The Middle Kingdom

The unity of Egyot was broken in Dynasty VII, about 2150BCE, and competing kingdoms of various sizes dominated different parts of the country. After a couple of centuriesEgypt was united again during Dynasty XI. It and the succeeding Dynasty XII are known as the Middle Kingdom. A great temple of this period is in ruins south of the temple of Hatshepsut, the Dynasty XVIII pharaoh/queen, for which it was a model, on the west bank at Thebes against the cliffs.

The Middle Kingdom is distinguished aesthetically by the beautiful little models of ordinary life, which were popular to supplement the murals and reliefs in tombs, providing for the afterlife. Here are some of them in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo:

view00	view01	view02	Woodworkers
Two boats fishing with net.	view05	Granary	Soldiers disembarking
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Gerard M Foley