[[#Grimal1988|Grimal. (1988)]] p. 155</ref> The struggle was to be concluded by [[Mentuhotep II]], who ascended the Theban throne in 2055 BC.<ref name=" Shaw 149">[[#Shaw2000|Shaw. (2000)]] p. 149</ref> During Mentuhotep II's fourteenth regnal year, he took advantage of a revolt in the Thinite Nome to launch an attack on Herakleopolis, which met little resistance.<ref name="Grimal 155"/> After toppling the last rulers of the Tenth Dynasty, Mentuhotep began consolidating his power over all of Egypt, a process that he finished by his 39th regnal year.<ref name="Grimal 156"/> For this reason, Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the Middle Kingdom.<ref name="Habachi 16-52">[[#Habachi1963|Habachi. (1963)]] pp. 16–52</ref>

Mentuhotep II commanded petty campaigns as far south as the Second Cataract in [[Nubia]], which had gained its independence during the [[First Intermediate Period]]. He also restored Egyptian hegemony over the Sinai region, which had been lost to Egypt since the end of the Old Kingdom.<ref name=" Grimal 157">[[#Grimal1988|Grimal. (1988)]] p. 157</ref> To consolidate his authority, he restored the cult of the ruler, depicting himself as a god in his own lifetime, wearing the headdresses of [[Amun]] and [[Min (god)|Min]].<ref name="Shaw 151">[[#Shaw2000|Shaw. (2000)]] p. 151</ref> He died after a reign of 51 years and passed the throne to his son, [[Mentuhotep III]].<ref name=" Grimal 157"/>

Mentuhotep III reigned for only twelve years, during which he continued consolidating Theban rule over the whole of Egypt, building a series of forts in the eastern Delta region to secure Egypt against threats from Asia.<ref name=" Grimal 157"/> He also sent the first expedition to Punt during the Middle Kingdom, using ships constructed at the end of Wadi Hammamat, on the Red Sea.<ref name=" Shaw 156">[[#Shaw2000|Shaw. (2000)]] p. 156</ref> Mentuhotep III was succeeded by [[Mentuhotep IV]], whose name, significantly, is omitted from all ancient Egyptian king lists.<ref name="Redford 71">[[#Redford1992|Redford. (1992)]] p. 71.</ref> The [[Turin King List]] claims that after Mentuhotep III came "seven kingless years".<ref name="Gardiner 124">[[#Gardiner1964|Gardiner. (1964)]] p. 124.</ref> Despite this absence, his reign is attested from a few inscriptions in [[Wadi Hammamat]] that record expeditions to the [[Red Sea]] coast and to quarry stone for the royal monuments.<ref name=" Redford 71"/> The leader of this expedition was his vizier Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future pharaoh [[Amenemhet I]], the first king of the [[Twelfth dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth Dynasty]].<ref name=" Redford 72">[[#Redford1992|Redford. (1992)]] p. 72.</ref><ref name="Gardiner 125">[[#Gardiner1964|Gardiner. (1964)]] p. 125.</ref>

Mentuhotep IV's absence from the king lists has prompted the theory that Amenemhet I usurped his throne.<ref name=" Gardiner 125"/> While there are no contemporary accounts of this struggle, certain circumstantial evidence may point to the existence of a civil war at the end of the 11th Dynasty.<ref name=" Redford 71"/> Inscriptions left by one Nehry, the [[Haty-a]] of [[Hermopolis]], suggest that he was attacked at a place called Shedyet-sha by the forces of the reigning king, but his forces prevailed. [[Khnumhotep I]], an official under Amenemhet I, claims to have participated in a flotilla of twenty ships sent to pacify Upper Egypt. [[Donald Redford]] has suggested these events should be interpreted as evidence of open war between two dynastic claimants.<ref name=" Redford 74">[[#Redford1992|Redford. (1992)]] p.74</ref> What is certain is that, however he came to power, Amenemhet I was not of royal birth.<ref name="Gardiner 125"/>