Wahankh Intef II (also Inyotef II and Antef II) (died 2063 BC) was the third ruler of the

Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt The Eleventh Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XI; ) is a well-attested group of rulers. Its earlier members before Pharaoh Mentuhotep II are grouped with the four preceding dynasty, dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, wherea ...

during the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. It comprises the seventh Dynasty, Seventh (altho ...

. He reigned for almost fifty years from 2112 BC to 2063 BC. His capital was located at Thebes. In his time, Egypt was split between several local dynasties. He was buried in a saff tomb at El-Tarif.

Family

Intef's parents were

Mentuhotep I Mentuhotep I (also Mentuhotep-aa, i.e. "the Great") may have been a Theban nomarch and independent ruler of Upper Egypt during the early First Intermediate Period. Alternatively, Mentuhotep I may be a fictional figure created during the later El ...

and

Neferu I Neferu I ("the beauty"; ) was the first queen consort of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt, 11th Dynasty of Egypt. She may have been a wife of the King Mentuhotep I. Her sons were Intef I and Intef II and she was a grandmother of Intef III and Queen ...

. His predecessor

Intef I Sehertawy Intef I was a local nomarch at Thebes during the early First Intermediate Period and later an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. He was the first member of the 11th Dynasty to lay claim to a Horus name. Intef reigned from 4 to 16 years c. 2120 ...

may have been his brother. Intef was succeeded by his son

Intef III 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 success ...

Reign

After the death of the

nomarch A nomarch (, Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called Nome (Egypt), nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsible for a nome. Etymology The te ...

Ankhtifi Ankhtifi (or Ankhtify) was an ancient Egyptian nobleman, administrator, and military commander. The nomarch of Nekhen and a supporter of the pharaoh in Heracleopolis Magna ( 10th Dynasty), which was locked in a conflict with the Theban based 11 ...

, Intef was able to unite all the southern nomes down to the First Cataract. After this he clashed with his main rivals, the kings of Herakleopolis Magna for the possession of Abydos. The city changed hands several times, but Intef II was eventually victorious, extending his rule north to the thirteenth nome. After these wars, more friendly relations were established and the rest of Intef's reign was peaceful. The discovery of a statue of Intef II, wrapped in a ''sed'' festival robe, in the sanctuary of Heqaib at Elephantine suggests that this king's authority extended to the region of the First Cataract and, perhaps, over part of Lower Nubia by his 30th year.Nicholas Grimal, ''A History of Ancient Egypt'' (Oxford: Blackwell Books, 1992), p. 145 This impression would appear to be confirmed by an expedition led by Djemi from Gebelein to the land of Wawat (i.e.: Nubia) during his reign. Consequently, when Intef II died, he left behind a strong government in Thebes which controlled the whole of Upper Egypt and maintained a border just south of Asyut. The earliest attested dating of the god

Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

occurs during his reign. The surviving sections of the

Turin Canon The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BC), now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the m ...

for the Middle Kingdom assign this king a reign of 49 years.

Titulary

Intef II apparently never held the full royal fivefold titulary of the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

pharaohs. He did, however, claim the dual kingship ''nswt bity'' and the title ''s3-Re'' son of Ra, which emphasizes the divine nature of kingship. Finally, upon accession to the Theban throne, Intef II added the Horus name Wahankh, ''enduring of life'', to his birth name.

Officials

We know the name and activities of some of the officials who served under Intef II : * Tjetjy was the chief treasurer and king’s chamberlain of Intef II and Intef III.Ian Shaw ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'' p.126 His finely carved tomb stele, now at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, shows that Intef II claimed the dual throne of Egypt but also recognizes the limited extent of his rule: ''"The horus Wahankh, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, son of Re, Intef, born of Nefru, he who lives eternally like Re, ..this land was under his rule southwards as far as Yebu and reaching as far north as Abydos"''.William Kelly Simpson, ''The literature of Ancient Egypt''
/ref> Tjetjy then describes his career in the typical self-laudatory manner of the Egyptian elite. Most importantly, the text demonstrates the undisputed power of the king in the Theban kingdom of the 11th Dynasty ''"I was a trustworthy favorite of my lord, an official great of heart and quiet of temper in the palace of his lord .. I am one who loved good and hated evil, one who was loved in the palace of his lord, one who performed every duty in obedience to the will of his lord. Indeed, as for every task which he commanded me to undertake .. I performed it rightly and justly. Never did I disobey the orders he gave me; never did I substitute one thing for another .. Moreover, as for every responsibility of the royal palace which the majesty of my lord committed to me, and for which he caused me to perform some task, I did it for him in accordance with everything which his Ka desired."'' *Djary was a military officer who fought the Herakleopolitan forces in the Abydene nome during Intef II's armies' northward push. His stele recounts the struggle for the control over

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis, Egypt, Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, ...

: ''"Intef fought the house of Khety to the north of

Thinis Thinis ( Greek: Θίνις ''Thinis'', Θίς ''This'' ; Egyptian: Tjenu; ; ) was the capital city of pre- unification Upper Egypt. Thinis remains undiscovered but is well attested by ancient writers, including the classical historian Manetho ...

"''. *Hetepy was an official from

Elkab Elkab, also spelled El-Kab or El Kab, is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal about south of Luxor (ancient Thebes, Egypt, Thebes). Elkab was called Nekheb in the Egyptian language ( , ), a name t ...

who administered the three southernmost nomes of Intef II's realm. This means that there were no monarchs in Theban-controlled territories. Just as in the case of Tjetjy, the constant reference to the king in Hetepy's stele demonstrates the centralized organization of the government of the Theban kingdom and the power of the king, to whom everything was due: ''"I was one beloved of my Lord and praised by the lord of this land and his majesty truly made this servant happy. His majesty said: 'There is no one who . .of (my) good command, but Hetepy!', and this servant did it exceedingly well, and his majesty praised this servant on account of it"''. Finally, Hetepy's stele mentions a famine that occurred during Intef II's reign. * Idudju-iker was ''foremost one of the chiefs of Lower Nubia''. He was in charge of Lower Nubia and helped the king conquering Abydos.

Monuments

On his funerary stele Intef emphasizes his monument building activities. It is significant that the earliest surviving fragment of royal construction at

is an octagonal column bearing Intef II's name. Intef II is also the first ruler to build chapels for

Satet Satet, Satit or Satjet, Satjit in Ancient Egyptian ( or ', ."Pourer" or "Shooter"), Greek: Satis, also known by numerous related names, was an Upper Egyptian goddess who, along with Khnum and Anuket, formed part of the Elephantine Triad. A pro ...

and

Khnum Khnum, also romanised Khnemu (; , ), was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He held the responsibility of regulating the annual inundation of the river, emanating from the ca ...

on the island of

Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; ; ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological site, archaeological digs on the island became a World Heritage Site in 1979, along with other examples of ...

. In fact, Intef II started a tradition of royal building activities in the provincial temples of Upper Egypt which was to last throughout the Middle Kingdom.

Tomb

Intef's tomb in El-Tarif at Thebes is a saff tomb. Saff stands for "row" in Arabic and refers to the double row of columns and entry ways fronting a large trapezoidal courtyard at the eastern end of which was a mortuary chapel.Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. Thames & Hudson. 2008 (reprint). , pp 165 This chapel may have been intended to serve the same purpose as a valley temple.Dodson, Aidan. The Tomb in Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson. 2008. , pp 186-187 Intef II's tomb was investigated by a royal commission during the reign of

Ramses IX Neferkare Setepenre Ramesses IX (also written Ramses) (originally named Amon-her-khepshef Khaemwaset) (ruled 1129–1111 BC) was the eighth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the third longest serving king of this Dynasty after ...

, toward the end of the 20th Dynasty, as many royal tombs were being plundered at the time.Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008, pp. 145-146 As reported on the

Abbott Papyrus The Abbott Papyrus serves as an important political document concerning the tomb robberies of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom. It also gives insight into the scandal between the two rivals Pawero and Paser of Thebes. The A ...

, The commission noted that: ''"The pyramid-tomb of king Si-Rêˁ In-ˁo ''(i.e. Intef II)'' which is north of the House of Amenḥotpe of the Forecourt and whose

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

is crushed down upon it . . Examined this day; it was found intact."'' No remains of this pyramid have been found yet. Following the tradition of his nomarch ancestors, Intef II erected a biographical stele in the entrance of his tomb which relates the events of his reign and credits him with 50 years of reign.Stele of Intef II
/ref> A

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

mentioning the king's dogs was also said to be set up before the tomb. Another stela mentioning a dog named Beha was discovered, but it was found near the offering chapel.