Mentuhotep III

(S'ankhkare) King 2009-1998 BC.

    S'ankhkare Mentuhotep III succeeded his great father, Nebhepetre *Mentuhotep II, as the last recorded king of the Eleventh Dynasty, although he was probably briefly succeeded by Nebtowyre *Mentuhotep IV.

    In his twelve year reign, he apparently built on a large scale throughout many towns in Upper Egypt, where inscribed blocks testify to the existence of temples or chapels of this period. Also, during his reign, there was activity in the stone quarries at Wadi Hammamat, where an inscription dated to Year 8 recalls how a steward was sent there with the task of quarrying stone for the production of statues that were to be placed in temples and tombs. The king's burial place may have been situated at a location in a circular bay to the south of Deir el Bahri, similar to the place which his father selected for his own great complex.

BIBL. Winlock, H.E. Excavations at Deir el Bahri, 1911-1931. New York: 1942; Winlock, H.E. The rise and fall of the Middle Kingdom in Thebes. New York: 1947.

Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Rosalie and Antony E. David

* * *

(reigned c. 2004–1992 BC)

   Throne name Sankhkare. Son and successor of Mentuhotep II and Tem. He also built a funerary complex at Deir el-Bahri, but it has not survived. This site was examined by George Schweinfurth in 1904 and Flinders Petrie in 1909 and excavated by a Hungarian expedition from 1995–1998.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier