Collapse of Egypt's Old Kingdom

Around 2181 BCE, the central government of Egypt's Old Kingdom broke down at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, ending the age of the great pyramid builders. The First Intermediate Period that followed lasted until about 2055 BCE. Egypt did not vanish. Power shifted from the pharaoh in Memphis to regional governors called nomarchs, and for a time rival rulers governed from different cities.¹⁴

Historians point to causes that built up together. Pharaohs gave land and tax exemptions to temples and officials to pay for pyramids and cults, which drained the treasury. Provincial governors became hereditary and rich. Pepi II reigned for a very long time, possibly more than 90 years by later king lists, which may have left the court weak and without clear heirs. Evidence of low Nile floods around this period suggests famine and strained loyalty to the crown. Rival rulers in Herakleopolis and Thebes competed until Mentuhotep II of Thebes reunified Egypt around 2055 BCE and began the Middle Kingdom. Later writings such as the Admonitions of Ipuwer describe a world turned upside down, though they exaggerate.²³⁴⁵