Intef III was the third
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
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 dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, whereas the late ...
during the late
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. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious ...
in the 21st century BC, at a time when Egypt was divided in two kingdoms. The son of his predecessor
Intef II
Wahankh Intef II (also Inyotef II and Antef II) was the third ruler of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. He reigned for almost fifty years from 2112 BC to 2063 BC. His capital was located at Thebes. In his time, ...
and father of his successor
Mentuhotep II
Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw-ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh Dyn ...
,
Intef III reigned for 8 years over
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
and extended his domain North against the
10th Dynasty state, perhaps as far north as the 17th
nome. He undertook some building activity on
Elephantine
Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...
.
Intef III is buried in a large saff tomb at
El-Tarif
El-Tarif ( ''aṭ-Ṭārif'') is a necropolis on the West Bank of the Nile, at the site of ancient Thebes (Luxor), Egypt. It is located in the northwestern outskirts of Luxor and southeast of the Valley of the Kings, opposite Karnak, just to the s ...
known as Saff el-Barqa.
Family
Intef III was the son of his predecessor Intef II. This is indicated by the stela of Tjeti, chief treasurer during the reigns of Intef II and Intef III. Tjeti's stele mentions the death of Intef II and goes on describing how Tjeti served Intef II's son who acceded to the throne upon the death of his father:
: Then, when his ''son'' assumed his place, Horus, Nakht-neb-Tepnefer, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of Re, Intef, fashioner of beauty, living like Re, forever, I followed him to all his good seats of pleasure.
Intef III possibly married his sister
Iah
Iah ( Egyptian: ''jꜥḥ'', Coptic ) is a lunar deity in ancient Egyptian religion. The word ''jꜥḥ'' simply means "Moon". It is also transcribed as ''Yah'', ''Jah'', or ''Aah''.
Worship
By the New Kingdom (16th century to 11th century ...
, described as a ''king's mother'' (''mwt-nswt''), ''king's daughter'' (''sȝt-nswt'') and ''
priestess of Hathor Priestess of Hathor or Prophetess of Hathor was the title of the Priestess of the goddess Hathor in the Temple of Dendera in Ancient Egypt.
Title
The title is known to be given during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and was at that point very powerful ...
'' (''ḥmt-nṯr-ḥwt-ḥr''). This indicates that Intef III's successor, Mentuhotep II, was his son. This is further confirmed by the stele of Henenu (Cairo 36346), an official who served under Intef II, Intef III and his "son", which the stele identifies as Horus Sankhibtawy (''s-ˁnḫ-
b-tȝwy'), Mentuhotep II's first
Horus name
The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term: the "serekh nam ...
.
Another piece of evidence for this parentage is a relief on the
Gebel el-Silsileh in the Wadi Shatt er-Rigal, known as the Silsileh petroglyph, depicting Mentuhotep II surrounded by Iah and Intef III.
Additionally, Mentuhotep II's royal wife
Neferu II
Neferu II was the wife and sister of the ancient Egyptian king Mentuhotep II who ruled in the 11th Dynasty, around 2000 BC.
Neferu is mainly known from her tomb ( TT319) at Deir el-Bahari. The tomb was found badly destroyed but the decorated b ...
bore the title of ''king's daughter'', and an inscription in her tomb names her mother as Iah. This establishes that she was Intef III's daughter and the sister of Mentuhotep II.
Reign
Intef III's father and predecessor reigned for 49 years and Intef III might thus have acceded to the throne a middle-aged
or even elderly man.
Although Intef III's name is lost in a lacuna 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, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list av ...
, a king list compiled in the early
Ramesside period
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...
, its reign length is still readable on column 5, row 15, and given as 8 years.
The relative chronological position of Intef III as the successor of Intef II and predecessor of Mentuhotep II is secured by his established parentage to these two kings as well as the Turin canon and two blocks from the
temple of Montu at
Tod.
These blocks show the succession of kings from Intef I to Mentuhotep II and while Intef III's horus name is damaged, its position is certain.
The absolute dating of Intef III's reign is less certain and several dates have been proposed: 2069–2061 BC,
2063–2055 BC
and 2016–2009 BC.
Military activities
Intef III inherited a large and relatively peaceful domain in Upper Egypt.
Over his 8 years of reign, Intef was militarily active.
He successfully defended the territory that his father Intef II had won, as is attested by the tomb of an official of the time, Nakhty, located at
Abydos and in which a doorjamb bearing Intef III's names was discovered.
He also conquered territories north of Abydos, in particular
Asyut
AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut'' ( ar, أسيوط ' , from ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , ...
and extended his domain perhaps as far as the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt thereby "imposing his family’s control over most of Upper Egypt".
Alternatively, this might have been achieved by his son Mentuhotep II, early in his reign.
Building activities
A doorjamb bearing Intef III's name was uncovered on
Elephantine
Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...
in the sanctuary of
Hekayeb, a deified nomarch of the
6th Dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt.
Pharaohs
Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho acc ...
, which shows that he must have ordered work there. Another doorjamb was discovered in the
temple of Satet
The Temple of Satet or Satis was an ancient Egyptian temple dedicated to the goddess Satet, a personification of the Nile inundation. The temple was located on the Nile Valley island of Elephantine, Egypt. Founded during the late Predynastic P ...
, also on Elephantine, which attests to building activity on the site.
Tomb
''Coordinates:''
![Tomb Intef II 1915](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Tomb_Intef_II_1915.png)
The necropolis of the kings of the 11th Dynasty is located in
El-Tarif
El-Tarif ( ''aṭ-Ṭārif'') is a necropolis on the West Bank of the Nile, at the site of ancient Thebes (Luxor), Egypt. It is located in the northwestern outskirts of Luxor and southeast of the Valley of the Kings, opposite Karnak, just to the s ...
, on the opposite bank of the Nile from
Thebes. Several saff-tombs of imposing dimensions are found there but, until the excavations of the
German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...
under the direction of Dieter Arnold from 1970 until 1974, it was unclear to whom some of these tombs belonged.
Although no inscriptions could be found in the tombs (except that of
Intef II
Wahankh Intef II (also Inyotef II and Antef II) was the third ruler of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. He reigned for almost fifty years from 2112 BC to 2063 BC. His capital was located at Thebes. In his time, ...
) to confirm their ownership, their positions, together with the much later-attested chronological succession of the rulers of the 11th Dynasty, led to the attribution of the tomb known today as Saff el-Baqar
Dieter Arnold
Dieter or dieter may refer to:
* A person committed to dieting
People
Dieter is a German given name (), a short form of Dietrich, from ''theod+ric'' "people ruler", see Theodoric.
Given name
*Dieter Althaus (born 1958), German politician
* ...
: ''Gräber des Alten und Mittleren Reiches in El-Tarif (Archäologische Veröffentlichungen)'', Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1976, to Intef III. The tomb resembles that of his predecessor
Intef II
Wahankh Intef II (also Inyotef II and Antef II) was the third ruler of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt during the First Intermediate Period. He reigned for almost fifty years from 2112 BC to 2063 BC. His capital was located at Thebes. In his time, ...
[Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008, p. 147-148] and consists of a wide and long courtyard on a northwest - southeast axis facing a canal. The courtyard is surrounded, on all sides but the east, by many chambers dug into the rock.
The courtyard leads to a large double-pillared facade totalling 48 columns behind which many more chambers are located.
In spite of the ruined state of the tomb, the 1970s excavations have shown that its walls must once have been lined with sandstone and adorned with decorations.
[Nigel Strudwick, Helen Strudwick: ''Thebes in Egypt: A Guide to the Tombs and Temples of Ancient Luxor'', Cornell University Press, 1999, p. 93, ]
excerpts available online
Nowadays, the tomb lies beneath the constructions of a village.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Intef III
21st-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt