page_title: Mentuhotep II
section_title: Reorganization of the government
hierarchical_section_title: Mentuhotep II / Reign / Reorganization of the government
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Linteau d’une porte du temple de Montou à Tôd.
context_page_description: Mentuhotep II, also known under his prenomen Nephepetre, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh circa 2061–2010 BCE, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh Dynasty. He is credited with reuniting Egypt, thus ending the turbulent First Intermediate Period and becoming the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom. He reigned for 51 years, according to the Turin King List. Mentuhotep II succeeded his father Intef III on the throne and was in turn succeeded by his son Mentuhotep III.
  Mentuhotep II ascended Egypt’s throne in the Upper Egyptian city of Thebes during the First Intermediate Period. Egypt was not unified during this time, and the Tenth Dynasty, rival to Mentuhotep’s Eleventh, ruled Lower Egypt from Herakleopolis. After the Herakleopoitan kings desecrated the sacred ancient royal necropolis of Abydos in Upper Egypt in the fourteenth year of Mentuhotep’s reign, the pharaoh dispatched his armies north to conquer Lower Egypt. Continuing his father Intef III’s conquests, Mentuhotep succeeded in unifying his country, probably shortly before his 39th year on the throne. Following and in recognition of the unification, in regnal year 39, he changed his titulary to Shematawy.
context_section_description: Throughout the First Intermediate Period and until Mentuhotep II's reign, the nomarchs held important powers over Egypt. Their office had become hereditary during the 6th Dynasty and the collapse of central power assured them complete freedom over their lands. After the unification of Egypt however, Mentuhotep II initiated a strong policy of centralization, reinforcing his royal authority by creating the posts of Governor of Upper Egypt and Governor of Lower Egypt who had power over the local nomarchs. 
  Mentuhotep also relied on a mobile force of royal court officials who further controlled the deeds of the nomarchs. Finally, the nomarchs who supported the 10th Dynasty, such as the governor of Asyut, certainly lost their power to the profit of the king. In the meantime, Mentuhotep II started an extensive program of self-deification emphasizing the divine nature of the ruler.
caption: Mentuhotep's third titulary from his temple of Montu at Tod.
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