9th Dynasty

Fact 1 on 9th Dynasty:

Despite the attempts by the 8th line of Memphis rulers to re-establish the divine status of the kings and so prevent insurrections a new powerful group emerged who were based in the city of Herakleopolis (see map below).
 

Fact 2 on 9th Dynasty:

The violent usurpers of Herakleopolis seized power from the Memphis kings in the northern lands of Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta.
 

Fact 3 on 9th Dynasty:

According to Manetho, an ancient Egyptian historian, the first King Khety was "terrible beyond all before him" and who "wrought evil things for those in all Egypt".
 

Fact 4 on 9th Dynasty:

The Herakleopolitan rulers were unable to take control of Upper Egypt in the south who established their own provincial administration under the local control of the Nomarchs.
 

Fact 5 on 9th Dynasty:

The Herakleopolitan rulers attempted to force administrative reforms in Upper Egypt. They abolished the title of Nomarch requiring the Nomes to be administered by priests, acting as local overseers, who were under the direct control of an "overseer of Upper Egypt."
 

Fact 6 on 9th Dynasty:

The attempts of the Herakleopolitan rulers to strip power from the Nomarchs was successful in places such as Dendera but led to massive resentment and open hostilities, especially in Thebes, towards the northern rulers.
 

Fact 7 on 9th Dynasty:

A country on the verge of Civil war is always a prime target for foreign invaders and Asian inhabitants of the desert areas, nomadic tribes of Bedouins, made tentative attempts at encroaching on Egyptian lands.
 

Fact 8 on 9th Dynasty:

As well as the political strife and foreign threats the ancient Egyptians also suffered from a most terrible famine during this period. The famine was so severe in the far south of Egypt that some resorted to cannibalism.
 

Fact 9 on 9th Dynasty:

The lives of ordinary Egyptians was difficult in this chaotic period in history. Much of their attention focussed on death and the possibility of a better existence in the Afterlife. The cult of Osiris, the god of the dead, was popular.
 

Fact 10 on 9th Dynasty:

Ordinary Egyptians started to create their own small funerary monuments, such as simple tombstones or stele, in memory of the dead. This practise were no longer seen as the exclusive right of the king.
 

Fact 11 on 9th Dynasty:

It is possible that a primitive protest against injustice emerged during this period. The story of the Eloquent Peasant was one of the most popular of ancient Egyptian tales. Despite terrible threats the Eloquent Peasant took his protests against injustice to the highest levels and prayed to the jackal-headed god Anubis for help. This was another example of the changing status of ordinary Egyptians.
 

Fact 12 on 9th Dynasty:

Manetho accorded 19 kings to the 9th line of rulers who resided at Herakleopolis extending over a period of 146 years.