Elite military representations from the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom and their historical significance

Representations of the military provide important sources of evidence for our understanding of how the instability of the civil war impacted the values and priorities of the ruling elite. This paper examines all of the known elite military wall scenes and funerary models from the First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom by investigating their owners, content, and locations in the tomb. Through an innovative comparative analysis, this paper identifies, for the first time, the distinguishing features between the two media in their portrayal of the military. It proposes reasons for their distinctive representations and what stimulated the appearance of the military theme among funerary models. By considering these artistic developments alongside the changing historical circumstances, the analysis reveals that a period of instability in society impacted the ruling elite’s preparation for the afterlife, increasing the desire to publicly promote their military leadership and to maintain eternal access to protection.