From fragment to scene: The reliefs from the funerary complex of Mentuhotep II

Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II (c.2055-2004 BC) was the founder of the Middle Kingdom, ruling from Thebes during the Eleventh Dynasty. His innovative funerary complex was the first to be built at Deir el-Bahri, and was the model for the later temples of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut. Sadly, as Geoffrey Lenox-Smith accurately pointed out in AE 136, Mentuhotep’s complex nowadays lies almost unnoticed. Nevertheless, this monument deserves attention, not least because its walls were once beautifully decorated with scenes carved in relief. Unfortunately, only fragments from these decorated walls are currently preserved. It is these fragments that form the dataset of my ongoing PhD research at Johns Hop