Hippopotamus
(20th century BCE)

Horizontal loom
11th Dynasty
Source: Website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Middle Kingdom
12th - 13th Dynasty

• Domesticated cats possibly introduced from Nubia or Libya.
• Graveyards have a "Holy Road"
• Earliest ushabtis as grave goods under Mentuhotep II
• Tombs of Mentuhotep III and IV at Deir-el-Bahari: two floors with pillar halls, at the centre a pyramid, a broad ramp leading to the upper floor
• Model ships with painted figurines etc as gifts to the dead.
• Hennu journeys south along the east-African coast.

• Amenemhet I restricts the power of the nobles
• Important moral and didactic writings:
  • The Instruction of Amenemhet,
  • The 'Prophecies' of Neferti
  • The Debate between a man tired of life and his soul
  • The Admonitions of Khekheperre-sonbu
  • The Loyalist Instructions
• Tales:
  • The Tale of Sinuhe
  • The Tale of the shipwrecked sailor
  • The Tale of a Herdsman
  • The Tales from the Westcar Papyrus
• Well developed calligraphy, papyrus, reed pens, ink made of soot, pen-cases
• Miniature animal statues: Hippos, hedgehogs, hares, mice etc
• Vibrant trade relations with Syria and Palestine, above all the Phoenician port cities.
• Ovens for baking bread
• Olive oil

• Giant tomb of an officer and landowner at Assiut: 7 chambers, 50 metres long. Inscriptions determine the services to be held after his death.
• The Teachings of King Amenemhet for his son Senusret I, pessimistic world view
• Apparently murdered

• Senusret I (Sesostris) extends Egyptian influence to the third cataract in Nubia. Fortification with bastions in Nubia
• Tomb of Sirenpowet at Asswan: Staircase, courtyard, entrance hall, three aisled hall, reliefs

• Mass sacrifices of Nubians at burials of Egyptian princes
• Obelisk erected at the temple of Heliopolis, commemorating 30 years of the rule of King Senusret I.
• Rock tombs at Beni Hassan with culturally interesting pictures and inscriptions.
  In the tomb of Amenemhet I: three aisled inner room with double rows of fluted columns without capital (similar in form and style to those found in Greek temples). wall paintings: antelope hunt, dancers, bearers votive offerings
• Rectilinear auxiliary grid lines used in relief sculpture

• Proven cultural exchanges between Egypt and Mesopotamia

• Feeding of the Antelopes", naturalistic wall painting in the tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni-Hassan
• Grave of a second Sirenpowet at Asswan: Pictures of the deceased and his family
• Right angles are constructed with the help of knotted ropes in the form of a triangle, the relation between the sides: 3 to 4 to 5.

• Coffin Texts, magical spells on the inside of the coffins, serve the dead.
• Granite statue of Nofret, wife of King Senusret II
• Sandstone statue of Chertihotep
• First alphabetic inscription on a rock, which appears to include two men's names, titles, and perhaps a prayer to a local god. (Syrian alphabetic writing dates from about 1700)
• Settlement housing the workers who erected the pyramid of Senusret II at the entrance to the Fayum oasis in the Libyan desert.

• King Senusret III seeks support from the rising bourgeoisie, conquers Nubia and Canaan.
• Symmetrical, geometrical and ornamental forms preferred in reliefs
• Canals, sluices and dams control the waters of the Nile at Fayum oasis and enable settlement.

• Granite sphinx of Amenemhet III at Tanis

• Granite block statue, merges the human body with the geometrical cube form.
• Isis suckling Horus, copper statue
• Pyramids and temples at Hawara (Fayum)
• Rhind Papyrus: arithmetic book of Ahmes, with mathematical notes, examples taken from agricultural practice including fractions and area calculations [1].
• Men's clothing: A long loin cloth made of linen. Women's clothing: A long shirt made of linen with shoulder straps, coloured collar. Shoes are not worn, sandals infrequently. Curly haired wigs.

• Statue of Neferhotep I

• Social unrest
• Egyptian culture becomes more 'secular' and bourgeois.

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