Dynasty XIII kingship in ancient Egypt: A study of political power and administration through an investigation of the royal tombs of the late Middle Kingdom

Over fifty kings ruled in a period between 150 and 170 years during Dynasty XIII in ancient Egypt; some rulers held the throne for only a few years. This study reviews the chronological sequence of these kings and their means of legitimization and succession. It also examines the royal funerary monuments, which provide information regarding kingship at this time. Besides the six known tombs at Sakkara, Mazghuna, and Dahshur, other, unexcavated sites in the Memphite region likely provide additional burials for the many kings without known funerary monuments. Also, the excavation and investigation of the artifacts from tomb S9 and the analysis of the plan of S10 at South Abydos reveal that these monuments have the same characteristics as the others to the north and belong to a single corpus. Beginning with the Hawara monument of Amenemhet III and ending with Merneferre Ay's pyramidion, which was found in the Delta, the substructures of the royal pyramids have similar plans with some features that may indicate that they may form a physical representation of the netherworld, placing the king within the weskhet court of Osiris. The size of the pyramids, though small compared to those of previous periods, and their exclusive use by rulers, demonstrate that kings remained at the apex of society. This study identifies three phases within Dynasty XIII. The first group of kings emphasizes its actual or symbolic connection to Dynasty XII through the use of double names including "Amenemhet." The second phase includes rulers who explicitly expressed their non-royal lineages and may have come from families with ties to the military while the final kings lost the north and south to Dynasties XIV (northwest Delta) and XVI (Thebes). This study ends with the presentation of a model outlining a possible scenario for the fall of Dynasty XIII, including climate change, the decrease of economic power, the increased power of officials and foreigners, and the loss of territory.