The pharaoh Amenemhet I (reigned 1991-1962 BC), though not of royal blood, was the founder of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt.

The mother of Amenemhet was apparently named Nefert and was a native of the nome, or province, of Elephantine, and he himself seems to have been born in southern Upper Egypt. His father was a commoner called Sesostris. Amenemhet is almost certainly identical with the vizier of the same name who was in charge of an expedition to the quarries of Wadi Hammamat in the second year of the reign of Nebtowere Mentuhotep III of the Eleventh Dynasty. Amenemhet was probably middle-aged when he became king after usurping his master's throne. He openly acknowledged his lack of royal ancestry, adopting as the first of three names in his new titulary the epithet Wehem-Meswet (Repeater of Births), thereby identifying himself as the inaugurator of a new era in...