In this article we will talk about the "beginning of the collapse of the ancient Egyptian state" and the entry of Pharaonic Egypt into the Middle Kingdom, where we will deal mainly with the division of the Egyptian middle age into three stages, with details of the rule of the families from the seventh to the tenth, First transition.
The section of the Egyptian historian Manitoun Egypt's history of Pharaonic to thirty ruling families, which is known as the era of families, which extends from the unification of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt in about 3200 BC until the occupation of Egypt by Persians 341 BC, where this period is divided into four main stages : The era of early families, the era of the ancient state, the era of the intermediate state, and then the modern state.
In this article we will learn about Pharaonic Egypt at the beginning of the Middle or Medieval Age, which extends from the end of the Sixth Dynasty and the beginning of the Seventh Dynasty until the end of the 17th Dynasty in 1567 BC.
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The Middle Ages begins in the Egyptian state with the rise of the seventh family to power
The middle age begins with the end of the sixth family rule and the beginning of the seventh Egyptian family rule, according to the researchers agreed, ie from about 2181 BC to 1576, and this period is divided into three stages:
The era of the first decay of the year 2181 BC until 2040 BC. This period is also known by other names such as the first intermediate period or the first transitional period, the social revolution, or the era of the first decentralization, the subject of this article. Some sources may indicate a slightly different history (2160-2060 BC), but this is not the big difference when we speak within the third millennium BC, during which time it ruled families from 7 to 10.
The era of the Middle Kingdom from 2040 BC to 1785 BC, which was characterized by the reunification of Pharaonic Egypt by the rulers of the good, but the end of Egypt authorized entry into a new era of decay.
The Age of the Second Decadence or the Second Middle Ages from 1785 BC to 1576 BC, during which the families ruled from 13 to 17, including the occupation of the Hyksos.
Transition from the old state to the intermediary state
The era of the early families and the era of the ancient state witnessed the unification of the Egyptian state and the consolidation of the central state, and witnessed a remarkable development in all aspects of life, especially the development of the tombs in the era of the fourth Egyptian family, which belongs to the pharaohs Khufu and Khafra and Mencawra or Menqra; the owners of the three great pyramids in Giza.
However, this boom in the old state began to decline gradually with the arrival of the sixth family to power, especially during the reign of King Bibi II, who ruled Egypt for more than ninety years was enough to exhaust the administrative structure of the state and dismantle its central structure.
The sixth period of the rule of the family was marked by the increasing influence of the rulers of the provinces, the central disintegration and the end of the social revolution. The Egyptian state entered the first phase of decay after the sixth family rule ended with Queen Nietokriss and the exiled seventh family rule began in Memphis.
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The Age of Decadence I (2181 to 2040 BC)
As we mentioned earlier, the seventh family came to the rule of Egypt around 2181 BC to find the central state in a state of weakness and weakness. The four families (7 to 10) who ruled during this period were unable to improve the situation, Historical lists, and did not give them any important achievements.
In the book of the history of Egypt by Hind Iskandar Ammon did not come to mention the author of this stage only a few lines, this is the case of most authors who point to the vagueness of this stage and lose details about them, says Hind Ammon in her book mentioned:
"After the extinction of the sixth family Aswanism (relative to Aswan) took the king of two families of Memphis, and then succeeded by two families of the Hiraiglio Polis (Ain Shams) and the base of their owners city Ahnas (Beni Suef), and did not reach one of the historians to find out about these kings and Manithon mentions something about them, not even their names. Most of these families knew that the pharaohs were often victims of sedition and revolutions. "
Accordingly, we can divide the first decay period into two stages as well
The two exiled families (family 7 and 8), in relation to the city of Memphis, extended from the end of the sixth Dynasty until approximately 2160 BC.
The Al-Ahnasi or the Al-Anasite families relative to the city of Ahnasia (families 9 and 10), and their rule extended from 2160 to 2040 BC.
The seventh and eighth exiles (2181 to 2160 BC)
The period of the rule of the seventh and eighth families has increased and the chaos that began since the sixth Dynasty has increased. In his comprehensive book, Egypt's history, Dr. Nasser Al-Ansari notes that this period witnessed the destruction of the graves and the security chaos. On the Delta, which they have caused corruption.
Even the Egyptian historian of the Ptolemaic period Maniton Samanoudi pointed to the seventy kings of the seventh family ruled seventy days without mentioning their names, which means that some kings ruled for hours only and did not complete a full day.
Most researchers question the validity of this information and consider it an "unbelievable exaggeration," but it emphasizes the state of chaos that prevailed in that period, as Dr. Mohamed Gamal El-Din Mokhtar sees in the Encyclopedia of Egypt's History through Ancient Egypt. That the ambiguity surrounding the seventh family rule led some to deny the existence of this family and consider it an extension of the sixth family.
We can not ignore what was known as the "first social revolution", which was a violent uprising of the poor against the rich and against the ruling authorities and the religious establishment, although we do not know how these bloody events spread in Egypt, but it is clear to us is the continuation of tension and violence from the end of the rule of the family Sixth During the reign of the four families in the first weakness, we have devoted a separate article to talk about the first social revolution.
The characteristics of the rule of the Pharaonic families VII and VIII
The Egyptian kingdom was at the brink of the abyss during the reign of the Seventh and Eighth Families and was economically powerless; it stopped them from sending missions to mines and quarries in the Sinai.
The deterioration of the economic conditions of Egypt in this period directly affected the urban situation. The state stopped building temples and religious centers. The great pyramids that characterized the rule of the ancient families, especially the fourth family, disappeared. There is only a small pyramid belonging to King Ibi from the eighth family built in Saqqara.
Production, technical and architectural capacity declined significantly during this period.
Egypt's relations were not good at this stage. The invasions against the country were among the worst problems of this period. These invasions were not intended to be occupation, but rather to steal and loot.
Egypt also lost control over the South; a new civilization was created in the Lower and Upper Nubia, now known as the Group C civilization.
The eighth family relied on the support of the powerful rulers of the provinces, especially the rulers of the city of Qeft, where the influence of the ruling family in Qift had apparently come to dominate the state, but for a short time, And the appointments obtained by the Chaldean ruler Shamai and his son Eddie.
It is possible to say that the exiled families VII and VIII were reaping the results of the failed rule of the sixth family kings. They inherited a disorganized society ruled by class hatred and acts of violence and pillage. The kings of these families were unable to adjust the course.
The Ninth and Tenth Dynasty and the Humanistic Age (2160 to 2040 BC)
In the shadow of the disintegration of the state during the rule of the exiled families and the weakness of centralization and the growing role of the rulers of the provinces, King Khayti, the governor of the city of Ahnasia could declare himself ruler of the city of Ahnassia (city of Ahnis or Ahnassia city west of the province of Beni Suef at the entrance to Fayoum), thus able King Khayti to end the era Families (seventh and eighth) exile (relative to the city of Memphis or Memphis) to intervene in ancient Egypt in the era of humanistic families, which was taken from Ahansia capital.
There is no clear justification for Maniton's transition from the ninth to the tenth
The Egyptian historian Maniton points out that King Khayti I, the founder of the Ninth Dynasty, was harsh and hidden, but there is nothing to show us the reason for these qualities. He also indicates that the king died of a crocodile by a crocodile. But we claim that the king may have been harsh indeed, the natural state of a king who ascended the throne in a period of internal tensions and conflicts.
On the other hand, Maniton ended the ninth family rule and began with the tenth family without any obvious reasons, especially as some historical sources refer to the two family families as one family, where the Papyrus of Turin refers to 18 monarchies belonging to one family. Africanus points out that the number of kings of the ninth and tenth families He is nineteen kings.
On the whole, so far, the two families can be said to be one family. The two families belong to the same family, and the characteristics of their period are the same, but most historians are committed to dividing Maniton and objecting to it.
Characteristics of the rule of the ninth and tenth human families
The situation of the ninth and tenth families was not better than that of the seventh and eighth families in general, with the attempts of some kings such as Nafer Kara and Khayni II to reform the situation, but they were not influential.
The kings of Bayt Khayti tried to separate their authority over all of Egypt, and succeeded to a certain extent by repelling the invasions of the nomads coming from the east.
King Khayti III, who fought important battles with the rulers of Taiba, was also the author of the famous commandments he left to his son, Merica Ra, and America Ra was the only king to be found. On the pyramid Bjbana Saqqara.
It seems that the arrival of one of the rulers of the provinces to the rule of Egypt strengthened the ambitions of the rulers of other regions to reach the rule of the entire state, so there were disputes between the kings of the families of the ninth and tenth on the one hand and the governors of the provinces, especially the governors of the city of good.
Some provinces gained independence by nominally subordinating to the central state authority, where they established their treasuries and armies. Each region began to register for itself regardless of the monarchies, and some provinces withdrew their funds from mines and quarries.
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The end of the era of the first decay in Pharaonic Egypt
The relationship between the southern city of Taiba and the city of Ahnassia was a good one, or at least not tense, but this relationship began to get tense with the rise of good power, and then the tension turned into war. It is not a war between a kingdom and the rulers of a territory; it is between two powerful kingdoms, where this war has lasted more than 90 years, periods of peace and truce and one side over another.
King Khayti III was the last powerful monarch in Ahnassia. Assiut's princes were allies of the tenth family, but the advance of the Taiba army in Central Egypt was a refraction of the king's written proclamations to his son.
The Egyptian city of Taiba is a state within the state
The tenth period of the Teneenth Dynasty coincided with the rule of the 11th Tayyibi Dynasty, where the rulers of the southern city of Taiba gradually established their kingdom until they declared their independence from Ahnasia and called themselves: the rulers of Upper and Lower Egypt. The south before the tenth family falls in the north, and this reflects the extent of tension experienced by Egypt during that period.
This conflict ended with the fall of the monastic family at the hands of the ruler of Tiba Monthotep II, who sat on the throne of unified Egypt again after a long period of internal and external conflicts and conflicts. With the arrival of the Tayyibis to the rule of unified Egypt, the state entered the Middle Kingdom, .
Finally, researchers and historians agree that the period of the first decay is one of the most unjust periods of the Pharaonic state. Stress was the master of attitudes in all aspects of life. Egypt's unity was at stake throughout this period as a result of the struggle of the provincial princes with each other and with the central government in Ahnassia The First Social Revolution.
The first designation, "The Age of First Decadence," refers to the period of rule of the seventh and eighth families, which witnessed a continuation of the disintegration of centralization and weakness of the state. The term "transitional period I" refers to the ninth and tenth families where Their period of transition is a period of transition between good and good.
In addition to naming the "stage of the first social revolution," which refers to the social and literary uprising witnessed in Egypt between the end of the old state and the beginning of this era, but it is correct to refer to this stage with any of these names.