The Middle Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Era of Reunification), one of the important Ancient Egyptian periods, was a period in Egyptian history that followed the First Intermediate Period of the political split. The Middle Kingdom lasted from 2040 to 1782 BC, from Egypt's reunification under Mentuhotep II in the Eleventh Dynasty until the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. Eleventh Dynasty rulers reigned from Thebes, whereas Twelfth Dynasty kings ruled from el-Lisht.
The Middle Kingdom's kings restored the country's stability and prosperity, sparking a revival of art, literature, and enormous construction projects. The kings of the Twelfth Dynasty launched an ambitious land reclamation and irrigation program from Itjtawy in order to boost agricultural productivity in the region. Furthermore, the military reclaimed territory in Nubia rich in quarries and gold mines, while workmen constructed the "Walls of the Ruler" in the Eastern Delta to defend against foreign attack.
The nation's population, arts, and religion flourished once the monarchs secured the country militarily and politically, and with immense agricultural and mineral wealth at their disposal. In contrast to the elitist attitudes toward the gods in the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom saw an upsurge in demonstrations of personal piety. Themes and characters in Middle Kingdom literature were complex, and they were expressed in a confident, eloquent style. Relief and portrait sculpture of the time captured subtle, distinctive features that achieved unprecedented technical heights.
Amenemhat III, the Middle Kingdom's final great ruler, permitted Semitic-speaking Canaanite settlers from the Near East to settle in the Delta region to provide a sufficient labor force for his particularly vigorous mining and building activities. However, his ambitious building and mining projects, along with severe Nile floods later in his reign, strained the economy and prompted the steady fall into the Second Intermediate Period during the later Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties.
Period: 2040-1782 BC
