Pharaoh of Egypt
Intef III
was the third
pharaoh
of the
Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt
during the late
First Intermediate Period
in the 21st century BC, at a time when Egypt was divided in two kingdoms. The son of his predecessor
Intef II
and father of his successor
Mentuhotep II
,
[7]
Intef III reigned for 8 years over
Upper Egypt
and extended his domain North against the
10th Dynasty
state, perhaps as far north as the 17th
nome
. He undertook some building activity on
Elephantine
.
[8]
Intef III is buried in a large saff tomb at
El-Tarif
known as Saff el-Barqa.
[9]
Family
[
edit
]
Intef III was the son of his predecessor Intef II. This is indicated by the stela of Tjeti, chief treasurer during the reigns of Intef II and Intef III. Tjeti's stele mentions the death of Intef II and goes on describing how Tjeti served Intef II's son who acceded to the throne upon the death of his father:
- Then, when his
son
assumed his place, Horus, Nakht-neb-Tepnefer, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of Re, Intef, fashioner of beauty, living like Re, forever, I followed him to all his good seats of pleasure.
Intef III possibly married his sister
Iah
, described as a
king's mother
(
mwt-nswt
),
king's daughter
(
s?t-nswt
) and
priestess of Hathor
(
?mt-n?r-?wt-?r
).
[10]
This indicates that Intef III's successor, Mentuhotep II, was his son. This is further confirmed by the stele of Henenu (Cairo 36346), an official who served under Intef II, Intef III and his "son", which the stele identifies as Horus Sankhibtawy (
s-?n?-[jb-t?wy]
),
[11]
[12]
Mentuhotep II's first
Horus name
.
Another piece of evidence for this parentage is a relief on the
Gebel el-Silsileh
in the Wadi Shatt er-Rigal, known as the Silsileh petroglyph, depicting Mentuhotep II surrounded by Iah and Intef III.
[8]
Additionally, Mentuhotep II's royal wife
Neferu II
bore the title of
king's daughter
, and an inscription in her tomb names her mother as Iah.
[13]
This establishes that she was Intef III's daughter and the sister of Mentuhotep II.
[14]
Reign
[
edit
]
Intef III's father and predecessor reigned for 49 years and Intef III might thus have acceded to the throne a middle-aged
[8]
or even elderly man.
[1]
Although Intef III's name is lost in a lacuna of the
Turin canon
, a king list compiled in the early
Ramesside period
, its reign length is still readable on column 5, row 15,
[15]
and given as 8 years.
[8]
[16]
[17]
The relative chronological position of Intef III as the successor of Intef II and predecessor of Mentuhotep II is secured by his established parentage to these two kings as well as the Turin canon and two blocks from the
temple of Montu
at
Tod
.
[8]
These blocks show the succession of kings from Intef I to Mentuhotep II and while Intef III's horus name is damaged, its position is certain.
[8]
The absolute dating of Intef III's reign is less certain and several dates have been proposed: 2069–2061 BC,
[1]
2063–2055 BC
[4]
and 2016–2009 BC.
[5]
Military activities
[
edit
]
Intef III inherited a large and relatively peaceful domain in Upper Egypt.
[8]
Over his 8 years of reign, Intef was militarily active.
[1]
He successfully defended the territory that his father Intef II had won, as is attested by the tomb of an official of the time, Nakhty, located at
Abydos
and in which a doorjamb bearing Intef III's names was discovered.
[8]
He also conquered territories north of Abydos, in particular
Asyut
[1]
and extended his domain perhaps as far as the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt thereby "imposing his family’s control over most of Upper Egypt".
[4]
Alternatively, this might have been achieved by his son Mentuhotep II, early in his reign.
Building activities
[
edit
]
A doorjamb bearing Intef III's name was uncovered on
Elephantine
in the sanctuary of
Hekayeb
, a deified nomarch of the
6th Dynasty
, which shows that he must have ordered work there.
[18]
Another doorjamb was discovered in the
temple of Satet
, also on Elephantine, which attests to building activity on the site.
[8]
Tomb
[
edit
]
Coordinates:
25°44′12″N
32°38′11″E
/
25.73667°N 32.63639°E
/
25.73667; 32.63639
The necropolis of the kings of the 11th Dynasty is located in
El-Tarif
, on the opposite bank of the Nile from
Thebes
. Several saff-tombs of imposing dimensions are found there but, until the excavations of the
German Archaeological Institute
under the direction of Dieter Arnold from 1970 until 1974, it was unclear to whom some of these tombs belonged.
[9]
Although no inscriptions could be found in the tombs (except that of
Intef II
) to confirm their ownership, their positions, together with the much later-attested chronological succession of the rulers of the 11th Dynasty, led to the attribution of the tomb known today as Saff el-Baqar
[9]
to Intef III. The tomb resembles that of his predecessor
Intef II
[8]
and consists of a 75 m (246 ft) wide and 85?90 m (279?295 ft) long courtyard on a northwest - southeast axis facing a canal. The courtyard is surrounded, on all sides but the east, by many chambers dug into the rock.
[8]
[9]
[20]
The courtyard leads to a large double-pillared facade totalling 48 columns behind which many more chambers are located.
In spite of the ruined state of the tomb, the 1970s excavations have shown that its walls must once have been lined with sandstone and adorned with decorations.
[21]
Nowadays, the tomb lies beneath the constructions of a village.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Intef III
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Margaret Bunson:
Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
, Infobase Publishing, 2009,
ISBN
978-1438109978
,
available online, see p. 181
- ^
Redford, Donald B.
, ed. (2001). "Egyptian King List".
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2
. Oxford University Press. pp. 626?628.
ISBN
978-0-19-510234-5
.
- ^
Gae Callender:
The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055-1650 BC)
in Ian Shaw (editor):
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
, Oxford University Press (2000),
ISBN
9780191604621
.
- ^
a
b
c
Michael Rice:
Who's Who in Ancient Egypt
, Routledge 2001, p. 80,
ISBN
978-0415154499
- ^
a
b
Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, David A. Warburton editors:
Ancient Egyptian Chronology
, Brill, 2006, p. 491,
available online
- ^
a
b
Peter A. Clayton:
Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt
, Thames & Hudson 2006, p. 72,
ISBN
0-500-28628-0
- ^
a
b
c
Percy Newberry
:
On the Parentage of the Intef Kings of the Eleventh Dynasty
, ZAS 72 (1936), pp. 118-120
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Darrell D. Baker:
The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300?1069 BC
, Stacey International,
ISBN
978-1-905299-37-9
, 2008, p. 147-148
- ^
a
b
c
d
Dieter Arnold
:
Graber des Alten und Mittleren Reiches in El-Tarif (Archaologische Veroffentlichungen)
, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1976,
ISBN
978-3805300469
- ^
Joyce Tyldesley,
Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt
, Thames & Hudson. 2006, pp. 66-68.
ISBN
0-500-05145-3
- ^
J.J. Clere, J. Vandier,
Textes de la premiere periode intermediaire et de la XIeme dynasty
, 1st vol., Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca X.
Complete Stele on p.21
- ^
Henri Gauthier,
Quelques remarques sur la XIe dynastie.
, BIFAO 5, 1906, p.39
- ^
William C. Hayes
:
The Scepter of Egypt I
, New York 1953,
ISBN
0870991906
, p. 160, 327
- ^
W. Grajetzki:
Ancient Egyptian Queens, a hieroglyphic dictionary
, p. 28, Golden House Publications, 2005,
ISBN
978-0954721893
- ^
Alan Gardiner
, editor:
Royal Canon of Turin
. Griffith Institute, 1959. (Reprint 1988.
ISBN
0-900416-48-3
)
- ^
W. Grajetzki:
The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History, Archaeology and Society
, Duckworth, London 2006
ISBN
0-7156-3435-6
, p. 15-17
- ^
Column 5, row 15.
- ^
Sir Alan Gardiner,
Egypt of the Pharaohs
, Oxford University Press 1961, p. 120
- ^
Herbert Winlock
: "The Theban Necropolis in the Middle Kingdom", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Volume 32,
available online copyright-free
.
- ^
See a map of the tomb
here
following Dieter Arnold.
- ^
Nigel Strudwick, Helen Strudwick:
Thebes in Egypt: A Guide to the Tombs and Temples of Ancient Luxor
, Cornell University Press, 1999, p. 93,
ISBN
0801486165
,
excerpts available online
.
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