Amenemhet I

Amenemhet I, d. 1970 B.C., king of ancient Egypt, founder of the XII dynasty. The son of a powerful Theban family, he seized the kingship c.2000 B.C. The XII dynasty ushered in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Amenemhet centralized the government and subjected the long-powerful nobles to a virtually feudal state. His son and successor, Sesostris I was coregent from 1980 B.C. Amenemhet II, d. 1903 B.C., son and successor of Sesostris I, was coregent with his father (1938-1935 B.C.), then sole ruler (1935-1906 B.C.), finally coregent with his son and successor, Sesostris II (see under Sesostris I). He reopened the mines of Sinai. Amenemhet III, d. 1801 B.C., was the son and successor of Sesostris III (see under Sesostris I), with whom he had been coregent. He extended the irrigation system. Thousands of acres in the Faiyûm were reclaimed. Under his successor, Amenemhet IV, d. 1792 B.C., the power of the dynasty declined, and his successor, a woman, Sebenekfrure, was last of her family. The dynasty of pharaohs named Amenemhet or Sesostris maintained peace throughout their hegemony, thus enabling the arts and sciences to flourish as they never would again in Egypt.

(flourished 20th century BC) Egyptian pharaoh (r. 1938–08 BC) who founded the 12th dynasty (1938–1756) and, with provincial governors, restored unity to Egypt after the civil war that followed the death of his predecessor, Montuhotep IV. He moved the capital from Thebes to near modern-day Al-Lisht, south of Memphis. He extended Egyptian control up the Nile and fortified the delta. Reaffirming the Egyptian monarchy's claim to divinity, he also enlarged the Temple of Amon at Thebes. In 1918 BC he made his son, Sesostris I, his coruler. He was assassinated 10 years later.

Learn more about Amenemhet I with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The pyramid of Amenemhet I is an Egyptian burial structure built at Lisht by the founder of Egypt's 12th dynasty, Amenemhet I. This structure returned to the approximate size and form of old kingdom Pyramids. It also established a new tradition though of giving each component structure in the pyramid complex its own unique name. The structures together were known as "The places of the appearances of Amenemhet".

Construction

Archaeological evidence suggests that Amenemhet started to build his pyramid at Thebes but for unknown reasons switched his capital and the location of his pyramid to lisht. The pyramid upon its completion rose to a heigh of 55 M, with a base length of 83 M and a slope of 54 degrees. The core of the pyramid was made with small rough blocks of local limestone with a loose fill of sand debris and mud brick. Some of the limestone was striped from other monuments, blocks of stone from the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, Unas and Pepi have been found in the pyramid. Inside the pyramid a sloped shaft blocked with granite plugs upon burial ran from the ground level entrance chapel to a vertical shaft that descended directly to the burial chamber. The overall construction of the pyramid was poor and little of it remains today.

Excavation

The first excavation of the site was undertaken by Maspero a French egyptologist in 1882. His work as later continued by a French archaeological expedition under the direction of Gautier and Jéquier in 1894 and 1895. The investigations were continued from 1920 to 1934 by Albert Lythgoe and Arthur Mace in a team from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. By the time of these excavations the pyramid had undergone much disintegration and is now only 20 meters high with most of the surrounding complex gone. None of the expeditions successfully explored the interior of the pyramid due to the internally passagways being flooded with groundwater.

References