The Middle Kingdom of Egypt

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt, roughly 2040 to 1782 BCE and spanning the latter part of the Eleventh Dynasty through the middle of the Thirteenth, began when Mentuhotep II of Thebes reunified Egypt after the political fragmentation of the First Intermediate Period, and is often regarded by Egyptologists as the classical high point of Egyptian art, literature and administration. Twelfth Dynasty pharaohs, including Senusret I and Senusret III, expanded Egyptian control south into Nubia, undertook major land reclamation and irrigation projects around the Faiyum region, and built a chain of fortresses to secure the southern frontier and control Nubian trade. The period produced foundational works of Egyptian literature written in what became the classical literary form of the Egyptian language, including the Story of Sinuhe, and refined religious and funerary traditions including the widespread adoption of shabti figures and the Coffin Texts. Centralized authority weakened again during the Thirteenth Dynasty, and the Middle Kingdom ends around 1782 BCE as Egypt fragmented once more, with the Hyksos, a foreign dynasty of likely Levantine origin, eventually seizing control of the northern Nile Delta during the following Second Intermediate Period. Some scholars instead date the true beginning of the Middle Kingdom to the Twelfth Dynasty, from the reign of Amenemhat I around 1991 BCE.