Throughout the Pharaonic period, only a very small percentage of the Egyptian population was literate. The elites were generally educated and literate, as were the children of government officials (although these might also be considered elites). This group of people, however, was never more than one or two percent of the population. Literacy was vital to government work in Egyptian society and thus, although Egypt was a meritocratic society in theory, in practice the poor were prevented from social advancement by illiteracy.

Having come from Western Asia, the Hyksos people spoke Semitic languages. They are most known for residing in Lower Egypt after losing control of Upper Egypt. The Hyksos were also very welcoming to Hebrews, whom migrated into Lower Egypt during the rule of the Hyksos in Lower Egypt.

The Egyptians believed that the afterlife was complex and dangerous. They wrote funerary texts on tombs and temples in order to guide and protect the deceased during their journey through the underworld. The Pyramid Texts emerged first, during the Old Kingdom, and were inscribed on the walls of the tombs of rulers. The Coffin Texts came later, during the Middle Kingdom, and were written on the walls of coffins (even the coffins of common people). The Book of the Dead was a collection of spells, mostly copied from the Coffin Texts, that were widely written on papyri. It became popular during the New Kingdom.

Amenemhat I became ruler of Egypt, along with his wife Neferitatjenen, in 1991 BCE and ruled until he was assassinated in 1962 BCE.

Mentuhotep I is generally credited with reunifying Egypt under the Eleventh Dynasty, and thus beginning the Middle Kingdom period of ancient Egyptian history. Mentuhotep I ruled over Upper Egypt from his capital city of Thebes during the waning years of the First Intermediate Period. He is usually credited with leading the conquest of the Heracleopolis Egyptians and reuniting Egypt.

Senusret III was one of the most powerful and significant ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty in ancient Egypt. He ruled from approximately 1878 to 1840 BCE, during the height of the power of the Middle Kingdom. Senusret III carried out many successful military campaigns and expanded Egyptian influence deep into Nubia.

Amenemhat I was the first ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty. He ruled in the 20th century BCE and his reign marks the beginning of a period of relative prosperity in Egyptian history - called the Golden Age of the Middle Kingdom.

The Theban Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty initiated the Middle Kingdom and reunified Egypt after the turmoil of the First Intermediate Period by finally ending the civil war between Thebes and Heracleopolis with a military expedition that was met with little resistance. Thereafter, he centralized powers towards himself and away from the nomarchs by establishing a force of bureaucrats who supervised the nomarchs and ensured that acted not as sovereign rulers but rather as governors who implemented the will of the Pharaoh. Amenemhat II, Senusret III, Queen Sobokneferu and Amenemhat IV were all Pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty, also of the Middle Kingdom.

The founder of the Middle Kingdom was Mentuhotep II. This pharaoh conquered the last dynasty of the Old Kingdom. He is also credited with reunifying upper and lower Egypt. 

Amenemhet I (the first pharaoh to reign despite being outside the royal bloodline) first devised the concept of a co-regency. A co-regency occurs when two individuals reign together as monarchs, in simultaneous cooperation. During the twentieth year of his rule, Amenemhet I, fearing a rival claimant to the throne would arise after his death and challenge his dynastic succession, took radical action by appointing his oldest son, Senusret I, as his co-regent. Father and son reigned together for the next two decades, before Amenemhet I’s death. Afterwards, successive dynasties often continued the co-regency custom, mainly due to both its stabilizing effects upon the always-controversial line of succession and its allowance of smooth power transfers.