Amenemhat I (Sehetepibre)

Amenemhat I (throne-name Sehetepibre) founded Dynasty 12, reigning around 1985-1956 BCE (Shaw's conventional dates). He moved the royal residence north to a new capital, Itj-tawy, near the Faiyum, and established a co-regency with his son Senwosret I, a practice that would help secure the dynasty's successions. According to the literary tradition he was assassinated in a palace conspiracy; this event frames two of the masterpieces of Middle Kingdom literature, the Tale of Sinuhe and the Instruction of Amenemhat, the latter a text composed in the dead king's voice. These are works of literature keyed to his reign, not contemporary chronicles, and should be read as such. His foundation opened the Middle Kingdom's classical age of art and letters.