2180-2060 BC - The First Intermediate Period
With the later part of Dynasty VI the first great chasm in Egyptian history begins, and with no monuments as a guide until the time of Dynasty XI. According to Manetho, Dynasties VII and VIII were of Memphites, and IX and X of Heracleopolites, the Diospolite or Theban line comprising Dynasties XI, XII, and XIII. Whether the dynasties which intervened between the VIth and XIIth were contemporary or successive, and how much time they occupied, cannot be proved. In the Tablet of Abydos, a series of kings unknown from other monuments follows Dynasty VI, and precedes two kings of Dynasty XI. In the Chamber of Kings of El-Karnak other and earlier kings of Dynasty XI are named, with curious indications that it was first but a local line.
It would appear that the Memphite kingdom waned, and that another line arose at Thebes, the house of the Entefs and Mentnhoteps. The power of these kings gradually increased, and at last one of them reunited under a single rule the whole of Egypt. Probably the Heracleopolite line, Dynasties IX, X, was a local house contemporary with the Memphites or Thebans, or both.
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