First Intermediate Period of Egypt

First Intermediate Period of Egypt
c. 2181 BC–c. 2055 BC
Capital	Memphis (c. 2181 BC – c. 2160 BC), Seventh Dynasty–Eighth Dynasty Heracleopolis Magna (c. 2160 BC – c. 2050 BC), Ninth Dynasty–Tenth Dynasty Thebes (c. 2134 BC – c. 2061 BC), Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt
Common languages	Ancient Egyptian
Religion	Ancient Egyptian religion
Government	Monarchy
Pharaoh
• c. 2181 BC	Menkare (first)
• c. 2069 BC – c. 2061 BC	Intef III (last; Theban) Merykare (last; Herakleopolitan)
History
• Began	c. 2181 BC
• Ended	c. 2055 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Old Kingdom of Egypt Middle Kingdom of Egypt
Today part of	Egypt

Part of a series on the
History of Egypt
Prehistoric Egypt Predynastic Period 6000–3000 BC
Ancient Egypt Early Dynastic Period 3150–2686 BC Old Kingdom 2686–2181 BC 1st Intermediate Period 2181–2055 BC Middle Kingdom 2055–1650 BC 2nd Intermediate Period 1650–1550 BC New Kingdom 1550–1069 BC 3rd Intermediate Period 1069–664 BC Late Period 664–332 BC
Greco-Roman Egypt Argead dynasty 332–310 BC Ptolemaic dynasties 310–30 BC Roman and Byzantine Egypt 30 BC–641 AD Sasanian Egypt 619–629
Medieval Egypt Rashidun caliphate 641–661 Umayyad caliphate 661–750 Abbasid dynasty 750–935 Tulunid dynasty 868–905 Ikhshidid dynasty 935–969 Fatimid dynasty 969–1171 Ayyubid dynasty 1171–1250 Mamluk dynasty 1250–1517
Early modern Egypt Ottoman Egypt 1517–1867 French occupation 1798–1801 Muhammad Ali dynasty 1805–1953 Khedivate of Egypt 1867–1914
Late Modern Egypt British occupation 1882–1922 Sultanate of Egypt 1914–1922 Kingdom of Egypt 1922–1953 Republic 1953–present
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The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history,^[1] spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom.^[2] It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious by Egyptologists), Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and part of the Eleventh Dynasties. The concept of a "First Intermediate Period" was coined in 1926 by Egyptologists Georg Steindorff and Henri Frankfort.^[3]

Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the beginning of the era. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time in which rule of Egypt was roughly equally divided between two competing power bases. One of the bases was at Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt, a city just south of the Faiyum region, and the other was at Thebes, in Upper Egypt.^[4] It is believed that during that time, temples were pillaged and violated, artwork was vandalized, and the statues of kings were broken or destroyed as a result of the postulated political chaos.^[5] The two kingdoms would eventually come into conflict, which would lead to the conquest of the north by the Theban kings and to the reunification of Egypt under a single ruler, Mentuhotep II, during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty. This event marked the beginning of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.