First Intermediate Period of Egypt | |||||||||
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c. 2181 BC–c. 2055 BC | |||||||||
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Capital |
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Common languages | Ancient Egyptian | ||||||||
Religion | Ancient Egyptian religion | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Pharaoh | |||||||||
• c. 2181 BC | Menkare (first) | ||||||||
• c. 2069 BC – c. 2061 BC | Intef III (last; Theban) Merykare (last; Herakleopolitan) | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Began | c. 2181 BC | ||||||||
• Ended | c. 2055 BC | ||||||||
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Today part of | Egypt |
History of Egypt |
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Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt |
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All years are BC |
The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history,[1] spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom.[2] It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious by Egyptologists), Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and part of the Eleventh Dynasties. The concept of a "First Intermediate Period" was coined in 1926 by Egyptologists Georg Steindorff and Henri Frankfort.[3]
Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the beginning of the era. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time in which rule of Egypt was roughly equally divided between two competing power bases. One of the bases was at Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt, a city just south of the Faiyum region, and the other was at Thebes, in Upper Egypt.[4] It is believed that during that time, temples were pillaged and violated, artwork was vandalized, and the statues of kings were broken or destroyed as a result of the postulated political chaos.[5] The two kingdoms would eventually come into conflict, which would lead to the conquest of the north by the Theban kings and to the reunification of Egypt under a single ruler, Mentuhotep II, during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty. This event marked the beginning of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.