Part 1: Intef the Great (c.2050—2000 BCE). The reign of Intef II, ruler of Waset (Thebes) shows a sudden surge in expansion and conflict. Seeking absolute power over the south, Intef brought major districts like Abu (Elephantine) into his territory. He made alliances with the rulers of Wawat (Nubia). Then, he sent his armies north to seize a sacred city…
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).
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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and Society in Egypt in the First Intermediate Period: An Archaeological Investigation of the Abydos Settlement Site’, Unpublished PhD.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).
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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 (Archäologische Veröffentlichungen, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Kairo 17; Mainz, 1976).
- D. D. Baker, Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs Volume I: Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300 – 1069 BC (Cairo, 2008).
- J. von Beckerath, Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen (Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 49; Mainz, 1999).
- L. Bell, ‘Interpreters and Egyptianized Nubians in Ancient Egyptian Foreign Policy: Aspects of the History of Egypt and Nubia’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania (1976).
- A. M. Blackman, ‘The Stele of Thethi, Brit. Mus. No. 614’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 17 (1931), 55–61.
- H. Brunner, Die Texte aus den Gräbern der Herakleopolitenzeit von Siut mit Übersetzung und Erläuterungen (Ägyptologische Forschungen 5; Glückstadt, 1937).
- J. J. Clère and J. Vandier, Textes de la Première Période Intermédiare et de la XIeme Dynastie (Bibliotecha Aegyptiaca X; 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, ‘The Nubian Mercenaries of Gebelein During the First Intermediate Period’, Kush 9 (1961), 44–80.
- 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).
- W. Grajetzki, Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (London, 2009).
- R. Landgráfová, It Is My Good Name That You Should Remember: Egyptian Biographical Texts on Middle Kingdom Stelae (Prague, 2011).
- R. J. Leprohon, The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary (Wilson, 2013).
- 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).
- T. Wilkinson, Lives of the Ancient Egyptians (Paperback edn, London, 2019).
- K. Yamamoto, ‘A Late Old Kingdom Burial Assemblage from Abydos: Tomb F109, Excavated by the EEF in 1908’, in I. Regulski (ed.), Abydos: The Sacred Land at the Western Horizon (Leuven, 2019), 315–339.
