Everything about Twelfth Dynasty Of Egypt totally explained
The Eleventh (all of Egypt),
Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth
Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title,
Middle Kingdom.
Rulers
Known rulers, in the
History of Egypt, for the
Twelfth Dynasty are as follows:
The chronology of the Twelfth Dynasty is the most stable of any period before the
New Kingdom.
Manetho stated that it was based in
Thebes, but from contemporary records it's clear that the first king moved its capital to a new city named "Amenemhat-itj-tawy" ("Amenemhat the Siezer of the Two Lands"), more simply called
Itjtawy. The location of Itjtaway hasn't been found, but is thought to be near the
Fayyum, probably near the royal graveyards at
el-Lisht. Egyptologists consider this dynasty to be the apex of the
Middle Kingdom.
The order of its rulers is well known from several sources — two lists recorded at temples in
Abydos and one at
Saqqara, as well as
Manetho's work. Because a recorded date during the reign of
Senusret III can be correlated to the
Sothic cycle, many events during this dynasty are frequently assigned to a year
BC or
BCE.
The pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty are credited with the earliest known construction of a canal running through the
Wadi Tumilat; it would later be renewed under kings
Necho II and
Darius I; (see
Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions).
Amenemhat I and Senusret I
This dynasty was founded by
Amenemhat I, who may had been
vizier to the last
pharaoh of the
Eleventh Dynasty,
Mentuhotep IV. His armies campaigned south as far as the
Second Cataract of the
Nile and into the Near East, and he reestablished diplomatic relations with
Byblos and the rulers in the
Aegean Sea. His son
Senusret I followed his father's triumphs with an expedition south to the
Third Cataract, but the next rulers were content to live in peace and enjoy the trade and tribute brought to them until the reign of Senusret III.
Senusret II
Finding
Nubia had grown restive under the previous rulers, Senusret sent punitive expeditions into that land; he also sent an expedition into the
Levant. These military campaigns gave birth to a legend of a mighty warrior named
Sesostris, a story retold by Manetho,
Herodotus, and
Diodorus Siculus. This conqueror not only subdued the lands as had Senusret III, but also conquered Asia and had crossed over into Europe to annex
Thrace.
Amenemhat III
Senusret's successor
Amenemhat III reaffirmed his predecessor's foreign policy. However, after Amenemhat, the energies of this dynasty were largely spent, and the growing troubles of government were left to the dynasty's last ruler, Queen
Sobekneferu, to resolve. Amenemhat was remembered for the mortuary temple at
Hawara that he built, known to Herodotus, Diodorus, and
Strabo as the "
Labyrinth". Also under his reign the marshy
Fayyum was first exploited.
Ancient Egyptian literature
It is during the Twelfth dynasty that we find the
Ancient Egyptian literature being refined. Perhaps best known from this period is
The Story of Sinuhe, of which several hundred
papyrus copies have been recovered. Also written during this dynasty were a number of
Didactic works, such as the
Instructions of Amenemhat and
The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant.
Pharaohs of the Twelfth through
Eighteenth Dynasty are also credited with preserving for us some of the most remarkable
Egyptian papyri:
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