Egyptian provincial administration in the early Middle Kingdom.

The objective of this paper is an historical study of the workings of the provincial government of the late Eleventh and early Twelfth Dynasties, primarily on the basis of the titles of the officials of that Period, particularly the provincial governors. To this end, a Prosopography of early Middle Kingdom officials is included in Chapter two and four Appendices chart the frequency and patterns of occurrence of twenty-three separate titles held by these officials. The evidence points to a destruction of the old 'feudal' system of provincial government during the late Eleventh Dynasty and its transformation, in the early Twelfth Dynasty, into a system of centralized control of provincial affairs. High-ranking royal officials bearing the titles of provincial governors were stationed in certain key geographical areas. Like most high offices, the governorship at this period seems to have been an appointive office and not an hereditary one. This fact, in addition to the individuals' close relationship to the king, seems to have ensured the loyalty of these officials to the Crown. By stabilizing the provincial administration and re-establishing strong central control, Amenemhat I and Senusert I created the conditions necessary for the rapid expansion of the Twelfth Dynasty into Nubia