The Middle

Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom is the period in the history
of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the
Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty,
between 2050 BC and 1652 BC.
 Rise of the Middle Kingdom
During the First Intermediate Period, Egypt was divided and in political chaos. The
Tenth Dynasty ruled northern Egypt, while the Eleventh Dynasty ruled the south.

Around 2000 BC, a powerful leader named Mentuhotep II became king

of southern Egypt. He launched an attack on the north and eventually
reunited Egypt under one rule.
Fall of the Middle Kingdom
It was during the Thirteenth Dynasty that the pharaoh's control of Egypt began to weaken.
Eventually, a group of kings in northern Egypt, called the Fourteenth Dynasty, split from
southern Egypt. As the country fell into disarray and by the invasion of Hyksos , the Middle
Kingdom collapsed and the Second Intermediate Period began.
Map & Geography

The Greek historian Herodotus

called Egypt the "gift of the
Nile", since the kingdom owed
its survival to the annual
flooding of the Nile and the
resulting depositing of fertile
silt. The Nile River flows into
the Mediterranean Sea, and
there is a delta at the mouth.
 Four Division of Geography

Lower, or northern,
The 'Red lands' was a barren Egypt is the delta.
desert that protected Egypt on
two sides and a source for
precious metals and
semi-precious stones.

The 'Black Lands' was the

Upper, or southern, Egypt, extended
from Memphis in the north to Abu
(Elephantine) in the south.Upper Egypt
is a narrow river valley, with steep
cliffs rising on either side.
fertile land on the banks of the
Nile.This was the only land in
ancient Egypt that could be
farmed because a layer of rich,
black silt was deposited there
every year after the inundation
of the Nile.
Inventions
● Police of ancient Egypt - to guarding strategic and high-value sites,
these ancient Medjay ‘cops’ were also tasked with keeping order in
their respective zones and protecting trade caravans.
● Wooden lock with pins - dating from circa 2000 BC for only open for
the right key
● Shaduf - a tool to lift water from a water way to land
● Hoe - used for gardening
 Government and law
The comfort and high standard of living of the Middle Kingdom declined as
regional governors again assumed more power, priests amassed more
wealth, and the central government became increasingly ineffective. In the
far north of Egypt, at Avaris, a Semitic people had settled around a trading
center and, during the 13th Dynasty, these people grew in power until they
were able to assert their own autonomy and then expand their control of
the region. The first pharaoh of middle kingdom is Mentuhotep II
 Capital
Thebes
Thebes became the capital of Egypt that rule by Mentuhotep
II. Thebes was an important political and religious city. It
housed several major temples including the Temple of Luxor
and the Temple of Karnak. Mentuhotep II built his tomb and
mortuary complex near the city of Thebes.

Itjtawy
It is the as yet unidentified location of the royal city founded
by Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian King Amenemhat I, who ruled
from about 1991 BC to 1962 BC, during year 20 of his reign.
Writing
The old Egyptians called
their writing "medou
netcher".
It is the formal writing system used in Ancient
Nowadays, Ancient Egyptian Egypt. It combined logographic, syllabic and
writing is known as alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000
hieroglyphics distinct characters
Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus

carved in stone on
tomb and temple walls

used to
decorate
many
objects of
cultic and Hieroglyphs were used for writing old and middle Egyptian, but
daily life although middle Egyptian was no more talken about 1600 B.C., the
use. writing of hieroglyphic inscriptions went on up to the end of the
history of Ancient Egypt.
Specialized jobs
Main jobs in ancient Egypt:
● Farmers - They grew barley to make bear, wheat for bread, vegetables such as onions and cucumbers, and
flax to make into linen.
● Craftspeople - carpenters, weavers, jewelers, leather workers, and potters.
● Soldiers - Becoming a soldier was an opportunity for a person to rise in society. Most of the soldiers were
footmen. There was a well defined hierarchy in the Egyptian army. In peacetime, soldiers would help with
government projects such as moving stone for a pyramid or digging a canal.
● Scribes - Scribes were important people in Ancient Egypt as they were the only people who knew how to read
and write.
● Priests and Priestesses - were responsible for the temples and held religious ceremonies.
Social classes
 The Pharaoh was believed to be a God on earth and Priests were responsible for keeping the
had the most power. He was responsible for making Gods happy. They spent their time
laws and keeping order, ensuring that Egypt was not performing rituals and ceremonies to the
attacked or invaded by enemies God of their temple.

Scribes were the only people who could read

and write and were responsible for keeping
records.

The Vizier was the Pharaoh’s chief advisor

and was sometimes also the High Priest. Soldiers were responsible for the defence of
the country.

Craftsmen were skilled workers such as –

pottery makers, leatherworkers, sculptors,
painters.

Nobles ruled the regions of Egypt. They

were responsible for making local laws and Farmers
keeping order in their region.
There were no slave markets or auctions in
Ancient Egypt. Slaves were usually
prisoners captured in war.
Public work
The public works of ancient egypt include roads, canals, and pyramids. Egyptian use
roads for trade and transportation. In that time, the only way of transportation was
walking and riding donkeys. They use canals for farming, and also use canals to help
with transportation too. They use pyramids for honor and worship their gods. To built
pyramids they usually required many workers and most of the workers were slaves.
Religion
Egypt religion are polytheistic and rituals. Egypt believe in many
gods, for example Osiris (the god of the necropolises) he
symbolized death, resurrection, and the cycle of Nile floods that
Egypt relied on for agricultural fertility. The centered of the
egyptian was pharaoh(the ruler of egypt), who was intermediary
between gods and egyptian.
 Art and architecture
Pyramids are still the most important royal funerary buildings. At the beginning of the Twelfth
Dynasty they were still built in stone, but under Senusret II the material for pyramid cores was
mud brick. A few temples in that period have been excavated. In the Middle Kingdom limestone is
the main building material for many temples. Mud is still an important material.The most
impressive surviving examples of non-royal funerary architecture are the rock cut tombs of local
governors in Middle Egypt.
‫ﺷﻛرا‬
(šukran)
Thank You