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First Intermediate Period of Egypt

Era of Ancient Egyptian history (c. 2181–c. 2055 BC)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia

Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0

Source revisionAug 19, 2026

Entity authoritySource title only

Source-derived summary

The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181 – c. 2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and part of the Eleventh Dynasties. The concept of a "First Intermediate Period" was coined in 1926 by Egyptologists Georg Steindorff and Henri Frankfort. Arguing that it was not a dark age, Ludwig David Morenz has put forward the alternative name "Period of Regions".

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “First Intermediate Period of Egypt” is era of Ancient Egyptian history (c. 2181–c. 2055 BC). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through First, Intermediate and Period, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2055, 1926—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, First, Intermediate and Period is the immediate research focus.

Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “era of Ancient Egyptian history (c. 2181–c. 2055 BC)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The first chronological checks are 2055 and 1926.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

Establish the record: confirm the title “First Intermediate Period of Egypt”, its source revision and the description used here.
Expand the search: follow First Intermediate Period of Egypt primary sources, First Intermediate Period of Egypt archive and First research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

First Intermediate Period of Egypt history →First Intermediate Period of Egypt primary sources →First Intermediate Period of Egypt archive →First research →Intermediate research →Period research →Egypt research →

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “First Intermediate Period of Egypt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.