Egypt in the Sixth Dynasty: challenges and responses

Throughout history, societies have faced threats to their stability and very existence, which was certainly true of the Sixth Dynasty of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. In these years the country experienced royal assassination, religious, constitutional and administrative problems, as well as economic deterioration and growing threats from neighbouring societies - factors ultimately associated with the collapse of one of the most stable societies of the ancient world. The present text seeks to understand the nature of these challenges that faced the Egyptian nation and the country's failure to adopt corrective responses. As a result a number of lines of investigation were chosen — to marshal and organise available evidence relating to the Memphite administration of the later Old Kingdom and the provincial evidence from Upper Egypt pertaining to the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. The recent re-excavation and recording of these sites, many by the Australian Centre for Egyptology (Macquarie University), and the progress made in the study of dating and chronology, provided more accurate data and a reliable time frame for its interpretation.