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The chronology of the Twelfth dynasty is the most stable of any period before the New Kingdom. Manetho stated that it was based in Thebes, but from contemporary records it is clear that the first king moved its capital to a new city named "Amenemhat-itj-tawy" ("Amenemhat the Siezer of the Two Lands"), more simply called Itjtaway . The location of Itjtaway has not been found, but is thought to be near the Fayyum , probably near the royal graveyards at el-Lisht . Egyptologists consider this dynasty to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom.

The order of its rulers is well known from several sources -- two lists recorded at temples in Abydos and one at Saqqara -- as well as Manetho's work. Because a recorded date during the reign of Senusret III can be correlated to the Sothic cycle, many events during this dynasty are frequently assigned to a year BC or BCE.

This dynasty was founded by Amenemhat I , who had been vizier to the last Pharaoh of the Eleventh dynasty, Mentuhotep IV . His armies campaigned south as far as the Second Cataract of the Nile and into the Near East, and he reestablished diplomatic relations with ByblosByblos was a city of Phoenicia, in ancient times. Its inhabitants called their city Gebal and it was known to the ancient Egyptians as Kepen but the Greeks called it Byblos probably because it was through Gebal that byblos (" papyrus" from Egypt) was impo and the rulers in the Aegean SeaGreece as seen from the island of Santorini The Aegean Sea ( Greek: Alpha;ιγαον Πλαγο&sigmaf Aigaion Pelagos Turkish: Ege denizi is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, located between the Greek penins. His son Senusret I followed his father's triumphs with an expedition south to the Third Cataract , but the next rulers were content to live in peace and enjoy the trade and tribute brought to them until the reign of Senusret III.

Finding NubiaToday Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan, but in ancient times it was an independent kingdom. Aswan, Egypt Its people spoke at least two varieties of the Nubian language group, a Nilo-Saharan subfamily which in had grown restive under the previous rulers, Senusret sent punitve expeditions into that land; he also sent an expedition into PalestineFor varying definitions, see definitions of Palestine. Palestine ( Latin: Syria Palaestina Hebrew: Palestina Eretz Yisrael Arabic: Filasin , is a region in the Middle East extending inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its political sta and SyriaThe Syrian Arab Republic is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The border with Israel is subject to dispute, pending the resolution of outstanding conflicts over possession of the Gola. These military campaigns gave birth to a legend of a mighty warrior named Sesostris, which was alluded to or retold by Manetho, HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey) was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC? c. 430 BC/ 420 BC?). Overview Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian invasion of Greece in the early fifth century B. known sim, and Diodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the province of Enna). Jerome dates Diodorus' floruit to 49 BC Chronica s. Abraham 1968), which is supported by Diodorus' own statements. The earliest date Diodorus me. This conqueror not only subdued the lands as had Senusret III, but also conquered Asia and had crossed over into Europe to annex ThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in south-east Europe spread over southern Bulgaria, north-eastern Greece, and European Turkey. Thrace borders on three seas: the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. History The indigenous population!

Senusret's successor Amenemhat III reaffirmed Sesostris' foreign policy, but under his reign the marshy Fayyum was also first exploited, and he was remembered for the mortuary temple at Hawara he built known to Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo as the " Labyrinth". However, after Amenemhat, the energies of this dynasty were largely spent, and the growing troubles of government were left to the dynasty's last ruler, Queen Sobekneferu, to handle.

It was during the Twelfth dynasty that we find the earliest examples of Egyptian literature . Perhaps best known from this period is The Story of Sinuhe, of which several hundred papyrus copies have been recovered. Also written during this dynasty were a number of Didactic works, such as the Instruction of Amenemhat I and the Protests of the Eloquent Peasant.