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| Titulary of Teti |
He Was the first king of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried in Saqqara .the exact length of his reign
has been destroyed on the Turin King List but is believed to have been about 12 years. King. Teti was the first king and the founder of the 6th Dynasty. He ruled Ancient Egypt from 2323 till 2291 BC. Teti's reign, high officials were beginning to build funerary monuments that rivaled that of the pharaoh. His vizier,
Mereruka, built a mastaba tomb at Saqqara which consisted of 33 richly carved rooms, the biggest known tomb for an Egyptian nobleman. This is considered to be a sign that Egypt's wealth was being transferred from the central court to the officials, a slow process that culminated in the end to the Old Kingdom.
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| The Pyramid of King Teti |
The Egyptian priest and chronicler Manetho states that Teti was murdered by his palace bodyguards in a harem plot, and he appears to have been briefly succeeded by a short-lived usurper, Userkare. Teti was buried in the royal necropolis at Saqqara. His pyramid complex is associated with the mastabas of officials from his reign. Teti's highest date is his Year after the 6th Count 3rd Month of Summer day lost (Year 12 if the count was biannual) from Hatnub Graffito . This information is confirmed by the South Saqqara Stone Annal document from Pepi II's reign which gives him a reign of around 12 years. The pyramid of Teti is a smooth-sided pyramid situated in the pyramid field at Saqqara in Egypt. It is the second known pyramid containing pyramid texts. Excavations have revealed a satellite pyramid, two pyramids of queens accompanied by cult structures, and a funerary temple. The pyramid was opened by Gaston Maspero in 1882 and the complex explored during several campaigns ranging from 1907 to 1965.It was originally called Teti's Places Are Enduring. The preservation above ground is very poor, and it now resembles a small hill. Below ground the chambers and corridors are very well preserved. The pyramid complex of Teti follows a model established during the reign of Djedkare Isesi, the arrangement of which is inherited from the funerary complexes of Abusir.
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| Pyramids Texts from Teti's Pyramid at Saqqara |
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| King Teti |
A valley temple, now lost, was probably destroyed in antiquity due to the place of an Old Kingdom temple dedicated to Anubis constructed there. A better known funerary temple, revealed by James Edward Quibell in 1906, is connected to the valley temple by a causeway. The plan of the temple of Teti is also comparable to that of
Unas, its immediate predecessor. Teti's temple has a somewhat special plan, however, due to a deviation of the floor which traditionally should have been located in the axis of the temple but here is moved south. It then accesses the temple through a hallway of the north–south facade joining the east–west axis of the monument. Followed in this main axis is a second hall. The thickness of the walls suggests a vaulted cover. It was probably the "Room of the Greats", on the walls of which the royal family and influential members of the court were to be represented assisting and accompanying the eternal journey of their sovereign. All around the funerary complex of the king extends one of the richest parts of the necropolis of Saqqara. The king, whose special destiny seems to have impressed his contemporaries, will be revered later as a divine mediator along with a few courtiers who have in some sense inherited it by reputation. The king was also accompanied by his two principal wives who each had a pyramid accompanied with a temple of workship Pharaoh Teti was the principal leader of the 6th Line and the replacement of Pharaoh
Pepi I. During his rule, he supervised the development of a few great structures, including the Pyramid of Teti. The pyramid was based on the Saqqara level, That the area was considered a necropolis for all kings at this time. In addition to ,the second known Pyramid containing pyramid texts. Also, The pyramid of
Teti is a smooth-sided pyramid situated in the pyramid field at Saqqara in Egypt. Excavations have revealed a satellite pyramid, two pyramids of queens accompanied by cult structures, and a funerary temple.
- 2- Userkare ( 2291-2289 BC )
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| Userkare's cartouche |
Meaning a Powerful is the soul of Ra") was the second pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt, reigning briefly, 1 to 5 years, in the late 24th to early 23rd century BC. Userkare's relation to his predecessor Teti and successor Pepi I is unknown and his reign remains enigmatic. He reigned for 1 to 5 years in the late 24th to early 23rd century. Although he is attested in some historical sources, Userkare is completely absent from the tomb of the Egyptian officials who lived during his reign and usually report the names of the kings whom they served. Furthermore the figures of some high officials of the period have been deliberately chiselled out in their tombs and their titles altered, for instance the word "king" being replaced by that of "desert". Egyptologists thus suspect a possible Damnatio memoriae on Pepi I's behalf against Userkare. In addition, the Egyptian priest Manetho who wrote an history of Egypt in the 3rd century BC states that Userkare's predecessor Teti was murdered but is otherwise silent concerning Userkare. Consequently, Userkare is often considered to have been a short-lived usurper to the throne, possibly a descendant of a cadet branch of the preceding 5th Dynasty. Alternatively, he may have been a legitimate short-lived ruler or a regent who ruled during Teti's son Pepi I's childhood before his accession to the throne. The tomb of Userkare has not yet been identified, either because it was never finished or because Pepi I erased traces of his predecessor's rule. If the tomb was indeed started, Egyptologists conjecture that it should be located in South Saqqara. According to Manetho Userkare's predecessor Teti was murdered .the absence of monuments as well as the scarcity of artefacts and documents pertaining to Userkare all point to the short duration of Userkare's reign. For the same reasons, his relations to his predecessor and successor are largely uncertain and Egyptologists have proposed a number of hypotheses regarding his identity and rule. These fall broadly into two contradictory scenarios: one that sees Userkare as a legitimate ruler or regent, while the other perceives Userkare as an usurper, possibly responsible for the murder of his predecessor Teti. Userkare is present on the Abydos King List, a list of kings written during the reign of Seti I (1290–1279 BC) over 1000 years after the early 6th Dynasty. Userkare’s cartouche occupies the 35th entry of the list, between those of Teti and Pepi I, making him the second pharaoh of the dynasty. Userkare was possibly also listed on the Turin canon, a king list composed during the reign of Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC). Unfortunately, a significant lacuna affects the second line of the fourth column of the papyrus on which the list was written, the place where Userkare’s name might have been located.The location of the tomb of Userkare has not yet been identified. The brevity of his reign implies that the tomb was probably unfinished at his death, making modern identification difficult. Since Userkare was a 6th Dynasty pharaoh, his burial was presumably planned to be a pyramid. A possible vindication of this hypothesis is the copper mallet mentioning a team of paid workers from the nome of Wadjet. These workers were likely involved in a substantial building project, likely to be Userkare’s pyramid.Two hypotheses for the location of Userkare’s pyramid have been put forth. The Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev proposed that Userkare’s pyramid is located in Saqqara South, known today as Tabbet al-Guesh, north-west of the mortuary complex of Pepi I. Indeed, an extensive cemetery of 6th Dynasty administration officials is found there, which according to Dobrev, hints at the nearby presence of a royal pyramid. The astrophysicist Giulio Magli believes instead that the pyramid of Userkare is to be found midway between those of Pepi I and Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, at a place that would make the three pyramids form a line parallel to the one developed by the pyramids of Sekhemkhet, Unas, Djoser, Userkaf and Teti to the North.
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| King Pepi I (2289-2255 BC) |
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| Titulary of Pepi I |
He was an ancient Egoyptian pharaoh, 3rd king of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of
Teti, the founder of the dynasty, and ascended the throne only after the brief intervening reign of the shadowy
Userkare. His mother was Iput, who may have been a daughter of
Unas, the final ruler of the preceding 5th Dynasty.
Pepi I, who had at least six consorts, was succeeded by his son
Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, with whom he may have shared power in a coregency at the very end of his reign.
Pepi II Neferkare, who might also have been
Pepi I's son, succeeded
Merenre. His reign over 40 years, in the second half of the 24th century BC or early 23rd century BC. beginning with the possible murder of his father and the ensuing reign of
Userkare. Later, probably after his twentieth year of reign,
Pepi faced a harem conspiracy hatched by one of his consorts who may have tried to have her son designated heir to the throne, and possibly another conspiracy involving his vizier at the end of his reign. Confronted with the protracted decline of pharaonic power and the emergence of dynasties of local officials,
Pepi reacted with a vast architectural program involving the construction of temples dedicated to local gods and numerous chapels for his own cult throughout Egypt, reinforcing his presence in the provinces. Egypt's prosperity allowed
Pepi to become the most prolific builder of the Old Kingdom. At the same time,
Pepi favored the rise of small provincial centres and recruited officials of non-noble extraction to curtail the influence of powerful local families. Continuing
Teti's policy,
Pepi expanded a network of warehouses accessible to royal envoys and from which taxes and labor could easily be collected. Finally, he buttressed his power after the harem conspiracy by forming alliances with
Khui, the provincial nomarch of Abydos, marrying two of his daughters,
Ankhesenpepi I and
Ankhesenpepi II, and making both
Khui's wife
Nebet and her son
Djau viziers. The Egyptian state's external policy under
Pepi comprised military campaigns against Nubia, Sinai and the southern Levant, landing troops on the Levantine coast using Egyptian transport boats. Trade with Byblos, Ebla and the oases of the Western Desert flourished, while
Pepi launched mining and quarrying expeditions to Sinai and further afield.
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| Pyramid of Pepi I |
Pepi had a pyramid complex built for his funerary cult in Saqqara, next to which he built at least a
further six pyramids for his consorts.
Pepi's pyramid, which originally stood 52.5 m (172 ft) tall, and an accompanying high temple, followed the standard layout inherited from the late 5th Dynasty. The most extensive corpus of Pyramid Texts from the Old Kingdom cover the walls of
Pepi I's burial chamber, antechamber and much of the corridor leading to it. For the first time, these texts also appear in some of the consorts' pyramids. Excavations revealed a bundle of viscera and a mummy fragment, both presumed to belong to the pharaoh.
Pepi's complex, called
Pepi Mennefer, remained the focus of his funerary cult well into the Middle Kingdom and ultimately gave its name to the nearby capital of Egypt, Memphis.
Pepi's cult stopped early in the Second Intermediate Period. Pepi's monuments began to be quarried for their stone in the New Kingdom, and in the Mamluk era they were almost entirely dismantled.
Pepi I built extensively throughout Egypt,
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| Mortuary Temple of Pepi I |
so much so that in 1900 the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie stated "this king has left more monuments, large and small, than any other ruler before the 12th Dynasty". The Egyptologist Jean Leclant reached a similar conclusion in 1999. He sees
Pepi's rule as marking the apogee of the Old Kingdom owing to the flurry of building activities, administrative reforms, trade and military campaigns at the time.
Pepi devoted most of his building efforts to local cults and royal Ka-chapels,seemingly with the objective of affirming the king's stature and presence in the provinces.
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| King Pepi I |
- 4- Merenre Nemttyemsaf
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| King Merenre I (2255-2246 BC ) |
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| Pyramid of Merenre |
He was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, fourth king of the 6th Dynasty. He ruled Egypt for six to 11
years in the early 23rd century BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of his predecessor
Pepi I Meryre and queen
Ankhesenpepi I and was in turn succeeded by
Pepi II Neferkare who might have been his son or less probably his brother.
Pepi I may have shared power with
Merenre in a co-regency at the very end of the former's reign. The pyramid of Pharaoh
Merenre was constructed for
Merenre Nemtyemsaf I during the 6th Dynasty of Egypt at Saqqara 450 metres (1,480 ft) to the south-west of the pyramid of
Pepi I and a similar distance to the pyramid of
Djedkare.Its ancient name was "
Merenre's beauty shines" or perhaps "The Perfection of
Merenre Appears". Today it consists mostly of ruins; it is hard to get to and is not open to the public. Historical sources and archaeological evidences agree that he succeeded
Pepi I Meryre on the throne and was in turn succeeded by
Pepi II Neferkare, evidencing that he was the 4th king of the dynasty. The earliest historical source on the matter is the South Saqqara Stone, a royal annal inscribed during the reign of either
Merenre or
Pepi II. An estimated 92%of the text inscribed on the stone was lost when it was roughly polished to be reused as a sarcophagus lid, possibly in the late First Intermediate to early Middle Kingdom period (2055–1650 BC). Nonetheless the few legible text fragments of the annal support the succession "
Teti →
Userkare →
Pepi I →
Merenre I" possibly followed by
Pepi II, making
Merenre the fourth king of the 6th Dynasty. Three more historical sources agree with this chronology, three of which date to the New Kingdom period. The Abydos King List, written under
Seti I (1290 BC) places
Merenre I's cartouche as the 37th entry between those of
Pepi I and
Pepi II. The Turin Canon, a list of kings on papyrus dating to the reign of
Ramses II (1250 BC) probably records
Merenre I in the 5th column, fourth row, and may have supported his relative position within the dynasty although his name as well as those of his predecessor and successor is illegible. If the attribution of the entry is correct, then
Merenre is credited with a reign length ending with the number four, perhaps some years and four months, or four or 14 years. Also dating to the reign of
Ramses II is the Saqqara Tablet, explicitly relating the succession "
Pepi I → Merenre I → Pepi II", with
Merenre located on the 24th entry.,
Merenre's rule is generally dated to the early 23rd century BC. Various hypotheseshave been proposed by scholars though it is impossible to determine which one is right. The latest surviving inscription written during
Merenre's rule is located in a quarry at
Hatnub mentioning the year after the 5th cattle count. If the cattle count was regular and purely biennial, this might correspond to
Merenre's tenth year on the throne. Similarly, for Baud and Dobrev a regular biennial count implies that the South Saqqara Stone recorded at least 11 to 13 years of reign for
Merenre, almost twice the figure of seven years attributed to him in the Aegyptiaca. For Baud such a reign length is consistent with the finished state of
Merenre's pyramid complex. Religious activities dating to
Merenre's reign are recorded on the legible passages of the South Saqqara Stone: early in his reign he offered 30 oxen to an unidentified god and five to Wadjet. To Seth he offered a lost number of oxen. A statue of the king might also have been erected in the first couple of years of his reign. Additional offerings can be inferred from the surviving remnants of the texts, numbering hundreds or even thousands of oxen, lapis-lazuli, loincloths, incense to
Ptah, Heryshaf, Nefertum and the Ennead, hundreds of birds and perfumed oil to
Khenti-Amentiu, and silver objects and kohl to
Khenti-kheti.The list of offerings also mentions
Djedkare Isesi, penultimate king of the 5th Dynasty, who seems to have been held in high esteem during
Merenre's reign.
Merenre even chose to place his pyramid complex close to that of
Djedkare.
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| • A small box of hippopotamus ivory inscribed with the royal titulary of Merenre Nemtyemsaf . |
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| Mummy found in Merenre I's Pyramid & Titulary of Merenre I |
- 5- Pepi II Neferkare ( 2246 - 2152 BC )
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| Pepi II as a child, sitting on his mother’s lap. |
He was a pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from c. 2278 BC. His second name,
Neferkare (Nefer-ka-Re), means "Beautiful is the Ka of Re". He succeeded to the throne at age six, after the death of
Merenre I.
Pepi II's reign marked a sharp decline of the Old Kingdom. As the power of the nomarchs grew, the power of the pharaoh declined. With no dominant central power, local nobles began raiding each other's territories and the Old Kingdom came to an end within a couple of years after the close of
Pepi II's reign. The decline of the Old Kingdom arguably began before the time of
Pepi II, with nomarchs (regional representatives of the king) becoming more and more powerful and exerting greater influence.
Pepi I, for example, married two sisters who were the daughters of a nomarch and later made their brother a vizier. Their influence was extensive, both sisters bearing sons who were chosen as part of the royal succession:
Merenre Nemtyemsaf I and
Pepi II himself. Increasing wealth and power appears to have been handed over to high officials during
Pepi II's reign. Large and expensive tombs appear at many of the major nomes of Egypt, built for the reigning nomarchs, the priestly class and other administrators. Nomarchs were traditionally free from taxation and their positions became hereditary. Their increasing wealth and independence led to a corresponding shift in power away from the central royal court to the regional nomarchs. assuming a biennial cattle count system, that this king had a reign of at least 62 complete or partial years. Therefore, some Egyptologists suggest instead that
Pepi II reigned no more than 64 years. This is based on the complete absence of higher attested dates for
Pepi beyond his Year after the 31st Count (Year 62 on a biannual cattle count). A previous suggestion by Hans Goedicke that the Year of the 33rd Count appears for
Pepi II in a royal decree for the mortuary cult of Queen
Udjebten was withdrawn by Goedicke himself in 1988 in favour of a reading of "the Year of the 24th Count" instead.
Pepi II is attested by numerous year dates until the Year of his 31st count which strongly implies that this king died shortly after a reign of about 64 years. The complex consists of
Pepi's pyramid with its
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| Ruins of the pyramid complex of Pepi II |
adjacent mortuary temple. The pyramid contained a core made of limestone and clay mortar. The pyramid was encased in white limestone. An interesting feature is that after the north chapel and the wall was completed, the builders tore down these structures and enlarged the base of the pyramid. A band of brickwork reaching to the height of the perimeter wall was then added to the pyramid. The purpose of this band is not known. It has been suggested that the builders wanted the structure to resemble the hieroglyph for pyramid, or that possibly the builders wanted to fortify the base of the structure due to an earthquake.
The burial chamber had a gabled ceiling covered by painted stars. Two of the walls consisted of large granite slabs. The sarcophagus was made of black granite and inscribed with the king's name and titles. A canopic chest was sunk in the floor.
To the northwest of the pyramid of Pepi II, the pyramids of his consorts Neith and Iput were built. The pyramid of Udjebten is located to the south of Pepi's pyramid. The Queen's pyramids each had their own chapel, temple and a satellite pyramid. Neith's pyramid was the largest and may have been the first to be built. The pyramids of the Queens contained Pyramid Texts.
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| • Jar with the cartouches of pharaoh Pepi II, from Egypt. |
Possibly was the last queen of the 6th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Her name is found in writings long considered as relatively accurate resources: a major chronological documentation of the reigns of the kings of ancient Egypt that was composed in the third-century BC by Manetho, an Ancient Egyptian priest and by the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, in his Histories (430 BC). She is thought to be the daughter of Pepi II and Neith and to be the sister of Merenre Nemtyemsaf II. Her historicity has been questioned by some with speculation that, if she was a historical ruler, she may have been a regent. Another view, by the Egyptologist Kim Ryholt, argues that Nitocris is legendary and derives from the historical king Neitiqerty Siptah who succeeded Nitocris's brother, Merenre Nemtyemsaf II, at the transition between the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period.
Manetho claimed she built the "third pyramid" at Giza. Modern historians and archaeologists attribute that pyramid to a king of the 4th Dynasty, Menkaure.
- The Collapse of the old kingdom
- There was probably no single reason for the collapse of the old Kingdom .it was probably the result of a combintion of related factors that began to emerage during the 5th and 6th Dynasties.one way to measure the extent of Royal power in the old kingdom is look at the size of the pyramids. Many scholars mantain that the larger the pyramid ,the richer the state, and more importantly the greater the King's control resources. Because of that the Pyramids of the 5th and 6th Dynasties were certainly smaller than those of the 4th Dynasty. but they do not show a constant pattern of decline .On average, the 6th Dynasty Pyramids were no smaller than those of the 5th Dynasty ,and the regularity of their sizes(the pyramidso of Teti, Pepi I, Merenre, and Pepi II) were all planned to be (172ft / 52.5 m high ) suggest consistency rathar than decline. Also, the kings were paying more attention at the time to other parts of the pyramid complex apart from just the pyramid it self. The last king of the 6th Dynasty ,Pepi I reigned for a very long time, possibly 94 years ,this might have led to instability because by the time he was laid to rest in his pyramid , his sons and heirs had Already died ,and it may not have been clear who the next king was. There is no doubt that the latter years of the Old Kingdom were marked by economic decline and a breakdown in the centralized system of government, and that changes in the flow of the Nile likely were an important factor. Monumental buildings such as large pyramids and temples, for example, cease to be constructed for about two centuries.
Tomb paintings and inscriptions hint that the environment became more arid toward the end of the Old Kingdom, as some plants disappeared and sand dunes crept close to river settlements. Data drawn from cores in the Nile basin confirm that the climate began to dry around 2200 B.C.
But Schneider argues that the impact of the drought was gradual enough that society adapted without major disruptions. Power slowly devolved from the pharaoh and his capital at Memphis to provincial leaders. Local officials could respond to farming crises faster and more effectively than a distant ruler. “The situation required people to be ingenious,” says Schneider, who spoke at the recent American School of Oriental Research meeting in Atlanta. Drough was a major problem during the late Old Kingdom is climate change. Rainfall was declining ,and it was becaming drier. At the result the water level in the River Nile dropped , reducing how much people could grow. Also, the food was already scarce. This starving nomadic groups were depicted on the wall's of Unas's Pyramid complex. due to, The First Intermediate Period came about due to a shift in the power dynamic; Old Kingdom rulers no longer held enough power to competently govern Egypt. Provincial governors replaced the weak central rulership and began to rule their own districts.
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