NSU BITI NAME: RE NEB KHR - "RE IS THE LORD OF THE VOICE"
SA RE NAME: MONTUHOTEP - "THE WAR-GOD MONTU IS AT PEACE"
Montuhotep II was the son of the Wose (Thebes) ruler Antef III and a woman named Yah. When he came to power, his predecessors had already conquered a territory that stretched far beyond Wose, from the 1st cataract in the south, to the region of Qaw el-Kabir in the north.
The first years of his reign have left us with few testimonies. This could mean that he reached the throne at a young age, something that is also suggested by the long duration of his reign. His 14th regnal year was apparently a turning-point in the life of Montuhotep. Its name "year of the crime of Tjeny (Thinis)" suggests that there was some trouble in the Tjeny province, where the age-old holy city of Abydu was located. Apparently the Hensu (Heracleopolitan) king Kheti of the 9-10th Dynasty had succeeded in re-conquering this province and was threatening to do the same with the rest of Upper-Kemet. During this re-conquest, a large part of the old necropolis of Abydu was destroyed.
Montuhotep immediately reacted and not only repelled the Hensu from Abydu, he also continued the war against them, conquering Assiut, Middle-Kemet and finally Hensu itself. With the fall of the Hensu Dynasty, nothing stood in the way for the final re-unification of Kemet under Wose rule. At the latest by his 39th year, but presumably somewhere around his 30th year, Kemet was united again and Montuhotep II was the first Wose who could rightfully call himself NsuBiti - "King of Upper- and Lower-Kemet."Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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^ So Montuhotep II was the first Wasetu (Theban) king to rule all of Kemet? I know that throughout most of Egypt's history especially from the 17th dynasty onward, the dynasties were predominantly of Theban ancestry to the point that Egyptologists alternatively called Upper Egypt the 'Thebald'. I just assumed there were Theban pharaohs earlier than Montuhotep.
Posts: 26246 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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