Egyptian Middle Kingdom
▶ Explore on the mapThe Middle Kingdom was the period of ancient Egypt from about 2055 to 1650 BCE, when the country was reunited under the rulers of Thebes and reached a peak of literary and artistic production. Montuhotep II ended the fragmentation of the first intermediate period, defeated the nomads of the delta and reunified Egypt around 2055 BCE. His successors Senusret III and Amenemhat III pushed south into Nubia, building a chain of massive fortresses at Semna and Buhen to control the cataracts, and they campaigned in the Levant. The Fayum was drained and turned into farmland, and granaries fed a growing population, which is reflected in the tomb biographies of officials who boast of feeding the people in years of scarcity. The literature of the period, including the story of Sinuhe and the instructions of Amenemhat, was copied for a thousand years afterwards. Trade reached Punt on the Red Sea and Byblos in Lebanon for cedar. The dynasty weakened under weak successors, the Hyksos of western Asia entered the delta, and by 1650 BCE Egypt was divided again, opening the second intermediate period. The period was remembered in Egyptian memory as an age of order, and later writers dated their own troubles from its end.