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| King userkaf |
- The founder of the fifth dynasty.
- He reigned for seven to eight years.
- He was a high priest of king re.
- He was mentioned on Palermo stone that he donated lands from his private property to the temple of the god re, He also provided the temple with offerings on feasts.
- He allocated lands for the workship of goddess Hathor.
- He was interested in the religious aspect because he was a priest before he became a king,also has a cylindrical ring located in British Museum.
- Userkaf built a modest Pyramid at north saqqara,also his mortuary temple at Saqqara.
- In addition to,one of his most famous works "The temple of the sun" which he built in Abu sir.
- 2- Sahure
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| King Sahure ( 2458-2446 BC ) |
The second ruler of the fifth dynasty, He reigned about 13 years in the early 25 century Bc during the old kingdom period. Sahure's reign marks the political and cultural highboint of the fifth Dynasty.sahure launched several naval expeditions to modern-day lebnon to procure cedartrees,salves and exotic items .addition to, Sahure ordered the earliest attested expedition to the land of punt which brought backlarge quantities of myrnh,malachite. Sahure had a pyramid built for himself in Abusir, thereby abandoning the royal necropolises of Saqqara and Giza, where his predecessors had built their monuments. This decision was possibly motivated by the presence of the sun temple of Userkaf in Abusir, the first such temple of the Fifth Dynasty.Altough his pyramid is less impressive than some earlier examples,the pyramid complex of king sahure,of the 5th dynasty is an excellent example of how the different elemnts of the complex fitted together to form an architectural whole. Sahure is shown celebrating the success of this venture in a relief from his mortuary temple which shows him tending a myrrh tree in the garden of his palace named "Sahure's splendor soars up to heaven". This relief is the only one in Egyptian art depicting a king gardening. Sahure sent further expeditions to the turquoise and copper mines in Sinai. He also ordered military campaigns against Libyan chieftains in the Western Desert, bringing back livestock to Egypt. The meat offerings to kings sahure included beef and vension.this relief from his mortuary temple shows men butchering animals at the pyramid complex,where the meats were represented as an offering to the king ka.
- 3- Neferirkare ( 2446 - 2426 BC )
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| Titulary of Neferirkare |
- the third king of the fifth dynasty.the eldest son of Sahure with his consort Meretnebty,was known as Renefer A before he came to the throne. He acceded the day after his father's death and reigned for eight to eleven years,sometime in the early to mid-25th century BCE. Neferirkare started a pyramid for himself in the royal necropolis of Abusir,called Ba-Neferirkare meaning "Neferirkare is Ba". It was initially planned to be a step pyramid, a form which had not been employed since the days of Third dynasty circa 120 years ealier.this plan was modified to transform the monument into a true pyramid,the largest in Abusir,which was never completed owing to the death of the king. In addition Neferirkare built a temple to the sun god ( Ra )called Setibre.Ancient sources state that it was the largest one built during the fifth Dynasty but as of the early 21st century it has not yet been located.In addition to,the most important of his works he carried out
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| Pyramid Complex at Abusir |
inside the country was the construction of the great Sun Temple at Abu Sir,near Memphis. The model of this temple was distinctive of the buildings of the temples of kings in the fifth Dynasty. It was located near the Pharaoh's Pyramid,and was decorated with the new forms of columns that were previously mentioned.The pyramid of Neferirkare was built for the Fifth dynasty pharaoh Neferirkare kakai in the 25th century BC. It was the tallest structure on the highest site at the necropolis of Abusir,found between Giza and Saqqara,and still towers over necropolis.the pyramid is also significant because it excavation led to the discovery of Abusir Papyri.According the Turin List, He may have ruled for a short period of one and half years. The fifth dynasty marked the end of great pyramidcal structures during the old kingdom. The pyramids of this era were smaller and became more standardized Although complex relief decoration was widespread. The letter Neferirkare Kakai Pyramid differs from the rest of the pyramids because it was originally built as a step pyramid.the design arose after the third dynasty(26th-27th Century BC).The Pyramid was then implemented in the second step with modifications intended to transform a true Pyramid.The pyramid of Neferirkare is surrounded by smaller Pyramids and tombs which seem to form an architectural unit,the cemetery of his close family.this ensemble was meant to be reached from tge Nile via a clauseway and a
Valley Temple near a river.
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King Shepseskare
( 2426-2419 BC ) |
-was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) during the Old Kingdom period. Shepseskare lived in the mid-25th century BC and was probably the owner of an unfinished pyramid in Abusir, which was abandoned after a few weeks of work in the earliest stages of its construction. Following historical sources, Shepseskare was traditionally believed to have reigned for seven years, succeeding Neferirkare Kakai and preceding Neferefre on the throne,making him the fourth ruler of the dynasty. He is the most obscure ruler of this dynasty and the Egyptologist Miroslav Verner has strongly argued that Shepseskare's reign lasted only a few months at the most, after that of Neferefre. This conclusion is based upon the state and location of Shepseskare's unfinished pyramid in Abusir as well as the very small number of artefacts attributable to this king. Verner's arguments have now convinced several Egyptologists such as Darrell Baker and Erik Hornung.The most importnat work he carried out insude the county was the construction of the great Sun Temple at Abu Sir,near Memphis.The model of this Temple was distinctive of the buildings of kings in the Fifth Dynasty.It was located near the Pharoah's Pyramid,and was decorated with the new forms of columns that were previously mentioned. It's possible that Shepseskare continued the construction of the funerary complex of his predecessor.As Neferefre had died after a short reign, his pyramid complex was far from finished and neither the burial chamber nor the mortuary temple had been built. The planned pyramid was thus hastily changed into a square mastaba representing a stylized primeval hill and the accompanying mortuary temple was completed during the reign of Nyuserre. The presence of seals of Shepseskare in the oldest part of Neferefre's mortuary temple could indicate that the former also undertook construction works there. The evidence for such works is uncertain: these seals could have been placed on boxes which were later moved into the magazine rooms of the temple. For example, seals of Userkaf, Sahure and Neferirkare Kakai were also found in the temple, while these three pharaohs died before Neferefre's reign.
- 5- Neferefre
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| Titulary of Neferefre |
The Fifth ruler of the fifth Dynasty,during the Old Kingdom. He was most likely the eldest son of pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II. He was known as prince Ranefer before he ascended to the throne .
Neferefre started a pyramid for himself in the royal necropolis of Abusir called Netjeribau Raneferef, which means "The bas of Neferefre are divine". The pyramid was never finished, with a mason's inscription showing that works on the stone structure were abandoned during or shortly after the king's second year of reign. Together with the sparsity of attestations contemporaneous with his reign, this is taken by Egyptologists as evidence that Neferefre died unexpectedly after two to three years on the throne. Neferefre was nonetheless buried in his pyramid, hastily completed in the form of a mastaba by his second
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| King Neferefre ( 2419-2416 BC ) |
successor and presumably younger brother, pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. Fragments of his mummy were uncovered there, showing that he died in the early twenties. his early Probably ,he ruled for two years or less in the early to mid 25th century Little is known of Neferefre's activities beyond laying the foundations of his pyramid and attempting to finish that of his father. A single text shows that Neferefre had planned or just started to build a sun temple called Hotep-Re, meaning "Ra is content" or "Ra's offering table", which possibly never functioned as such given the brevity of the king's reign. After his death, Neferefre might have been succeeded by an ephemeral and little-known pharaoh, Shepseskare, whose relation with Neferefre remains highly uncertain and debated.
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| King Niuserre (2416-2392 BC ) |
6- Niuserre
The the sixth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He is credited with a reign of 24 to 35 years depending on the scholar, and likely lived in the second half of the 25th century BCE. Nyuserre was the younger son of Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II, and the brother of the short-lived king Neferefre. He may have succeeded his brother directly, as indicated by much later historical sources. Alternatively, Shepseskare may have reigned between the two as advocated by Miroslav Verner, albeit only for a few weeks or months at the most. The relation of Shepseskare with Neferefre and Nyuserre remains highly uncertain. Nyuserre was in turn succeeded by Menkauhor Kaiu, who could have been his nephew and a son of Neferefre.
Nyuserre was the most prolific builder of his dynasty, having built three pyramids for himself and his queens and completed a further three for his father, mother and brother, all in the necropolis of Abusir. He built the largest surviving temple to the sun god Ra constructed during the Old Kingdom, named Shesepibre or "Joy of the heart of Ra". He also completed the Nekhenre, the Sun temple of Userkaf in Abu Gorab, and the valley temple of Menkaure in Giza. In doing so, he was the first king since Shepseskaf, last ruler of the Fourth Dynasty, to pay attention to the Giza necropolis, a move which may have been an attempt to legitimise his rule following the troubled times surrounding the unexpected death of his brother Neferefre.
There is little evidence for military action during Nyuserre's reign; the Egyptian state continued to maintain trade relations with Byblos on the Levantine coast and to send mining and quarrying expeditions to Sinai and Lower Nubia. Nyuserre's reign saw the growth of the administration, and the effective birth of the nomarchs, provincial governors who, for the first time, were sent to live in the provinces they administered rather than at the pharaoh's court.
As with other Old Kingdom pharaohs, Nyuserre benefited from a funerary cult established at his death. In Nyuserre's case, this official state-sponsored cult existed for centuries, surviving the chaotic First Intermediate Period and lasting until the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. In parallel, a spontaneous popular cult appeared, with people venerating Nyuserre under his birth name "Iny". In this cult, Nyuserre played a role similar to that of a saint, being invoked as an intercessor between the believer and the gods. It left little archaeological evidence and seems to have continued until the New Kingdom, nearly 1000 years after his death.Assuming Verner's reconstruction of the Fifth Dynasty royal family, Nyuserre Ini faced an enormous task when he ascended the throne: his father, mother and brother had all left their pyramids unfinished,his father's and brother's sun temples were unfinished too and he had to construct his own pyramid as well as those of his queens. Nyuserre met this challenge by placing his pyramid in the immediate vicinity of the unfinished ones, on the north-eastern corner of that of Neferirkare Kakai and next to that of Sahure, thereby concentrating all pyramid building activities in South Abusir,in an area of 300 m × 300 m (980 ft × 980 ft).This meant that his pyramid was out of the alignment formed by the preceding ones, limited its size and constrained the layout of his mortuary
complex.This would explain why, despite having enjoyed one of the longest reigns of the Fifth Dynasty,
Nyuserre's pyramid was smaller than that of his father and closer in size to that of his grandfather Sahure.Builders and artisans who worked on Nyuserre's constructions projects lived in the pyramid town "Enduring-are-the-(cult)-places-of-Niuserre", which was very likely located in Abusir between the causeways of Sahure and Nyuserre.
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| Pyramid Complex of Niuserre |
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| King Menkauhor |
Was an encieny egyption pharoah pharaoh of the Old Kingdom period. He was the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynasty at the end of the 25th century BC or early in the 24th century BC (circa 2399–2390 (BC). His reign from Eight to nine years of reign in the late-25th to early-24th century BC.Menkauhor Kaiu is known to have ordered the construction of two major monuments during his reign: a sun temple for the veneration of Ra and a pyramid for his burial, known today as the "Headless Pyramid"Given the scarcity of contemporaneous attestations for Menkauhor, modern Egyptologists consider his reign to have been perhaps eight or nine years long, as indicated by the much later historical sources.The small seated statue of Menkauhor wearing the robe of the Sed festival[19] might suggest a longer reign, since this festival was typically celebrated only after a ruler had spent 30 years on the throne. However, Egyptologist Hartwig Altenmüller deems this hypothesis unlikely.Mere depictions of the festival do not necessarily imply a long reign; for example, a relief showing pharaoh Sahure in the tunic of the Sed festival was found in his mortuary temple,although both historical sources and archaeological evidence suggest Sahure ruled Egypt for less than 14 full years.Owing to the scarcity of artefacts and inscriptions relating to Menkauhor's reign, few of his activities are known. Menkauhor sent an expedition to Sinai to exploit the mines of turquoise and copper in the Wadi Maghareh.The expedition is
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Titulary of Menkauhor
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evidenced by a damaged rock inscription showing Menkauhor's titulary which is one of the few
attestations dating to his lifetime.The mines of Sinai had been exploited since the Third Dynasty (2686 BC–2613 BC), and both Menkauhor's predecessor Nyuserre Ini and successor Djedkare Isesi sent expeditions to the Wadi Maghareh.Menkauhor Kaiu built a pyramid in North-Saqqara, thereby abandoning the royal necropolis of Abusir, where kings of the Fifth Dynasty had been buried since the reign of Sahure, some 80 years earlier.The reason for this choice may be that the Abusir plateau had become overcrowded by the beginning of Menkauhor's reign.Following a tradition which started with Userkaf, the founder of the Fifth Dynasty, Menkauhor built a temple to the sun god Ra. He was the last pharaoh to do so. His successors, Djedkare Isesi and Unas, abandoned this practice as the cult of Ra declined at the expense of that of Osiris.Given the paucity of documents relating to Menkauhor's sun temple, it probably functioned for only a short time or was never completed.
Menkauhor's sun temple was called Akhet-Ra, which is variously translated as "The Horizon of Ra" or "The Place where Ra Issues Forth".The temple has yet to be located and could be lying under the sands of Saqqara or Abusir.Its existence is known thanks to inscriptions found in the tombs of Fifth and Sixth Dynasties officials who served as priests of Ra in the temple.These include Hemu,buried in Giza, and Neferiretptah and Raemankh,who were both buried in Saqqara-north.In addition to his service in the Akhet-Ra, Neferiretptah was a priest in Menkauhor's pyramid and held the office of "royal ornament", making him responsible for the precious items in the palace of the king.
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| Titulary of Djedkare |
Was a pharaoh, the eighth and penultimate ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt in the late 25th century to mid-24th century BC, during the Old Kingdom. Djedkare succeeded Menkauhor Kaiu and was in turn succeeded by Unas. His relationship to both of these pharaohs remain uncertain, although it is often conjectured that Unas was Djedkare's son, owing to the smooth transition between the two. Djedkare commissioned expeditions to Sinai to procure copper and turquoise, to Nubia for its gold and diorite and to the fabled Land of Punt for its incense. One such expedition had what could be the earliest recorded instance of oracular divination undertaken to ensure an expedition's success. The word "Nub", meaning gold, to designate Nubia is first recorded during Djedkare's reign. Under his rule, Egypt also entertained continuing trade relations with the Levantine coast and made punitive raids in Canaan. In particular, one of the earliest depictions of a battle or siege scene was found in the tomb of one of
Djedkare's subjects.The relative chronological position of Djedkare as the eighth and penultimate ruler of the Fifth Dynasty, succeeding Menkauhor Kaiu and preceding Unas on the throne, is well established by historical sources and confirmed by archaeological evidence .his reign Duration uncertain, at least 33 years and possibly more than 44 years, in the late-25th to mid-24th century BC. Djedkare likely enjoyed a reign of more than 40 years, which heralded a new period in the history of the Old Kingdom. Breaking with a tradition followed by his predecessors since the time of Userkaf, Djedkare did not build a temple to the sun god Ra, possibly reflecting the rise of Osiris in the Egyptian pantheon. More significantly, Djedkare effected comprehensive reforms of the Egyptian state administration, the first undertaken since the inception of the system of ranking titles. He also reorganised the funerary cults of his forebears buried in the
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| Pyramid of Djedkare |
necropolis of Abusir and reformed the corresponding priesthood. Djedkare is believed to have been buried in a pyramid in Saqqara named Nefer Djedkare ("Djedkare is perfect"), which is now ruined owing to theft of stone from its outer casing during antiquity. When excavated in the 1940s, the burial chamber contained mummified skeletal remains thought to belong to Djedkare. Examinations of the mummy revealed the individual died in his fifties. A clue to the identity of the remains came from skeletal and blood type comparisons with those of two females thought to be Djedkare's daughters buried in the nearby Southern Cemetery as Abusir. Radio carbon dating carried out on the effects of the three individuals revealed a common range of 2886-2507 BC, some 160–390 years older than the accepted chronology of the 5th Dynasty.After his death, Djedkare was the object of a cult that lasted at least until the end of the Old Kingdom. He seemed to have been held in particularly high esteem during the mid-Sixth Dynasty, whose pharaohs lavished rich offerings on his cult. Archaeological evidence suggests the continuing existence of this funerary cult throughout the much later New Kingdom (c. 1550–1077 BC). Djedkare was also remembered by the ancient Egyptians as the Pharaoh of Vizier Ptahhotep, the purported author of The Maxims of Ptahhotep, one of the earliest pieces of philosophic wisdom literature.
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| Unas Pyramid |
Was a pharoah, the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years in the mid-24th century BC (circa 2345–2315 BC), succeeding Djedkare Isesi, who might have been his father.his reign from 15 to 30 years in th mid-24th century BC.Little is known of Unas' activities during his reign, which was a time of economic decline. Egypt maintained trade relations with the Levantine coast and Nubia, and military action may have taken place in southern Canaan. The growth and decentralization of the administration in conjunction with the lessening of the king's power continued under Unas, ultimately contributing to the collapse of the Old Kingdom some 200 years later.Unas built a pyramid in Saqqara, the smallest of the royal pyramids completed during the Old Kingdom. The accompanying mortuary complex with its high and valley temples linked by a 750-metre-long (2,460 ft) causeway was lavishly decorated with painted reliefs, whose quality and variety surpass the usual royal iconography.[6] Furthermore, Unas was the first pharaoh to have the Pyramid Texts carved and painted on the walls of the chambers of his pyramid, a major innovation that was followed by his successors until the First Intermediate Period (c. 2160 – c. 2050 BC). These texts identify the king with Ra and with Osiris, whose cult was on the rise in Unas' time, and were meant to help the king reach the afterlife.Furthermore, Unas was the first pharaoh to have the Pyramid Texts carved and painted on the walls of the chambers of his pyramid, a major innovation that was followed by his successors until the First Intermediate Period.The most important works of King Unas is the first pharoah to inscribe the interior of his pyramid at Ṣaqqārah with religious and magical texts known as Pyramid Texts.King Onas is considered one of the greatest and last kings of the Fifth Dynasty. His reign lasted 30 years. A pyramid was built for him in Saqqara. For the first time during his reign, the pyramid texts were found in the famous tomb of King Onas during the Old Kingdom period, thanks to which scientists discovered the ancient Egyptian religion.
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| Pyramid Texts of Unas |
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