General Notes

Nomarch of Thebes assumed the title of Great Chief

Mentuhotep I was the son of Antef III and a minor consort named Iah. He was one of the most prominent pharaohs in Egyptian history and a very able state-builder. According to the Royal Canon of Turin he reigned for 51 years. When he became pharaoh Thebes controlled the territory from Aswan in the south up to the Abydos area. After 15 years of combat with the kings of Herakleopolis he could slowly begin moving northward an eventually succeeded in concurring the north and united the country. He then started a consolidation for about 20 years up to his death, and made Egypt prosperous again.
He built a magnificent new style mortuary temple at Deir-el-Bahri in Western Thebes with a rock cut tomb for himself. The statue left was found at that location.

Mentuhotep I is one of the most outstanding rulers in Egyptian history. His throne name was Nebhetepre (seen in the cartouche right). He was lucky to have a long reign of about fifty years and the first decade is little known about. His fourteenth years on the throne has been referred to as "the year of the crime of Thinis", an indication that the opponents from the north was reaching that far south in the civil that had been going on for 85 years pushing the border between Thebes and Herakleopolis in the north up and down the Nile valley. Mentuhotep stroke back and manage to reach up to Asyut in middle Egypt. After a little more than 30 years on the throne he had the pleasure to se the enemies' capital concurred and he was the supreme pharaoh from Nubia to the Mediterranean Sea and the first king from Thebes who could rightfully call himself "King of the Two Countries".

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Reconstruction of the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep at Deir el Bahri in West Thebes. His tomb was cut deep into the bedrock behind and underneath the building. Right: a life size sandstone statue of the king.

Even during the re-conquest of Egypt, Mentuhotep had built or restored several monuments in Upper Egypt like those of Dendera, Abydos, el Kab and Elephantine in Aswan. He paid special homage to Thebes's war-god Mentu, who had helped him to accomplish his task, by adopting his name and build temples to him at Medamud, Armant and Tod.
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Relief of the king found
in his mortuary temple.
Overshadowing all other monuments was his own great mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri in Western Thebes. It was built against the mountain and designed in two terraces with 280 solid stone columns supporting parts of the construction and as an eye catching view. This feature was taken from the tombs of his three predecessors - the Antefs.
On top was erected a symbolic burial mound of massive stone, probably as a pyramid or a mastaba. The real tomb with the king's burial chamber was cut into the rock behind and underneath the temple in a way that would be the prototype for royal tombs in the future.
At the ground level sycamore trees were planted on both sides of the entrance stairway which to a great extent still is standing today.
Unfortunately we don't know the name of the architect of this complex, but he surely was a man of fantasy and imagination in designing buildings. It's quite possible that Mentuhotep himself was partly responsible, as the genius he was in organising official works and administrating the country.