Details of the state of the country come from the 'Prophecy of Neferti', a text said to date from the Old Kingdom which relates how a king 'Ameny' would come to save the country!
Then a king will come from the South,
Ameny, the justified, my name,
Son of a woman of Ta-Seti, child of Upper Egypt,
He will take the white crown, he will join the Two Mighty Ones
(the two crowns)
Asiatics will fall to his sword,
Libyans will fall to his flame,
Rebels to his wrath, traitors to his might,
As the serpent on his brow subdues the rebels for him,
One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler,
To bar Asiatics from entering Egypt . . .
Primary Source:
Egyptologist W.M. Flinders Petrie, famously known as "The Father of Pre-history". Petrie, excavations at Nagada and Ballas in Upper Egypt nearly 100 years ago unearth nearly 2200 ancient graves. He wrote over a thousand books, articles and reviews reporting on his excavations and his finds. Statements by Petrie:
Petrie, W.M.F., The Making of Egypt, London. New York, Sheldon Press; Macmillan, 1939
Page 105:
"Motives of Dynasty III: A breath of life came from the Sudan. The new dynasty was headed by Sa-nekht of Sudany type, and he gave fresh impetus which was later continued by Zoser. Yet there was no new invention, but only a strengthening of the old style, without a different art. The Sudany infusion continued in the upper classes, as seen in the head of Seker-kha-bau."
Page 155:
"The Nubian Mixture: The later Hyksos were obviously decadent, and at last an invasion from the south threw them back northward and established a black queen as the divine ancestress of the 18th dynasty. Thus again a southern people reanimated Egypt, like the Sudani 3rd dynasty and the Galla 12th dynasty."
"The black queen Ahmos-Nefertari had an aquiline nose, long and thin, and was a type not in the least prognathous. Nefertari must have married a Libyan, as she was mother of Amenhetep I, who was a fair Libyan style. This black strain seems to have come through the Tao I and II ancestry; but the whole tangle of the 12th dynasty is complex, and very difficult to bring into a definite scheme, owing to the tombs having all been robbed, and the contents mixed by Arabs more than a century ago. In any case the main sources of the 18th dynasty were Nubian and Libyan, depicted black and yellow, but not red of the Egyptians."
Page 125-126:
"The Galla Penetration. It has long ago been remarked that the black sphinxes, later appropriated by the Hyksos, approximated to the Galla type of Abyssinia."
"This starts an enquiry how the Galla connection could thus appear on monuments. In the clearance and planning of the rock tombs at Qau, Antaeopolis, the peculiar plan of those tombs, with great halls and small chambers annexed, was observed to be closely parallel to that of later Nubian temples. In both tomb and temple the chief work is in the solid rock, while the forecourt is of masonry constructed in front of it. Another peculiarity was the hammer-work excavation of one tomb, which had evidently been done with stone balls, as in the Aswan granite working, and this implies a southern connection."
"Ancestry of Senusert. In the tomb of prince Uah-ka B at Qau, in an inner chamber, is painted a scene of the son of Uah-ka, named Senusert; there is no cartouche. As the Uah-ka family were of about the 4th or 5th dynasty (the name being unknown either in the 11th of the 12th dynasty), this implies that the 12th dynasty Senusert family descended from the Uah-ka family. Here we have, then, a link between the Galla type on the sphinxes and the 12th dynasty. The separate identification of these sphinxes follows further on. The 12th dynasty was undoubtedly descended from Amenemhat, the great vizier of the 11th dynasty. It seems, then, that he married the heiress of the Uah-ka family, as stated in the pseudo-prophecy, "A king shall come from the south whose name is Ameny, son of a Nubian woman." She called her son by the family name Senusert, and he was the founder of the 12th dynasty, according to Manetho. Waka is the god of the Gallas (Ancient Egypt, 1927, 41)."
"The skull form of the Tigre people (south of Adawa) leads to the conclusion that "there is a close relationship between the Tigre skulls and middle dynastic Egyptian types" (Biometrika, xvii, 8, 43)."
"The absence of Uah-ka names in the 12th dynasty prevents dating the Qau tombs later; two subsequent occurrences of the name are therefore due to 12th dynasty offerings at the ancestral tombs."--W.M. Flinders Petrie
Amenemhet I's long reign of 30 years did much to give stability to Egypt which was still feeling the after-effects of the 1st Intermediate which ended almost 70 years earlier. Amenemhet I's son Senusret I was the second king of the 12th Dynasty and ascended to the throne after the murder of his father. Amenemhet I was assassinated in the absence of his son, who was fighting in Libya. It would seem that his son either swiftly left the campaign, or was already heading home at the time of the murder.
Ancient Egypt: 3rd, 12th and 18th Dynasties
3rd Dynasty (2650-2575 B.C.)
Netjerikhet Djoser, 2nd King (2630-2611 B.C.)
He was probably the most famous king during this period. He is also sometimes referred to as Zoser. He ruled for about 19 years.
Netjerikhet Djoser’s foreign policy was one of careful establishment of Egyptian presence in economically important places. He sent several military expeditions to the Sinai, during which the local Bedouins were defeated, and an inscription at Wadi Maghara would indicate that he also had turquoise mined in the region. The Sinai owed its importance to the Egyptian economy for its valuable minerals turquoise and copper. It was also strategically important as a buffer between the Asian Bedouin and the Nile valley.
Djoser is mostly known as the king who commissioned the building of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara and the temple complex surrounding it. This is often recognized as the first monumental building made of stone.
Image: His left hand is open and resting palm down on his left leg. His right arm is held across his chest, with the hand closed. An archaic nemes head cloth partially covers a heavy wig.The black paint on this wig and on the false beard is still visible, as is the brown paint on parts of his face. The nose is somewhat damaged and traces of a black painted moustache are still present.
Imhotep was the royal advisor to King Djoser during the Third Dynasty of Kemet.
Senusret I ruled for 45 years (1956-1911) following his father's death. During his reign, a series of 13 forts were built down to the Second Cataract. Gold mines near Coptos and agricultural goods from the Wadi Hammamat were utilized. Quarries and mines were also exploited throughout Egypt. During his long reign Senusret I led various expeditions to the south and to the oases. He carried out building projects at over three dozen sites around Egypt. Sesostris I took his son, Amenemhet II, as co-regent for the last three years of his reign. His pyramid complex was built at Lisht, about 1 mile south of his father's pyramid.
It was a period of affluence, and a remarkable time for mineral wealth, gold and the fine jewelry produced with this abundance. Jewelry masterpieces have been found, particularly in the tombs of the royal ladies at Dahshur and Lahun, attributable to his reign. Considerable efforts were made to procure amethyst, turquoise, copper and gniess for both jewelry and sculptures. But it was also a time of great stability and development.
18th Dynasty (1539-1295 B.C.)
Tuthmosis III -- 6th King of the 18th Dynasty
(1504-1450 B.C.)
In 1500 B.C. Thutmosis III documents a rebellion of Canaanite Kings who attempt to overthrow Egyptian rule. The confederation of rebels is led by the city state of Megiddo (Armageddon). Pharaoh Thutmosis besieges Megiddo for seven months, then wins the decisive battle of Qinnah Brook (wasdi Lajjun). According to the report of Thutmosis III, the Canaanites are forced to yield 924 chariots and 207,300 kur of wheat to the Egyptians.
Tuthmosis also began immediately to crush a revolt in the northeastern section of his empire, Kadesh, a city-state in Syria, led by the King Saustatar of Mitanni. Pharaoh Tuthmosis III had over a thousand chariots at his disposal. His army also consisted of the Nubian Militia, the greatest tactical innovation, followed by the infantry, which consisted mainly of spearmen.
Ahmose I, Founder of the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt
(1539-1514 B.C.)
Ahmose I married his sister, Ahmos-Nefertari, who became Egypt's first great God's Wife of Amun. His mother had an important public position, despite the generally subordinate position of women in the ancient world.
Ahmose I became Pharaoh of Egypt at a time of crisis: The Hyksos people occupied northern Egypt and their king had declared himself pharaoh. In the south, Nubians threatened the last remnants of the Egyptian dynasties that had once ruled a united Egypt.
In attempting to expel these intruders, Ahmose’s father, Seqenenre Taa I, had paid the ultimate price – he and his army had been brutally slaughtered at the hands of the enemy.
Ahmose’s older brother, Kamose, had been eager to avenge the death of his father and re-unite Egypt. Moreover, the time to fight became of the essence. Kamose’s men had intercepted a message from the Hyksos on its way to the Nubian King inviting the Nubians to make an alliance with the Hyksos and trap the Egyptians in the middle.
Kamose and his army went face to face with their foe and took possession of the first Hyksos town they encountered. But before he could do any more to expel the Hyksos from Egypt, Kamose died. Kamose was the last king of the 17th Dynasty. Ahmose I was to begin the New Kingdom. The Medjay Troops helped Kamose and Ahmose in their fight against the Hyksos in the Delta. These Nubian forces were ferocious hand to hand combatants that fought in the front lines. During the peace that followed the Medjay became the state police. They also served as the main occupational forces for various garrisons and fortresses.
Clayton, Peter A., Chronicle of the Pharaohs (The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt), Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1994
Dodson, Aidan, Monarchs of the Nile, Rubicon Press, 1995
The 12th dynasty was due to the emergence of a ruling family from Nubia -- (Petrie, 1939, p. 176)
Huni, the Last King of Egypt's Third Dynasty
2599-2575 B.C.)
King Huni was the father of King Sneferu of the 4th dynasty. The mother of Sneferu was Meresankh, who was a lesser wife of Huni's. Sneferu married his half sister, Hetepheres I, who was Huni's daughter. She was the mother of Sneferu son, Khufu, who became Egypt's best known pyramid builder, responsible for the Great Pyramid at Giza. Little else is known about Huni's family relationships.
Huni's memory lived on for some time after his death, for the Palermo Stone lists an estate belonging to his cult during the reign of the 5th Dynasty King Neferirkara some 150 years after his death. This is really no surprise, for the achievements of Huni's reign are impressive, and he clearly ushered in the great culture of Egypt's Old Kingdom. The structure of provincial government recorded in the tomb of Metjen probably signals a definitive break from the Early Dynastic past, and set the stage for the absolute central control of manpower and resources needed for the massive pyramid building of the 4th Dynasty.
