The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Period of Reunification) is the period in ancient Egypt following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom designates a period of ancient Egyptian civilization stretching from approximately 2030 to 1650 BC. (Dynasty 11 through Dynasty 13). It stretched from the reunification of Egypt under the reign of Mentuhotep II in the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. The kings of the Eleventh Dynasty ruled from Thebes, and the Twelfth Dynasty ruled from el-Lisht.
The concept of the Middle Kingdom as one of the three golden ages was coined in 1845 by German Egyptologist Baron von Bunsen. Its definition evolved significantly throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Some scholars also include the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period, in which case the Middle Kingdom would end around 1650 B. Others only had it until Merneferre Ay, around 1700 BC, the last king of this Dynasty to be attested in Upper and Lower Egypt. During the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in popular religion. The Middle Kingdom was followed by the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt, another period of division that involved the foreign rule of Lower Egypt by the Hyksos of West Asia.
Reunification under the Eleventh Dynasty
After the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt entered a period of weak pharaonic power and decentralization called the First Intermediate Period. Towards the end of this period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology as the Tenth and Eleventh, fought to control the entire country. The Theban Eleventh Dynasty only ruled southern Egypt from the First Cataract to the Tenth Nome of Upper Egypt. Lower Egypt was ruled to the north by the rival Tenth Dynasty from Herakleopolis. The struggle was to be concluded by Mentuhotep II, who ascended the Theban throne in 2055 BC. 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. After toppling the last rulers of the Tenth Dynasty, Mentuhotep began consolidating his power over all of Egypt, a process which he finished by his 39th regnal year. For this reason, Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the Middle Kingdom.
Mentuhotep II commanded petty campaigns south as far as the Second Cataract in Nubia, which had gained 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. To consolidate his authority, he restored the cult of the ruler, depicting himself as a god in his lifetime, wearing the headdresses of Amun and Min. He died after a reign of 51 years and passed the throne to his son, Mentuhotep III.
Mentuhotep III reigned for only twelve years. 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. 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. Mentuhotep III was succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, whose name, significantly, is omitted from all ancient Egyptian king lists. The Turin Papyrus claims that after Mentuhotep III came “seven kingless years”. Despite this absence, his reign is attested by a few inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and quarry stone for the royal monuments. 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.
Mentuhotep IV’s absence from the king lists has prompted the theory that Amenemhet I usurped his throne. While no contemporary accounts of this struggle exist, specific circumstantial evidence may point to a civil war at the end of the 11th Dynasty. 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. What is certain is that he came to power; Amenemhet, I was not of royal birth.
Twelfth Dynasty
From the Twelfth Dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept well-trained standing armies, which included Nubian contingents. These formed the basis of larger forces raised for defence against invasion or expeditions up the Nile or across the Sinai. However, the Middle Kingdom was defensive in its military strategy, with fortifications built at the First Cataract of the Nile, in the Delta and across the Sinai Isthmus.
Early in his reign, Amenemhet I was compelled to campaign in the Delta region, which had not received as much attention as Upper Egypt during the 11th Dynasty. Also, he strengthened defences between Egypt and Asia, building the Walls of the Ruler in the East Delta region. Perhaps in response to this perpetual unrest, Amenemhat I created a new capital for Egypt in the north, known as Amenemhet It Tawy, or Amenemhet, Seizer of the Two Lands. The location of this capital is unknown but is presumably near the city’s cemetery, the present-day el-Lisht. Like Mentuhotep II, Amenemhet bolstered his claim to authority with propaganda. In particular, the Prophecy of Neferty dates to about this time, which purports to be an oracle of an Old Kingdom priest who predicts a king, Amenemhet I, from the far South of Egypt to restore the kingdom after centuries of chaos.
Propaganda notwithstanding, Amenemhet never held the absolute power commanded in theory by the Old Kingdom pharaohs. During the First Intermediate Period, the governors of the nomes of Egypt, nomarchs, gained considerable influence. Their posts had become hereditary, and some nomarchs entered into marriage alliances with the nomarchs of neighbouring nomes. To strengthen his position, Amenemhet required land registration, modified nome borders, and appointed nomarchs directly when offices became vacant but consented to the nomarch system, probably to appease the nomarchs who supported his rule. This gave the Middle Kingdom a more feudal organization than Egypt had or would have afterwards.
In his twentieth regnal year, Amenemhat established his son Senusret I as his coregent, beginning a practice which would be used repeatedly throughout the rest of the Middle Kingdom and again during the New Kingdom. In Amenemhet’s thirtieth regnal year, he was presumably murdered in a palace conspiracy. Senusret, campaigning against Libyan invaders, rushed home to Itjtawy to prevent a government takeover. During his reign, Senusret continued directly appointing nomarchs and undercut the autonomy of local priesthoods by building cult centres throughout Egypt. Under his rule, Egyptian armies pushed south into Nubia as far as the Second Cataract, building a border fort at Buhen and incorporating all of Lower Nubia as an Egyptian colony. Senusret I also exercised control over the land of Kush, from the Second to the Third Cataract, including the island of Sai. The southernmost inscription containing Sesostris I’s name has been found on the island of Argo, north of modern Dongola. To the west, he consolidated his power over the Oases and extended commercial contacts into Syria-Palestine as far as Ugarit. In his 43rd regnal year, Senusret appointed Amenemhet II as junior coregent before dying in his 46th.
Amenemhat II’s reign has often been largely peaceful, but records of his genut, or daybooks, have cast doubt on that assessment. Among these records, preserved on temple walls at Tod and Memphis, are descriptions of peace treaties with certain Syrio-Palestinian cities and military conflicts with others. Amenemhet sent a campaign to the South through lower Nubia to inspect Wawat. It does not appear that Amenemhet continued his predecessors’ policy of appointing nomarchs but let it become hereditary again. Another expedition to Punt dates to his reign. In his 33rd regnal year, he appointed his son Senusret II coregent.
Evidence for military activity of any kind during the reign of Senusret II is non-existent. Senusret appears to have focused on domestic issues, particularly the irrigation of the Faiyum. This multi-generational project aimed to convert the Faiyum oasis into a productive swath of farmland. Senusret eventually placed his pyramid at the site of el-Lahun, near the junction of the Nile and the Fayuum’s central irrigation canal, the Bahr Yussef. He reigned only fifteen years, which explains the incomplete nature of many of his constructions. His son, Senusret III, succeeded him.
Height of the Middle Kingdom
Senusret III was a warrior-king, often taking to the field himself. In his sixth year, he re-dredged an Old Kingdom canal around the First Cataract to facilitate travel to Upper Nubia. He used this to launch a series of brutal campaigns in Nubia in his sixth, eighth, tenth, and sixteenth years.
After his victories, Senusret built a series of massive forts throughout the country to establish the formal boundary between Egyptian conquests and unconquered Nubia at Semna. The personnel of these forts were charged with sending frequent reports to the capital on the movements and activities of the local Medjay natives, some of which survived, revealing how tightly the Egyptians intended to control the southern border. Medjay were not allowed north of the wall by ship, nor could they enter by land with their flocks, but they were permitted to travel to local forts to trade.
After this, Senusret sent one more campaign in his 19th year but turned back due to abnormally low Nile levels, which endangered his ships. To the north, One of Senusret’s soldiers records a campaign into Palestine, perhaps against Shechem, the only reference to a military campaign against a particular location in Palestine from Middle Kingdom literature. However, there are other references to action against Asiatics. It is unknown whether Egypt wished to control Canaan like Northern Nubia. Still, numerous administrative seals of the period have been found there, as well as other indications of increased activity Northward in this period. As in the old kingdom, the contact was firm with Byblos, which is known for its valuable wood.
Domestically, Senusret has been given credit for an administrative reform which put more power in the hands of central government appointees instead of regional authorities. Egypt was divided into three water or administrative divisions: North, South, and Head of the South (perhaps Lower Egypt, most of Upper Egypt, and the nomes of the original Theban kingdom during the war with Herakleopolis, respectively). Each region was administrated by a Reporter, a Second Reporter, some council (the Djadjat), and a staff of minor officials and scribes. The power of the nomarchs seems to have dropped during his reign, indicating that the central government had finally suppressed them, though there is no record that Senusret ever took direct action against them.
Senusret III left a lasting legacy as a warrior pharaoh. Later, Greek historians Hellenized his name as Sesostris, which was then given to a conflation of Senusret and several New Kingdom warrior pharaohs. In Nubia, Senusret was worshipped as a patron God by Egyptian settlers. The duration of his reign remains something of an open question. His son Amenemhet III began reigning after Senusret’s 19th regnal year, widely considered Senusret’s highest attested date. However, a reference to the year 39 on a fragment found in the construction debris of Senusret’s mortuary temple has suggested the possibility of a long coregency with his son.
The reign of Amenemhat III was the height of the Middle Kingdom’s economic prosperity. His dominion is remarkable for the degree to which Egypt exploited its resources. Mining camps in the Sinai, which had previously been used only by intermittent expeditions, were operated semi-permanently, as evidenced by the construction of houses, walls, and even local cemeteries. There are 25 separate references to mining expeditions in the Sinai and four to expeditions in Wadi Hammamat, one of which had over two thousand workers. Amenemhet reinforced his father’s defences in Nubia and continued the Faiyum land reclamation project. After a reign of 45 years, Amenemhet III was succeeded by Amenemhet IV, whose nine-year reign is poorly attested. By this time, dynastic power had weakened, and several explanations have been proposed. Contemporary records of the Nile flood levels indicate that the end of the reign of Amenemhet III was dry, and crop failures may have helped to destabilize the Dynasty.
Further, Amenemhet III had an inordinately long reign, creating succession problems. The latter argument perhaps explains why Amenemhet IV was succeeded by Sobekneferu, the first historically attested female king of Egypt. Sobekneferu ruled no more than four years, and as she had no heirs when she died, the Twelfth Dynasty came to a sudden end, as did the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom.
Decline into the Second Intermediate Period
After the death of Sobeknefru, the throne may have passed to Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep, though in older studies, Wegaf, who had previously been the Great Overseer of Troops, was thought to have reigned next. Beginning with this reign, Egypt was ruled by ephemeral kings for about ten to fifteen years. Ancient Egyptian sources regard these as the first kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, though the term dynasty is misleading, as most kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty were unrelated. The names of these short-lived kings are attested on a few monuments and graffiti, and their succession order is only known from the Turin Canon, although even this is not fully trusted.
After the initial dynastic chaos, a series of longer-reigning, better-attested kings ruled for about fifty to eighty years. The strongest king of this period, Neferhotep I, ruled for eleven years and maintained effective control of Upper Egypt, Nubia, and the Delta, with the possible exceptions of Xois and Avaris. Neferhotep I was even recognized as the suzerain of the ruler of Byblos, indicating that the Thirteenth Dynasty could retain much of the power of the Twelfth Dynasty, at least up to his reign. At some point during the 13th Dynasty, Xois and Avaris began governing themselves, the rulers of Xois being the Fourteenth Dynasty and the Asian rulers of Avaris being the Hyksos of the Fifteenth Dynasty.
According to Manetho, this last revolt occurred during the reign of Neferhotep’s successor, Sobekhotep IV, though there is no archaeological evidence. Sobekhotep IV was succeeded by the short reign of Sobekhotep V, followed by Wahibre Ibiau, then Merneferre Ai. Wahibre Ibiau ruled for ten years, and Merneferre Ai ruled for twenty-three years, the longest of any Thirteenth Dynasty king. However, neither of these kings left as many attestations as Neferhotep of Sobekhotep IV. Despite this, they both seem to have held at least parts of Lower Egypt. After Merneferre Ai, however, no king left his name on any object outside the South. This began the final portion of the Thirteenth Dynasty when southern kings continued to reign over Upper Egypt. But when the unity of Egypt entirely disintegrated, the Middle Kingdom gave way to the Second Intermediate Period.
Administration
When the Eleventh Dynasty reunified Egypt, it had to create a centralized administration that had not existed in Egypt since the downfall of the Old Kingdom government. To do this, it appointed people to positions which had fallen out of use in the decentralized First Intermediate Period. The highest among these was the vizier. The vizier was the chief minister for the king, handling all the day-to-day government business in the king’s place. This was a monumental task; therefore, it would often be split into two positions: a vizier of the North and a vizier of the South. It is uncertain how frequently this occurred during the Middle Kingdom, but Senusret I had two simultaneously functioning viziers. Other positions were inherited from the provincial form of government at Thebes used by the Eleventh Dynasty before the reunification of Egypt. The Overseer of Sealed Goods became the country’s treasurer, and the Overseer of the Estate became the king’s chief steward. These three positions and the Scribe of the Royal Document, probably the king’s scribe, appear to be the most important posts of the central government, judging by the monument count of those in these positions.
Besides this, many Old Kingdom posts which had lost their original meaning and became mere honorifics were brought back into the central government. Only high-ranking officials could claim the Member of the Elite title, which had been applied liberally during the First Intermediate Period.
This basic form of administration continued throughout the Middle Kingdom, though there is some evidence of significant central government reform under Senusret III. Records from his reign indicate that Upper and Lower Egypt were divided into separate waret and governed by different administrators. The governance of the royal residence was moved into an independent government division. The military was placed under the control of a chief general. Administrative documents and private stele show a proliferation of new bureaucratic titles around this time, which have been taken as evidence of a larger central government. However, these titles and positions may have been much older and were not recorded on funerary stele due to religious conventions.
Provincial government
Decentralization during the First Intermediate Period left the individual Egyptian provinces, or Nomes, under the control of powerful families who held the hereditary title of Great Chief of the Nome or Nomarch. 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. At roughly this time, the regional aristocracy began building elaborate tombs for themselves, which have been taken as evidence of the wealth and power these rulers had acquired as nomarchs. By the end of the First Intermediate Period, some nomarchs ruled their nomes as minor potentates, such as the nomarch Nehry of Hermopolis. They dated inscriptions by his regnal year.
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 significant steps towards that end took place under Amenemhet I. Amenemhet made the city, not the nome, the centre of administration, and only the haty-a, or mayor, of the larger cities, would be permitted to carry the title of a nomarch. The title of nomarch continued to be used until the reign of Senusret III, as did the elaborate tombs indicative of their power, after which they suddenly disappeared.
This has been interpreted in several ways. It has been believed that Senusret III took some action to suppress the nomarch families during his reign. 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. 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 had the title of Overseer of Priests. In the late Middle Kingdom, families carried the titles of mayor and Overseer of priests as hereditary possessions. Therefore, it has been argued that the great nomarch families were never subdued but absorbed into the country’s pharaonic administration. While it is true that the large tombs indicative of nomarchs disappeared at the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, grand royal tombs also disappeared soon after that due to general instability surrounding the decline of the Middle Kingdom.
Agriculture and climate
Due to the end of the civil war between Theban and Herakleopolis rulers, political stability contributes significantly to Egypt’s economic revitalization, especially agriculture, the mainstay of ancient Egypt’s economy.
The Nile River’s annual inundation was relied upon throughout ancient Egypt to fertilize the surrounding land. This was essential for agriculture and food production. There is evidence that the collapse of the previous Old Kingdom may have been partly due to low flood levels, resulting in famine. This trend appears to have been reversed during the early years of the Middle Kingdom, with relatively high water levels recorded for much of this era, with an average inundation of 19 meters above its non-flood levels. The years of repeated high inundation levels correspond to the most prosperous period of the Middle Kingdom, which occurred during the reign of Amenemhat III. This seems to be confirmed in some of the period’s literature, such as in the Instructions of Amenemhat, where the king tells his son how agriculture prospered under his reign.
The Middle Kingdom pharaohs were also well aware of the Nile’s influence on Egypt’s agriculture and paid great attention to irrigation projects. The irrigation system was significantly rebuilt and expanded during the reign of Amenemhat III, and Diodorus Siculus claimed that the Nile Delta was extensively divided by drainage canals. The Nilometers were also deployed to measure the Nile water level; marks of the river’s level were discovered on a cliff near the second cataract, and some documents from the 12th or 13th Dynasty were found nearby. Moreover, since the previous Herakleopolis dynasties, Faiyum Oasis had also been renovated into a water reserve to regulate Nile water flow. During the 12th Dynasty, it was connected to the Nile by a 19km long channel. Agricultural growth also benefited from introducing bronze tools- thanks to tin imports from the Levant. Bronze tools were found on archaeological sites at Kahun and Sackara.
Animal husbandry also witnessed the development and enjoyed government attention. A specialist was appointed to oversee all national cattle, and a specialized department was created to record the data on horned cattle. Another specialist also managed cattle belonging to the royal family. A contemporary literature text described a huge cattle herd owned by a local noble and his boastful claims of being able to satisfy the state demand whenever required.
Commerce, building projects, and craftsmanship
Together with agriculture, Egypt’s commerce and craftmanship saw revitalization and development. Egypt began to have a significant mutual trade relationship with other regional states, including the Levant, Babylon, and Aegean countries. Egyptian artworks and ivory were found near Jerusalem, and pottery with the engraved names of Amenemhat III and IV was found near Byblos. Handcrafted goods and imported jewellery from Babylon were also found in Egypt’s temple of Thoth, in a chest with the names of Amenemhat III and IV engraved. Contemporary Cretan pottery was seen in Egypt, and an Egyptian bead string of 12-13th dynasties was found in Crete. Middle Kingdom rulers also improved and expanded an extensive network of roads and transport waterways to increase control of occupied and conquered lands, facilitating trade and commerce growth.
Art
After the reunification of Egypt in the Middle Kingdom, the kings of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties could turn their focus back to art. In the Eleventh Dynasty, the kings had their monuments made in a style influenced by the Memphite models of the Fifth and early Sixth Dynasties. During this time, the pre-unification Theban relief style all but disappeared. These changes had an ideological purpose, as the Eleventh Dynasty kings established a centralized state after the First Intermediate Period and returned to the Old Kingdom’s political ideals. In the early Twelfth Dynasty, the artwork had a uniformity of style due to the influence of the royal workshops. At this point, the quality of artistic production for the elite members of society reached a high point that was never surpassed, although it was equalled in other periods. Egypt prospered in the late Twelfth Dynasty, reflected in the quality of the materials used for royal and private monuments.
The kings of the Twelfth Dynasty were buried in pyramid complexes based on those of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. In the Old Kingdom, these were made of stone bricks, but the Middle Kingdom kings chose to have theirs made of mud bricks and finished with a casing of Tura limestone. Private tombs, such as those found in Thebes, usually consisted of a long passage cut into the rock, with a small chamber at the end. These tended to have little or no decoration. Stone box sarcophagi with flat and vaulted lids were manufactured in the Middle Kingdom to continue the Old Kingdom tradition. These motifs were more varied and of higher artistic quality than any sarcophagi produced before and after the Middle Kingdom. Additionally, funerary stelae developed regarding images and iconography. They continued to show the deceased seated in front of a table of offerings and began to include the deceased’s wife and other family members.
Towards the end of the Middle Kingdom, there was a change to the art pieces placed in non-royal tombs. The number of wooden tomb models decreased drastically, and small faience food models replaced them. Magic wands and rods, models of protective animals, and fertility figures began to be buried with the dead. Additionally, statues and funerary stelae increased, but their quality decreased. In the late Twelfth Dynasty, coffins with interior decorations became rare, and the decorations on the outside became more elaborate. The rishi-coffin made its first appearance during this time. Made of wood or cartonnage, the coffin was shaped like a body wrapped in linen, wearing a beaded collar and a funerary mask.
There were also changes to the art form of stelae in the Middle Kingdom. During this time, round-topped stelae developed from the rectangular shape of previous periods. Many examples of both types come from this period; excavation at Abydos yielded over 2000 private stelae, ranging from excellent works to crude objects, although very few belonged to the elite. Additionally, classic royal commemorative stelae were first found in this period. These took the form of round-topped stelae and were used to mark boundaries. For example, Senusret III used them to keep the border between Egypt and Nubia. Because of the prosperity of this period, the lower elite could commission statues and stelae for themselves, although these were of poorer artistic quality. Those who commissioned non-royal stelae had the ultimate goal of eternal existence. This goal was communicated with the specific placement of information on the stone slabs similar to royal stelae (the owner’s image, offering formula, inscriptions of names, lineage and titles).
Statuary
In the first half of the Twelfth Dynasty, proportions of the human figure returned to the traditional Memphite style of the Fifth and early Sixth Dynasties. Male figures had broad shoulders, a low small of the back, and thick muscular limbs. Females had slender figures, smaller backs, and no muscle. In this period, sketches for the production of statues and reliefs were laid out on a squared grid, a new guide system. Since this system contained a more significant number of lines, it allowed more body parts to be marked. Standing figures were composed of eighteen squares from the feet to the hairline. Seated figures were made of fourteen squares between their feet and hairline, accounting for the horizontal thigh and knee. The black granite seated statue of King Amenemhat III to the right above is a perfect example of male proportions and the squared grid system of this period. Most royal statues like this one would represent the king’s power.
The quality of Egyptian sculpture reached its peak in the Middle Kingdom. Royal statues combined elegance and strength in a manner seldom seen after this period. A popular form of carving during this time was that of the sphinx. During this period, sphinxes appeared in pairs and were recumbent, with human faces, a lion’s mane, and ears. An example would be the diorite sphinx of Senusret III.
One of the innovations in sculpture that occurred during the Middle Kingdom was the block statue, which would continue to be popular throughout the Ptolemaic Kingdom almost 2,000 years later. Block statues consist of a man squatting with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms folded on his knees. Often, these men wear a “wide cloak” that reduces the figure’s body to a simple block-like shape. The garment’s surface or “wide cloak” allowed space for inscriptions. Most of the detail is reserved for the head of the individual being depicted. In some instances, the sculptor has retained the model of the limbs. There are two basic types of block statues: ones with the feet completely covered by the cloak and ones with the feet uncovered.
This statue to the right represents a woman from the top echelon of society and demonstrates characteristics of Middle Kingdom art. The heavy tripartite wig frames the broad face and passes behind the ears, thus giving the impression of forcing them forward. They are large in keeping with the ancient Egyptian ideal of beauty; the same ideal required small breasts, and also, in this respect, the sculpture is no exception. Whereas the natural curve of the eyebrows dips towards the root of the nose, the artificial eyebrows in low relief are straight above the inner corners of the eyes, placing the bust early in the Twelfth Dynasty. Around 1900 BC, these artificial eyebrows began to follow the natural curve and dip toward the nose.
In the later Twelfth Dynasty, the proportions of the human figure changed. Male figures had smaller heads than the rest of the body, narrow shoulders and waists, a high small of the back, and no muscled limbs. Female figures had these proportions more extreme with narrower shoulders and waists, slender limbs and a higher small of the back to distinguish between male and female measurements. These changes survived through the Thirteenth to Seventeenth Dynasties.
Literature
Richard B. Parkinson and Ludwig D. Morenz write that ancient Egyptian literature—narrowly defined as belles-lettres (“beautiful writing”)—was not recorded in written form until the early Twelfth Dynasty. Old Kingdom texts served mainly to maintain the divine cults, preserve souls in the afterlife, and document accounts for practical uses in daily life. It was not until the Middle Kingdom that texts were written for entertainment and intellectual curiosity. Parkinson and Morenz also speculate that written works of the Middle Kingdom were transcriptions of the oral literature of the Old Kingdom. It is known that some oral poetry was preserved in later writing; for example, litter-bearers’ songs were held as written verses in tomb inscriptions of the Old Kingdom.
Later, ancient Egyptians considered the literature from this time “classic”. It is also thought that the growth of the middle class and the number of scribes needed for the expanded bureaucracy under Senusret II helped spur the development of Middle Kingdom literature. Stories such as The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor and the Story of Sinuhe were composed during this period and were popular enough to be widely copied afterwards. Many philosophical works were also created at this time, including The Dispute between a Man and his Ba, where an unhappy man converses with his soul, The Satire of the Trades, in which the role of the scribe is praised above all other jobs, and the magic tales supposedly told the Old Kingdom pharaoh, Khufu, in the Westcar Papyrus.
Pharaohs of the Twelfth through Eighteenth Dynasty are credited with preserving some of the most interesting Egyptian papyri:
- 1950 BC: Akhmim Wooden Tablet
- 1950 BC: Heqanakht papyri
- 1800 BC: Berlin papyrus 6619
- 1800 BC: Moscow Mathematical Papyrus
- 1650 BC: Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
- 1600 BC: Edwin Smith’s papyrus
- 1550 BC: Ebers papyrus
