Antef I was the son of a local ruler of Thebes named Mentuhotep. He was the first Theban ruler to have proclaimed himself king, assuming a Horus-name and writing his personal name in a cartouche. He thus opposed the kings of the 9/10th Dynasty of Heracleopolis and started a civil war.
That a local ruler of a relatively small city was able to oppose the ruling dynasty can be explained by the strong decentralisation of the Ancient Egyptian government, which, in turn, may have been the result of the low inundation of the Nile at the end of the Old Kingdom.
He conquered some of the cities to the north of Thebes, among them Koptos and Dendara. To the south, he extended his reign to Elkab.
He was buried in a long, narrow rock-tomb on the West-bank of Thebes.
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