ARCE New England: Game of Nomes in the First Intermediate Period: Intef is coming!

Lecture Information: 

At the end of the Old Kingdom, centralized political power disintegrated, and local rulers came to the fore in the political game. The lack of a central administration and the increasing rivalry between regions for the control of wealth flow transformed the Egyptian society, which now experienced economic regeneration. Contrary to traditional interpretations of the period, recent archaeological research shows no traces of climatic crisis but internal struggles between competing parties. Ultimately, political power coalesced around Herakleopolis in the north and Thebes in the south. In a situation in which political authority and prestige ebbed and flowed between regional lineages, the nomarchs of Thebes took control of major circuits, remote resources, and neighboring territories. In this talk, we will examine some of the primary sources for the study of the conflicts of the First Intermediate Period, focusing on the aspirations of the House of Intef to establish a reunified kingdom and the reactions of the other local powers in Egypt. 

Speaker Bio:

Antonio Morales is Assistant Professor in Egyptology in the Seminar of Ancient History at the University of Alcala (Madrid). He is currently based at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University as Real Colegio Complutense Visiting Professor. Previously, Dr. Morales was lecturer in Egyptology and Research Associate at Freie Universitat Berlin, postdoctoral researcher at Heidelberg Universitat, and Assistant Researcher at the Department of Egypt and Sudan in the British Museum (London). He obtained his PhD in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia 2013) with a dissertation dealing with the transmission of the Pyramid Texts from the Old to the Middle Kingdom.