Chapter Four - The Early Middle Kingdom Reunifies Egypt

Summary

By the thirtieth year of the reign of Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II, Egypt was once again a united country under the rule of one king. As a king who united the Egyptian state, Mentuhotep II was remembered later on a par with Menes of the First Dynasty and Ahmose of the Eighteenth (Habachi 1963, 50; Kemp 2006, 63). Mentuhotep II descended from a line of nomarchs, beginning with Intef the Great, who ruled Thebes during the First Intermediate Period. These local rulers used Horus names, beginning with Intef I, the third ruler in this dynastic line, and by the reign of Mentuhotep II’s grandfather, Wa’ankh Intef II, the fourth ruler, these men are calling themselves: “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of Ra.”