Editing Middle Kingdom of Egypt (section)

===Provincial government===
[[File:House MK.jpg|thumb|right|Clay model of a Middle Kingdom house. [[Musée du Louvre]].]]
Decentralization during the First Intermediate Period left the individual Egyptian provinces, or [[Nome (Egypt)|Nomes]], under the control of powerful families who held the hereditary title of ''Great Chief of the Nome'', or [[Nomarch]].<ref name="Trigger 108">[[#Trigger1983|Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, and Lloyd. (1983)]] p. 108</ref> This position developed during the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, when the various powers of Old Kingdom provincial officials began to be exercised by a single individual.<ref name="Trigger 108"/> At roughly this time, the provincial aristocracy began building elaborate tombs for themselves, which have been taken as evidence of the wealth and power that these rulers had acquired as nomarchs.<ref name="Trigger 108"/> By the end of the First Intermediate Period, some nomarchs ruled their nomes as minor potentates, such as the nomarch Nehry of Hermopolis, who dated inscriptions by his own regnal year.<ref name="Shaw 174"/>

[[File:Mesehtisoldiers.JPG|thumb|Wooden figures found in the tomb of 11th dynasty provincial governor [[Mesehti]]: Egyptian army of the [[11th Dynasty]]]]

When the Eleventh Dynasty came to power, it was necessary to subdue the power of the nomarchs if Egypt were to be reunified under a central government. The first major steps towards that end took place under Amenemhet I. Amenemhet made the city, not the nome, the center of administration, and only the ''[[haty-a]]'', or mayor, of the larger cities, would be permitted to carry the title of nomarch.<ref name="Shaw 175"/> The title of nomarch continued to be used until the reign of Senusret III,<ref name="Shaw 175"/> as did the elaborate tombs indicative of their power, after which they suddenly disappeared.<ref name="Trigger 112">[[#Trigger1983|Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, and Lloyd. (1983)]] p. 112</ref> This has been interpreted several ways. Traditionally, it has been believed that Senusret III took some action to suppress the nomarch families during his reign.<ref name="Grimal 167">[[#Grimal1988|Grimal. (1988)]] p. 167</ref> Recently, other interpretations have been proposed. Detlef Franke has argued that Senusret II adopted a policy of educating the sons of nomarchs in the capital and appointing them to government posts. In this way, many provincial families may have been bled dry of scions.<ref name="Shaw 175"/> Also, while the title of ''Great Overlord of the Nome'' disappeared, other distinctive titles of the nomarchs remained. During the First Intermediate Period, individuals holding the title of ''Great Overlord'' also often held the title of ''Overseer of Priests.''<ref name="Trigger 109">[[#Trigger1983|Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, and Lloyd. (1983)]] p. 109</ref> In the late Middle Kingdom, there existed families holding the titles of mayor and overseer of priests as hereditary possessions.<ref name="Trigger 112"/> Therefore, it has been argued that the great nomarch families were never subdued, but were simply absorbed into the pharaonic administration of the country.<ref name="Trigger 112"/> While it is true that the large tombs indicative of nomarchs disappeared at the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, grand royal tombs also ceased being built soon thereafter due to general instability surrounding the decline of the Middle Kingdom.<ref name="Trigger 112"/>