King Mentuhotep II and Unification of Egypt (III)

After a long era of political stability, the country was pided and the first transition era witnessed the collapse of the state and the central authority, the tyranny of the rulers of Egyptian regions, and the rise of their star. In the second half of the eleventh dynasty era, King Mentuhotep II Nab Hebt Ra appeared and unified Egypt. He became the second unifier of the Egyptian land after King Mina I and established the middle state.

King Mentuhotep II ruled about 51 years. He united Egypt under the authority of one king during his thirty-ninth year, ending the era of the first transition, and establishing an era of political stability and economic prosperity for the country.

When Mentuhotep rose the second to rule the country in the Thebes region (present-day Luxor), he ruled a large part of the country that he inherited from his predecessors starting from Al Jandal in South Aswan region to the south of Abydos region in Sohag governorate in Upper Egypt in the north.

In the fourteenth year of his reign, a conflict occurred in the north within the eternal conflict between the north and the south between King Mentuhotep II in Thebes, and the remnants of the tenth dynasty competing to him and found in the area of Herakleopolis (Ihnasia in Beni Suef Governorate).

The tenth dynasty was threatening to invade Upper Egypt, where Pharaoh Mentuhotep II was in control. This year was named "the year of the crime of the twin province" in a clear reference to the invasion of the region of the second region in Sohag Governorate by the kings of the Heracleopolis region who attacked the holy royal cemetery in the Abydos region of Sohag.

King Mentuhotep II sent his combat armies to the north to respond by force to the actions of the kings of the Heracleopolis region.

The greatest evidence of this holy war to unite the country is that archaeologists found bodies wrapped in linen and the mummified of about sixty soldiers in the famous soldiers' cemetery in the Deir el-Bahari district in Luxor in the 1920s.

Archaeologists found the name of King Mentuhotep written on the linen that their bodies were wrapped in. These soldiers were killed in the battle of honor in the long journey to unify scattered Egypt at the time.

Due to the proximity of this cemetery of these soldiers to the royal tombs in the Thebes region, archaeologists believe that this cemetery belongs to the heroes who fought and died in the bloody conflict between King Mentuhotep II and his enemies from the northern kings competing with him.

With the death of the ruler of Lower Egypt in this conflict, his kingdom became weak, which made the opportunity for Mentuhotep the Second to unify Egypt. Although the date of unification is uncertain, it may have occurred before the year 39 of his rule.

The king also ordered that military campaigns be carried out in Nubia in order to return it to Egyptian sovereignty and set up a garrison in Elephantine, Aswan. He also carried out military activities on the land of Canaan in southern Palestine.

Mentuhotep II was a great king and military leader who unified Egypt, returned to her its sovereignty, glory, and prosperity. So, he was revered by the later kings of Egypt for his great role and workmanship for the sake of eternal Egypt.

Contributed by Ali Abu Dashish