MOGA 2015
Unearth The Pharaoh's Treasure
MOGA 2015 was the 12th annual Midwest Open Geocaching Adventure Event. Each year Geocachers come from around the country and even around the world to compete in this premier geocaching competition event. Each year MOGA puts out permanent tribute caches to represent the punches in the competition course.
The theme of MOGA 2015 is treasure hunting and adventuring in Ancient Egypt, reflecting the adventurous spirit of geocachers. MOAG 2015 has 60 permanent tribute caches, each named for an Egyptian Pharaoh.
In addition to these 60 caches, there are 16 Caches of the Gods containing clues to the location of the The Pharaoh's Treasure, the main event cache for MOGA 2015.
Mentuhotep II
Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II was a Pharaoh of the 11th dynasty who reigned for 51 years. Around his 39th year on the throne he reunited Egypt thus ending the First Intermediary Period. Consequently, he is considered the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom.
In the 14th year of his reign, an uprising occurred in the north. This uprising is most probably connected with the ongoing conflict between Mentuhotep II based in Thebes and the rival 10th dynasty based at Herakleopolis who threatened to invade Upper Egypt. The 14th year of Mentuhotep's reign is indeed named Year of the crime of Thinis.This certainly refers to the conquest of the Thinite region by the Herakleopolitan kings who apparently desecrated the sacred ancient royal necropolis of Abydos in the process.
Mentuhotep II subsequently dispatched his armies to the north. The famous tomb of the warriors at Deir el-Bahari discovered in the 1920s, contained the linen-wrapped, unmummified bodies of 60 soldiers all killed in battle, their shroud bearing Mentuhotep II's cartouche. Due to its proximity to the Theban royal tombs, the tomb of the warriors is believed to be that of heroes who died during the conflict between Mentuhotep II and his foes to the north. Merykara, the ruler of Lower-Egypt at the time may have died during the conflict, which further weakened his kingdom and gave Mentuhotep the opportunity to reunite Egypt. The exact date when reunification was achieved is not known, but it is assumed to have happened shortly before year 39 of his reign.
Indeed, evidence shows that the process took time, maybe due to the general insecurity of the country at the time: commoners where buried with weapons, the funerary stelae of officials show them holding weapons instead of the usual regalia and when Mentuhotep II's successor sent an expedition to Punt some 20 years after the reunification, they still had to clear the Wadi Hammamat of rebels.
Following the reunification, Mentuhotep II was considered by his subjects to be divine, or half divine. This was still the case by the end of 12th dynasty some 200 years later: Senusret III and Amenemhat III erected stelae commemorating opening of the mouth ceremonies practiced on Mentuhotep II's statues.
This Geocache was placed with the permission of the property owner/manager