Egypt - Middle Kingdom

  General Description   After a phase of decentralized state power during the Period of the Regions (or First Intermediate Period), Egypt became unified once again during the Middle Kingdom (Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, 2016‒1700 BCE), experiencing a ’golden age’. ^[1] Achievements in art, architecture, writing and religion ‒ coupled with a growing ’middle class’ and the increased importance of scribes ‒ reached their peak during this period, particularly under Amenemhat III (r. 1831‒1786 BCE). ^[2]
Population and political organization
The Middle Kingdom king ruled via royal decree, ^[3] but he and his officials were responsive to petitions from the people. We lack detailed information about the royal palace, although Stephen Quirke suggests that the terms k3p and hnty might refer to an inner and outer palace respectively. ^[4] The first Middle Kingdom capital was at Thebes in Upper Egypt, but was moved during the Twelfth Dynasty to El-Lisht at the neck of the Delta in Lower Egypt. From this new location, the monarchy exerted more centralized control over the country and expanded the bureaucratic system. ^[5] Administrative reforms under Senusret III (r. 1878-1839 BCE) resulted in the reorganization of the provinces around 1860 BCE: ’the old system of hereditary nomarchs was destroyed and replaced by a bureaucratic machinery, the operators of which owed their allegiance to the king’. ^{[3] [6]} For the first time since the Classic Old Kingdom, the central state had become powerful enough to directly command all the regions of Egypt.
During the Middle Kingdom, the nome (province) of the Old Kingdom was replaced by a ’city district’ centred on an urban complex and headed by a hat-ya (’mayor’). ^[7] The mayors received orders from the central government, specifically the vizier, and were responsible for tax collection and supervising the royal domains. ^[7] Thebes was the administrative centre for southern Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia. ^[8] The army was professional in the Middle Kingdom. ^[9] The king remained a divine ruler, legitimated as the guarantor and preserver of maat, the principle of harmony and cosmic order. ^{[10] [11]}
Amenemhat III laid the foundations for a much larger Egyptian population (in his time, the country still had under two million inhabitants). ^[12] Using giant waterwheels and a canal from the Faiyum to the Nile, the Egyptians managed to improve irrigation in this fertile region and control flooding: a measure of sophisticated technology, strong central control, and a good deal of foresight. Another indication of the sophistication of Middle Kingdom technology is that the scribe responsible for the famed Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, dating to the Second Intermediate Period, noted that the work was copied from a Middle Kingdom original. ^[13] Literacy and a culture of storytelling were widespread: the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, Story of Sinuhe, Account of the Sporting King, and many others represent the birth of written fiction in Egypt. ^[14] The Tale of King Cheops’ Court reveals a lively interest at this time in the history of Classic Old Kingdom Egypt. ^[15]

[1]: (Callender 2000, 171) Gae Callender. 2000. ’The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055-1650 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 137-71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[2]: (Callender 2000, 156) Gae Callender. 2000. ’The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055-1650 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 137-71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[3]: (Ezzamel 2004, 502) Mahmoud Ezzamel. 2004. ’Work Organization in the Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egypt’. Organization 11 (4): 497-537.

[4]: (Pagliari 2012, 267-269) Giulia Pagliari. 2012. ’Function and Significance of Ancient Egyptian Royal Palaces from the Middle Kingdom to the Saite Period: A Lexicographical Study and Its Possible Connection with the Archaeological Evidence’. PhD thesis, University of Birmingham.

[5]: (Callender 2000, 146-47) Gae Callender. 2000. ’The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055-1650 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 137-71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[6]: (Callender 2000, 163-64) Gae Callender. 2000. ’The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055-1650 BC)’, in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw, 137-71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[7]: (Haring 2010, 225) Ben Haring. 2010. ’Administration and Law: Pharaonic’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 218-36. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[8]: (Quirke 2001, 16) Stephen G. J. Quirke. 2001. ’Administration: State Administration’, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by D. B. Redford, 12-16. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[9]: (Van De Mieroop 2011, 105) Marc Van De Mieroop. 2011. A History of Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[10]: (Pu 2005, 86) Muzhou Pu. 2005. Enemies of Civilization: Attitudes towards Foreigners in Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

[11]: (Szpakowska 2010, 521) Kasia Szpakowska. 2010. ’Religion in Society: Pharaonic’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 507-25. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[12]: (Willems 2013, 343) Harco Willems. 2013. ’Nomarchs and Local Potentates: The Provincial Administration in the Middle Kingdom’, in Ancient Egyptian Adminstration, edited by Juan Carlos Moreno García, 341-92. Leiden: Brill.

[13]: (Van De Mieroop 2011, 134) Marc Van De Mieroop. 2011. A History of Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

[14]: (Van Blerk 2006) N. J. Van Blerk. 2006. ’The Concept of Law and Justice in Ancient Egypt, with Specific Reference to The Tale of The Eloquent Peasant’. Master’s dissertation, University of South Africa. Available online at http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/2447/dissertation.pdf.

[15]: (Enmarch 2010) Roland Enmarch. 2010. ’Middle Kingdom Literature’, in A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 2, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 663-85. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.