25d: Self-Made King- The First Intermediate Period (Part 4)

The History of Egypt Podcast

Dominic Perry

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2014

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newly researched and updated in 2024. The first phase is over, and the war is heating up. Around 2055 BCE, a lord of Waset/Thebes/Luxor named Intef I promoted himself far above the established norms. Sending representatives to treat with the other rulers, Intef nonetheless began to push his military power further afield. Soon, he began to isolate and attack the loyalist governors nearby… Episode details: The Qena Bend and locations referenced in this episode. Logo image: Model soldiers from a First Intermediate Period tomb (Brooklyn MFA). “Godfather” Walz theme by Andrea Giuffredi. “Declare Independence” by Björk, instrumental version. Music and interludes by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Music and interludes by Luke Chaos www.chaosmusick.com. The History of Egypt Podcast: Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Select Bibliography: D. D. Baker, Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs Volume I: Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300 - 1069 BC (2008). E. Brovarski, ‘Overseers of Upper Egypt in the Old to Middle Kingdoms’, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 140 (2013), 91—111. Available online. J. J. Clère and J. Vandier, Textes de la Première Période Intermédiare et de la XIeme Dynastie (1948). J. C. Darnell, Theban Desert Road Survey in the Egyptian Western Desert, I: Gebel Tjauti Rock Inscriptions 1-45 and Wadi el-Hôl Rock Inscriptions 1-45 (2002). J. C. Darnell and D. Darnell, ‘New Inscriptions of the Late First Intermediate Period from the Theban Western Desert and the Beginnings of the Northern Expansion of the Eleventh Dynasty’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 56 (1997), 241—258. JSTOR. A. E. Demidchik, ‘The History of the Heracleopolitan Kings’ Domain’, in H.-W. Fischer-Elfert and R. B. Parkinson (eds), Studies on the Middle Kingdom in Memory of Detlef Franke (2013), 93—106. Online. H. G. Fischer, Inscriptions from the Coptite Nome: Dynasties VI-XI (1964). H. G. Fischer, Dendera in the Third Millennium BC Down to the Theban Domination of Upper Egypt (1968). W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (2006 & 2024). R. J. Leprohon, The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary (2013). M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (1973). S. Seidlmayer, ‘The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160--2055 BC)’, in I. Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000), 108—136. N. Strudwick, Texts from the Pyramid Age (2005). T. Wilkinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: The History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra (2010). T. Wilkinson, Lives of the Ancient Egyptians (2019). H. Willems, ‘The First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom’, in A. B. Lloyd (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Egypt, 1 (2010), 81—100. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we begin, a quick disclaimer.
0:03.9	The events of this episode take place somewhere in the middle of the 21st century BCE, but
0:10.9	the exact dates are totally uncertain.
0:14.0	Like most of the first intermediate period, we have tiny pieces of the jigsaw puzzle,
0:19.0	but different scholars will reconstruct that puzzle in different
0:22.1	ways.
0:23.1	What follows is my interpretation based on wider scholarship and my reading of the sources.
0:29.4	But by no means is it the only possible version.
0:33.6	Just bear that in mind as our story unfolds.
0:36.6	Thank you.
0:48.0	4,000 years ago, approximately, a group of Egyptian soldiers marched along a desert road.
0:52.4	They were armed with shields, spears, perhaps daggers and bows. They were a skilled group of warriors, known as
0:56.1	Mesha Hui or assault troops. They were marching through a series of hills, rocky outcroppings
1:03.6	that dominated desert valleys and provided impassable barriers to passage. Between these hills,
1:10.3	narrow areas allowed pathways or tracks
1:13.4	that crisscrossed the desert and connected different parts of the Nile Valley with the oases
1:19.5	far to the west. The cliffs of these outcroppings are decorated with inscriptions,
1:25.3	pieces of art and writings from countless travelers across history.
1:30.3	From the prehistoric period around 3,200 BCE, all the way up to the Roman Empire, travelers have crossed these paths and left their mark on the walls.
1:42.3	One day, around 4,000 years ago, this group of soldiers,
1:47.6	the Meshawui, or assault troops, stopped briefly in the shadow of a cliff. One of them,
1:55.3	perhaps their leader, took out a chisel or a piece of sharp rock to leave his own inscription on the sandstone
	...

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