Mentuhotep I was a local Egyptian ruler at Thebes during the First Intermediate Period. He founded the Eleventh dynasty which eventually reunited Egypt under the Middle Kingdom. He is associated with Mentuhotep II. It is commonly thought that the two rulers were one and the same.
Antef I was the son of a local ruler of Thebes named Mentuhotep I. He was the first Theban ruler to have proclaimed himself king, assuming a Horus-name and writing his personal name in a cartouche. He thus opposed the kings of the 9/10th Dynasty of Heracleopolis and started a civil war.
That a local ruler of a relatively small city was able to oppose the ruling dynasty can be explained by the strong decentralisation of the Ancient Egyptian government, which, in turn, may have been the result of the low inundation of the Nile at the end of the Old Kingdom. He conquered some of the cities to the north of Thebes, among them Koptos and Dendara. To the south, he extended his reign to Elkab.
He was buried in a long, narrow rock-tomb on the West-bank of Thebes.
During the reign of Antef II, which, according to the Turin King-list lasted for as long as 49 years, the kings of the 9/10th Dynasty tried to re-conquer the territory they had previously lost to Antef I, in an attempt to establish their rule over the whole of Egypt.
Antef II, however, succeeded not only in warding off the Heracleopolitan attacks, but also in conquering even more of their territory: Abydos, Akhmim and Kaw el-Kabir. In the south, he extended the Theban rule to the First Cataract, the traditional southern border of Ancient Egypt.
Antef II was buried in a rock-tomb next to his predecessor's. This tomb is known from the representation of the king's dogs, which had foreign names. The tomb is also mentioned in the texts from the end of the New Kingdom about the tomb robberies of that era.
Little is known about the reign of Antef III. The Turin King-list credits him with a reign of at least 8 years. He was the father of Mentuhotep II, who would re-unite Egypt under one rule. It does not appear that this king gained or lost territory to the kings of the 9/10th Dynasty.
He was buried in a narrow rock-tomb next to Antef II.
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