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Timeline › 11th Dynasty

Intef II c. 2112–2063 BC

Intef II ruled Thebes for about 49 years and fought the kings of Herakleopolis, pushing his frontier north to Abydos and Thinis. A limestone stela from his tomb at el-Tarif in western Thebes, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shows him offering beer and milk to Ra and Hathor. Another stela from the tomb shows him with his dogs, each named.

Horus name: Wahankh

Kings this early wrote their main name in a serekh: a frame drawn as the front of a palace, with a god standing on it, usually the falcon of Horus. The cartouche took over in the 4th Dynasty.

wꜣḥ-ꜥnḫ: “Strong in life”

Sign by sign

  1. Fibre swab V29wꜣḥ To set down, to endure.
  2. Ankh S34ꜥnḫ Life. To live.
Now draw this serekh yourself

Birth name: Intef

in-it.f: “His father brought him”

Also written Antef or Inyotef.

Sign by sign

  1. Pot with legs W25ini To bring.
  2. Ripple of water N35n The sound n. Also means 'of, to'.
  3. Bread loaf X1t The sound t. Also the feminine ending.
  4. Horned viper I9f The sound f. Also means 'he, his'.
Now draw this cartouche yourself

Where to see Intef II's name today

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met's Egyptian galleries let you walk through an Old Kingdom tomb chapel and a whole Roman-era temple, the Temple of Dendur, where the emperor Augustus appears as pharaoh with cartouches. The statues of Hatshepsut from her temple at Deir el-Bahari carry her names in full.

Names of gods (Ra, Amun, Ptah) are written first out of respect, even when they are read later. Dates are approximate; we follow Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000).