26b: Intef the Great, Part 2 - The First Intermediate Period (Part 5b)

The History of Egypt Podcast

Dominic Perry

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2014

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newly researched and updated in 2024. Intef the Great, Part 2. The war for Ta-Wer. The Thebans had seized the sacred city of Abdju (Abydos) in the district of Ta-Wer. The northern rulers, from the House of Khety, contested this violently. Inscriptions and art reveal the movements of armies, the clashes on field and river, and the sieging of major towns. Soon, things going downright apocalyptic. Also… dogs! Music and interludes by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Music and interludes by Jeffrey Goodman www.jeffreygoodman.com. Interludes by Luke Chaos www.chaosmusick.com. Logo image: Intef II, from a stela in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Intro: Saruman's Speech from The Two Towers (2002), adapted by Dominic Perry. Fawlty Towers excerpts via Britbox Don't Mention the War | Fawlty Towers (youtube.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. Partial Bibliography: M. D. Adams, ‘Community and Society in Egypt in the First Intermediate Period: An Archaeological Investigation of the Abydos Settlement Site’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Michigan (2005). D. Arnold, Gräber des Alten und Mittleren Reiches in El-Tarif (Mainz, 1976). D. D. Baker, Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs Volume I: Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300 - 1069 BC (Cairo, 2008). H. Brunner, Die Texte aus den Gräbern der Herakleopolitenzeit von Siut mit Übersetzung und Erläuterungen (Glückstadt, 1937). J. J. Clère and J. Vandier, Textes de la Première Période Intermédiare et de la XIeme Dynastie (Brussels, 1948). 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. W. Ejsmond, ‘The Nubian Mercenaries of Gebelein in Light of Recent Field Research’, Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 14 (2017), 11--13. N. Fields, Soldier of the Pharaoh: Middle Kingdom Egypt 2055--1650 BC (2007). H. G. Fischer, Inscriptions from the Coptite Nome: Dynasties VI-XI (Analecta orientalia 40; Rome, 1964). H. G. Fischer, ‘Provincial Inscriptions of the Heracleopolitan Period’, Varia Nova, Egyptian Studies 3 (New York, 1996), 79--90. G. P. Gilbert, Weapons, Warriors, and Warfare in Early Egypt (Oxford, 2004). H. Goedicke, ‘The Inscription of Dmi’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 19 (1960), 288--291. W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (London, 2006 & 2024). R. Landgráfová, It Is My Good Name That You Should Remember: Egyptian Biographical Texts on Middle Kingdom Stelae (Prague, 2011). M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Los Angeles, 1973). M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies Chiefly of the Middle Kingdom: A Study and an Anthology (Freiburg, 1988). D. O’Connor, Abydos: Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris (London, 2009). S. Seidlmayer, ‘The First Intermediate Period (c. 2160--2055 BC)’, in I. Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2000), 108--136. I. Shaw, Ancient Egyptian Warfare (Oxford, 2019). J. Wegner, ‘The Stela of Idudju-Iker, Foremost-One of the Chiefs of Wawat: New Evidence on the Conquest of Thinis Under Wahankh Antef II’, Revue d’égyptologie 68 (2018), 153--209. T. Wilkinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: The History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra (London, 2010). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	A new power is rising.
0:15.0	Its victory is at hand.
0:31.6	This year, the land will be stained with the blood of Keti.
0:38.3	March to Abjou. Drive them away. To war!
0:41.3	To war! So the Thebans had taken Abjou, or Abidos.
1:13.6	This was significant for several reasons. In a geographic sense, the victory at Abdu brought security
1:20.3	to Intef's new empire. The city is located just north, or downriver, from the Kenna Bend, that
1:27.4	great eastward movement of the Nile.
1:30.2	By capturing Abdu, Intif's forces now controlled the entire Kenna bend, from south to north
1:36.9	and east to west. They also controlled the desert roads that passed through that bend
1:42.6	between the two ends of the river. So the conquest of
1:46.0	Abdu had a strategic and military value. It significantly shortened the defensive lines,
1:52.2	and allowed the Thebans to concentrate their forces into one central location. Additionally,
1:59.0	the captia of Abdu itself was probably a great cultural win. To be the new
2:04.4	caretakers of the temples here, not to mention the tombs of Egypt's earliest kings, that might
2:10.8	have brought greater legitimacy to the southern household. After all, victories are not won by humans alone.
2:18.3	They require divine blessing.
2:20.3	And just as Intif had honored Amun Ra in the tiny sanctuary at Karnak, and the gods
2:26.3	and goddesses of Abu or Elephantine, now he could honor Usir, Anpur, Anhurhur, and more in the ancient region of Tawer.
2:37.0	However, this was no time to rest. The conquest of Abdu was significant, and the royal visit
2:44.0	recorded by Iduju Ikar demonstrates its importance. But while Abju was valuable, it was not the only major city in this district.
2:53.6	In fact, Abjou was not even the capital of the Tawware district. That honour belonged to another town, just a few kilometers down river.
	...

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