• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Dynasty XI

In many traditional chronologies, Theban Dynasty XI is included in the Middle Kingdom, not the First Intermediate Period. However, in recent times this notion has been revised among certain Egyptologists. The dynasty existed about 143 years, of which 99 years were spent in a state of civil war with the kingdom divided and only 44 years with the kindom united in relative peace. Importantly, those final 44 years were a period of political consolidation and nation-building, which only came to fruition at the beginning of Dynasty XII. It is unjustifiable then to consider Dynasty XI as the start of the Middle Kingdom.

Inyotef I
(Sehertawy)
2074-2064 B.C.
Inyotef I was the founder of the 11th Dynasty. He took Thebes as the Capital of Egypt and ruled it from 2074 till 2064 BC. He was the son of Montuhotep I, the "elder". The king took over a divided Egypt and tried to reunite the north and the south under his power.

Herakleopolitans ruled Northern Egypt during the period of the 9th and 10th Dynasties’ kings. Inyotef was buried in Thebes in the mortuary complex that he built. His royal successors honored his mortuary complex and did not modify it.

Inyotef II
(Wahankh)
2064-2015 B.C.
Inyotef II was the second king of the 11th Dynasty. The king ruled Egypt from 2064 till 2015 B.C. and took Thebes as the capital during his reign. He was the younger brother of Inyotef I. The king led an army against his Herakloplitan allies in Assyout.

His enemies ruined the city of Thinis and desecrated its tombs. Inyotef captured the entire nome but did not continue to fight the Heraklopolitans. He decided to trade with them and maintain the integrity of the Southern Kingdom without further wars. Inyotef II’s wife was Queen Neferukayet. He was listed in the Westcar Papyrus and was inscribed on a mortuary stela.

Inyotef III
(Nakhtnebtepnefer)
2015-2007 B.C.
Inyotef was the third king of the 11th Dynasty. He ruled Ancient Egypt from 2015 till 2007 BC. As any 11th Dynasty king, he took Thebes as the capital for his throne. Inyotef kept all the regions that his Theban predecessors left for him to rule.

He defended the city of Abydos from many Herakleopolitan assaults. Inyotef’s name is inscribed in the mountains of Silsileh. Queen Aoh was his main wife and the mother of his heir Montuhotep II. Inyotef’s daughter Neferu married his heir. The king had a second queen in his reign called Henite.

Montuhotep II
(Nebheptre)
2007-1956 B.C.
Montuhotep II was not only the fourth king of the 11th Dynasty but also the first king of the Middle Kingdom. Montuhotep took the city of Herakleopolis which was the capital of the kings of the rival 10th Dynasty.

This victory established the rule of the land from Thebes. He fought against the Libyans in the Delta and the Asiatics in the Sinai. He built his mortuary complex at Deir el Bahri where he and his wives and members of his court were buried. The sarcophagi contained important information about the Egyptian language at the close of the First Intermediate Period.

Also discovered at Deir el Bahri were the bodies of 60 soldiers, all having died of battle wounds. They wore shrouds marked with cartouches and seals of Montuhotep II.

Montuhotep III
(Sankhkare)
1956-1944 B.C.
The fifth king of the 11th Dynasty was the son of Montuhotep II and Queen Tem. His preference was for the arts and rebuilding. He also opened trade with the Red Sea region and was involved in the Wadi Hammamat quarrying operations. He built a shrine to the god Thoth near Deir el Bahri. His mortuary temple was never finished.

Montuhotep IV
(Nebtawyre)
1944-1937 B.C.
The sixth king of the 11th Dynasty was the son of Montuhotep III and Queen Imi. Following in his father’s footsteps, Montuhotep carried on with mining and quarrying.

He had an immense sarcophagus lid quarried in Wadi Hammamat which was later sailed down the Nile to the tomb site. Montuhotep founded the harbor town of Kuser on the Red Sea. The Egyptians, preparing for a journey to Punt, needed a harbor town the ship building. Many of these projects were conducted by Montuhotep’s’s successor, Amenemhet.