MIDDLE EGYPT

The term Middle Egypt describes the area between Asyut and Memphis, therefore, somewhat confusingly, the northern part of Upper Egypt of the traditional terminology ; both limits are geographically well defined and historically significant. Asyut became the southernmost area of the Herakleopolitan kingdom during the 1st Intermediate Period. The boundary between the southern and northern administrative regions remained in its vicinity until the end of the New Kingdom.

The area is characterized by the provincial tombs of the late Old kingdom and the 1st Intermediate Period cut in the cliffs on the edge of the desert plateau. Ihnasya El-medina was the residence of the Herakleopolitans, while in the 12th Dynasty the capital was further north, at Itjtawy, somewhere near El-Lisht. During the Middle kingdom the Faiyum gained in importance, never to lose it. El-‘Amarna became the royal residence for a few years in the 18th Dynasty. During the 3rd Intermediate and late periods Middle Egypt was the meting ground of the delta and the south. In late antiquity it prospered and traded extensively with the oases : although smaller and less spectacular than their southern contemporaries, many temples testify to the renewed vitality of Middle Egyptian towns.

 Source: Baines and Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt