THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
2181 to 2040 BC

At the end of the 6th Dynasty weak leadership and chronic famine began breaking up the Old Kingdom.

The decline of the Old Kingdom is often said to have been caused by the long reign of Pepy II (2278-2184 BC). The infirmity of his later rule (which began in his childhood and ended well into his nineties) certainly allowed power to slip into the hands of the royal administrators.

But this doesn't explain why the central royal government itself lost control of the Nile Valley and the provincial nomes. The growing local independence of the nomarchs certainly added to the collapse of central authority.

Some used to think that the exploitation of labor and the huge expense of the Old Kingdom 'pyramid-building boom' brought on massive revolts.

But we now know the most likely reason for the fall of the Old Kingdom. It was the unanticipated, repeated and catastrophic failure of the Nile flood for a period of more than 25 years.

The annual flood upheld the pharaohs' power, both spiritual and economic. When the floods failed, so did the dynasty and the kingdom.

Massive famines followed. Violence and anarchy broke out up and down the Nile. The royal government in Memphis lost control of the nation and centralized record-keeping disappeared. Egypt fell into a dark age.

Why the failure of the flood? Global climate cooling resulted in decades of reduced rainfall in central Africa. New evidence indicates that the global effect was due to a massive meteor strike at this time. (Other ancient civilizations - the Akkadian and Indus for example - collapsed at this time also.)

The nomarchs struggled to control, irrigate and feed their own provinces. Some were more successful than others. While some nomarchs still officially recognized the remnant of the Old Kingdom in Memphis and the kings of the 7th and 8th Dynasties, others proclaimed themselves kings in their own right.

Around 2150 BC, the nomarchs of Herakleopolis - descended from Neferkare (2150? BC) - successfully proclaimed their own dynasties, the 9th and 10th, and claimed royal prerogatives. Their influence extended as far south as the nomes of Abydos and Koptos. Here they were challenged by the growing power of the nomarchs of Thebes in Upper Egypt, descended from Antef I Inyotef (2100s? BC), who founded the 11th Dynasty. Other less-powerful nomarchs, while having some degree of independence, attached themselves to either the Heracleopolitan or the Theban dynasties.

A clash between the two rival dynasties was inevitable. They waged their conflict first with diplomacy and then with armies, plunging at least part of the country into a civil war. The final victory of the Theban 11th Dynasty, led by Mentuhotep II (2055-2004 BC), marked the beginning of a new era of unity and prosperity: the Middle Kingdom.

The collapse of the Old Kingdom and break-down of the country into independent nomes had consequences on the artistic level. Without the wealth of a central government, the artists and craftsmen at Memphis were no longer capable of producing the high-quality artifacts and decoration they were used to.

The nomarchs chose to use their own shops with craftsmen lacking the the required training and skills. The reliefs and statues that were created during this period often lack the refinement of their Old Kingdom predecessors: the craftsmanship was rather clumsy or even sloppy and figures were stiff and disproportionate.

On the other hand, the 1st Intermediate Period marks the spread of "Pharaonic Culture" throughout the country. During the Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom, this 'royal culture' had been limited to the court and the aristocracy surrounding it. During the 6th, 7th and 8th Dynasties, as nomarchs up and down the Nile gained increasing power, they began to adopt the style, fashion and etiquette of the royal court in Memphis. This brought the images and trappings of Egyptian royalty to the people at large, and ensured their survival into the future.