City and site · Egypt · 3 min read, approximately
Heracleopolis: the northern capital of Dynasties 9 and 10
In the First Intermediate Period two competing dynasties ruled Egypt, one of them from Heracleopolis in the north. What the sources checked say about the city, and why one tomb in its cemetery is already dated to the Middle Kingdom.
The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.
Two dynasties
According to the Met's timeline, by the end of the Old Kingdom centralized power had weakened, and during the First Intermediate Period (Dynasty 8 to mid-Dynasty 11, about 2150-2030 BCE) Egypt was ruled by two competing dynasties, "one based at Heracleopolis in the north, the other based at Thebes in the south". According to the same source, the Theban king Mentuhotep II unified Egypt again in the Middle Kingdom. Source 1.
The Spanish mission
The project page of the Spanish archaeological mission, on the website of the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, is titled "Misión arqueológica española en Egipto. Excavaciones en Heracleopolis Magna (Ehnasya el Medina)". According to the page, the city was the capital of Egypt in the Heracleopolitan period, under Dynasties 9 and 10, "around 2100 BC", and the Spanish mission excavated there a cemetery of the First Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. Source 2.
Two dates on either side of the boundary
"Around 2100" falls within the Met's First Intermediate Period. But the tomb of Hotep-wadjet is dated in the same source "around 2000", that is, after the start of the Middle Kingdom according to the Met (about 2030 BCE), and within the site's Middle Kingdom. The boundary itself runs through a dynasty: the Met's First Intermediate Period ends in "mid-Dynasty 11", where its Middle Kingdom begins. By the dates the source gives, the cemetery does not stop at the boundary. The article stays in the First Intermediate Period because its subject is the capital of Dynasties 9 and 10; the tomb's date is given as it stands and is not moved to fit. Sources 2, 1.
What cannot be said
The text of the page did not load, so this article describes neither the tombs, nor the finds, nor the history of the mission. The Met's timeline, too, names Heracleopolis only as the base of one of the two dynasties, with no details of the city. The question of what the northern centre of power was in the period of division is therefore answered here only at the level of a name, a status and dates; the mission's excavation publications are the place to draw the city and its cemetery. Sources 2, 1.
Scope of reading: the mission's page on the website of the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid was opened twice on 24 October 2026, but only its title, short description and navigation menus loaded, without the body text. The details attributed to the page come from an earlier reading made for this site and could not be checked again; the spelling of the name Hotep-wadjet was not checked against the page either. The Met's timeline page for Egypt, 8000-2000 BCE, was read. Excavation publications from Heracleopolis were not read.
Source
Sources and further reading
The research and references behind this page. Rights to external content remain with their owners.
- 1
Egypt, 8000-2000 B.C. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, chronology)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2000 · Checked
- 2
Misión arqueológica española en Egipto. Excavaciones en Heracleopolis Magna (Ehnasya el Medina)
Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid · Partly checked
