Illustration of an open papyrus — not a copy of a specific text.
The Classical Age · c. 2055 – 1650 BCE
Once Egypt was a single kingdom again, its kings no longer built the greatest pyramids. They built something else: a state that wrote, counted and guarded its borders, and a literature Egyptians would read and learn for centuries afterwards.
The Middle Kingdom runs roughly from 2055 to 1650 BCE, covering the later Eleventh Dynasty and the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties.
Scholarly note: Some scholars end the Middle Kingdom with the close of the Twelfth Dynasty.
Editorial status: Published — Editorial draft built from the cited sources, awaiting review by a specialist in the Middle Kingdom. (Last reviewed: 2026-11-13)