11th Dynasty

After the unrest of the 1st Intermediate Period, the reunification of Upper Egypt andLower Egypt meant the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. The 11th Dynasty is usually regarded as the first dynasty of this period. The king who succeeded in reunifying the two lands was called Mentuhotep ('Montu is satisfied'), a name borne by several kings of the 11th Dynasty. This indicated the primacy of the god Montu. Kings in the next dynasty called themselves Amenemhat ('Amun is in front'), which indicates that the swiftly rising Amun had overtaken Montu in significance. In the 11th Dynasty, campaigns to Nubia were again conducted and building activities on the temples were restarted. Nevertheless, the dynasty did not stay in power for very long. Towards the end there were several kings ruling simultaneously, and it was only thanks to the actions of the vizierAmenemhat (who later became king) that the land did not fall apart again