Nyuserre Ini (also Niuserre Ini or Neuserre Ini; in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
known as Rathurês, ''Ῥαθούρης'') was an
Ancient Egyptian
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
, the sixth ruler of the
Fifth Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty V) is often combined with Dynasties Third Dynasty of Egypt, III, Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, IV and Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, VI under the group title the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. The Fifth ...
during the
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
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
Neferirkare Kakai (known in Greek as Nefercherês, Νεφερχέρης) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the third king of the Fifth Dynasty. Neferirkare, the eldest son of Sahure with his consort Meretnebty, was known as Ranefer A before he ...
and queen
Khentkaus II
Khentkaus II ( 2475 BC – 2445 BC) was a royal woman who lived in Ancient Egypt. She was a wife of Egyptian king Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty. She was the mother of two kings, Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The ...
, and the brother of the short-lived king
Neferefre
Neferefre Isi (; also known as Raneferef, Ranefer and in Ancient Greek, Greek as , ) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He was most likely the eldest son of pharaoh Nefe ...
. He may have succeeded his brother directly, as indicated by much later historical sources. Alternatively,
Shepseskare
Shepseskare or Shepseskara (Ancient Egyptian language, Egyptian for "Noble is the Soul of Ra") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) during the Old Kingdom of Eg ...
may have reigned between the two as advocated by
Miroslav Verner
Miroslav Verner (born October 31, 1941 in Brno) is a Czech egyptologist, who specializes in the history and archaeology of Ancient Egypt of the Old Kingdom and especially of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt.
Biography
Verner was the director of the ...
, 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
Menkauhor Kaiu (also known as Ikauhor and in Greek as Mencherês, Μεγχερῆς) was an Ancient Egyptian 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 24 ...
, 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
Abusir ( ar, ابو صير ; Egyptian ''pr wsjr'' cop, ⲃⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲓ ' "the House or Temple of Osiris"; grc, Βούσιρις) is the name given to an Egyptian archaeological locality – specifically, an extensive necropolis of ...
. He built the largest surviving
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
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
Abu Gorab (Arabic: أبو غراب , also known as Abu Gurab, Abu Ghurab) is a locality in Egypt situated south of Cairo, between Saqqarah and Al-Jīzah, about north of Abusir, on the edge of the desert plateau on the western bank of the Nile. ...
, and the valley temple of
Menkaure
Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by Herodo ...
in Giza. In doing so, he was the first king since
Shepseskaf
Shepseskaf (meaning "His Ka is noble") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, the sixth and probably last ruler of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He reigned most probably for four but possibly up to seven years in the late 26th t ...
, last ruler of the
Fourth Dynasty
The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty IV) is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other ...
, to pay attention to the
Giza necropolis
The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Men ...
, 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
Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 880 ...
on the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
ine coast and to send mining and quarrying expeditions to
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
and
Lower Nubia
Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...
. Nyuserre's reign saw the growth of the administration, and the effective birth of the
nomarch
A nomarch ( grc, νομάρχης, egy, ḥrj tp ꜥꜣ Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsib ...
s, 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
The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious ...
and lasting until the
Twelfth Dynasty
The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some s ...
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
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, nearly 1000 years after his death.
Sources
Contemporaneous sources
Nyuserre Ini is well attested in sources contemporaneous with his reign, for example in the tombs of some of his contemporaries including Nyuserre's manicurists
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum
Khnumhotep ( egy, ẖnm.w-ḥtp(.w)) and Niankhkhnum ( egy, nj-ꜥnḫ-ẖnm.w) were ancient Egyptian royal servants. They shared the title of Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of King Nyuserre Ini, sixth pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty, r ...
, the high officials
Khufukhaf II
Khufukhaf II (meaning "Khufu raised him") was an ancient Egyptian high official during the Old Kingdom period. Likely born during the 4th Dynasty, Khufukhaf died during the reign of pharaoh Nyuserre Ini of the mid 5th Dynasty. In modern Egyptolo ...
, Ty,
Rashepses
Rashepses was a vizier from the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Rashepses was vizier under Djedkare Isesi. A letter directed to Rashepses has been preserved. This decree is inscribed in his tomb in Saqqara. As vizier he was one of the most important Ancie ...
, Neferefre-ankh and Khabawptah, and the priests of his funerary cult Nimaatsed and Kaemnefert.
Historical sources
Nyuserre is attested in three ancient Egyptian king lists, all dating to the
New Kingdom
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
. The earliest of these is the
Karnak king list, which was commissioned by
Thutmose III
Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 28 ...
(fl. 1479–1425 BCE) to honour some of his forebears and which mentions Nyuserre in the fourth entry, which shows his birth name "Iny" in a
cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...
. Nyuserre's
prenomen
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bi ...
occupies the 30th entry of the
Abydos King List, written nearly 200 years later during the reign of
Seti I
Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.
The ...
(fl. 1290–1279 BCE). Nyuserre's prenomen was most likely also given on the
Turin canon The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list av ...
(third column, 22nd row), dating to the reign of
Ramses II
Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...
(fl. 1279–1213 BCE), but it has since been lost in a large lacuna affecting the document. Fragments of his reign length are still visible on the papyrus, indicating a reign of somewhere between 11 and 34 years. Nyuserre is the only Fifth Dynasty king absent from the
Saqqara Tablet The Saqqara Tablet, now in the Egyptian Museum, is an ancient stone engraving surviving from the Ramesside Period of Egypt which features a list of pharaohs. It was found in 1861 in Saqqara, in the tomb of Tjuneroy (or Tjenry), an official ("chief l ...
.
Nyuserre was also mentioned in the ''
Aegyptiaca
Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...
'', a history of Egypt probably written in the 3rd century BCE during the reign of
Ptolemy II
; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208
, predecessor = Ptolemy I
, successor = Ptolemy III
, horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth
, nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength
, gol ...
(fl. 283–246 BCE) by the Egyptian priest
Manetho
Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...
. Even though no copies of the text survive, it is known through later
writings
Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols.
Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
by
Sextus Julius Africanus
Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because o ...
and
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
. In particular, Africanus relates that the ''Aegyptiaca'' mentioned a pharaoh ''´Ραθούρης'', that is "Rathurês", reigning for forty-four years as the sixth king of the Fifth Dynasty. "Rathurês" is believed to be the
Hellenised
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek Greek culture, culture, Religion in Greece, religion, Greek language, language and Ethnic identity, identity by non-Greeks. In the Ancient Greece, ancient ...
form of ''Nyuserre''.
Reign
Accession to the throne
Two competing hypotheses exist in Egyptology to describe the succession of events running from the death of Neferirkare Kakai, the third king of the Fifth Dynasty, to the coronation of Nyuserre Ini, the sixth ruler of the dynasty. Relying on historical sources, where Nyuserre is said to have directly succeeded Neferefre, many Egyptologists such as
Jürgen von Beckerath
Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920, Hanover – 26 June 2016, Schlehdorf) was a German Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '' Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), ''Journal of t ...
and
Hartwig Altenmüller
Hartwig Altenmüller Hamburg University biography (in German) (born 1938, in Saulgau, Württemberg, Germany) is a German Egyptologist. He became professor at the Archaeological Institute of the University of Hamburg in 1971. He worked as an ar ...
have traditionally believed that the following succession took place: Neferirkare Kakai → Shepseskare → Neferefre → Nyuserre Ini. In this scenario, Neferefre is the father of Nyuserre, who would have become pharaoh after Neferefre's unexpected death. Neferefre would be the successor of
Shepseskare
Shepseskare or Shepseskara (Ancient Egyptian language, Egyptian for "Noble is the Soul of Ra") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) during the Old Kingdom of Eg ...
, credited with seven years of reign, as indicated in Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca''.
This view was challenged, most notably by
Miroslav Verner
Miroslav Verner (born October 31, 1941 in Brno) is a Czech egyptologist, who specializes in the history and archaeology of Ancient Egypt of the Old Kingdom and especially of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt.
Biography
Verner was the director of the ...
in 2000 and 2001, following excavations of the Abusir necropolis, which indicated that Neferefre's purported predecessor Shepseskare most likely reigned for only a few months between Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini. Verner proposes that the royal succession was Neferirkare Kakai → Neferefre → Shepseskare → Nyuserre Ini. In support of this hypothesis is Verner's observation that Neferefre and Nyuserre were very likely full brothers, both sons of Neferirkare Kakai, There is also evidence that Neferefre was Neferirkare's eldest son and in his early twenties at the death of his father, and thus would have been likely to inherit the throne. These observations, in addition to further archaeological evidence such as the lack of a pyramid of Shepseskare and the position of Neferefre's own, convinced Verner that Neferefre directly succeeded his father, dying after a very short reign of about two years.
Nyuserre was then still a child and, in this hypothesis, his claim to the throne faced a serious challenge in the person of his possible uncle Shepseskare who might have been a son of Sahure. Alternatively, Shepseskare may have been a short-lived son of Neferefre or, less likely, an usurper from outside the royal family. In any case, Shepseskare apparently succeeded in holding the crown for a short time. Nyuserre ultimately prevailed however, either because of Shepseskare's own premature death or because he was backed by powerful high officials and members of the royal family, foremost among whom were his mother
Khentkaus II
Khentkaus II ( 2475 BC – 2445 BC) was a royal woman who lived in Ancient Egypt. She was a wife of Egyptian king Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty. She was the mother of two kings, Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The ...
and
Ptahshepses
Ptahshepses was the vizier and son-in-law of the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. As such he was one of the most distinguished members of the royal court.
Ptahshepses' mastaba complex in Abusir is considered by many to be the most exten ...
. This latter hypothesis is motivated by the exalted positions that both individuals seem to have enjoyed. The mortuary temple of Khentkaus II was designed to imitate that of a king, for example by incorporating its own satellite pyramid and having an alignment on an east–west axis. These features, together with Khentkaus II peculiar title of ''Mwt Nisw bity Nisw bity'', originally translated by "Mother of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt
xercising office asthe king of Upper and Lower Egypt" led some scholars, including Verner, to propose that she might even have reigned in her own right. This hypothesis is now deemed unlikely, and her title is rather translated as "Mother of two kings of Upper and Lower Egypt". Ptahshepses became vizier under Nyuserre, whose daughter he married; received the honorary title of "King's son"; and was buried in one of the largest private tombs in Egypt. According to Verner and Nigel Strudwick, the architectural elements of this tomb such as its lotus-bud columns similar to those used in Nyuserre's own temple, boat pits and layout of the burial chamber, demonstrate "the favor shown by that king to his son-in-law".
Reign length
Historical and archaeological evidence
Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca'' related that Nyuserre reigned for 44 years, a figure which is rejected by Egyptologists, who rather credit him with about three decades of reign owing to the paucity of secure dates for his rule.
The entry of the Turin canon pertaining to Nyuserre is damaged and the duration of his rule is difficult to read with certainty. Following
Alan Gardiner
Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century.
Personal life
G ...
's 1959 study of the canon, scholars such as Nigel Strudwick credited Nyuserre with 11 years of reign. Gardiner's reading of the canon was then reevaluated from
facsimile
A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...
s, yielding a 24 to 25 years figure for Nyuserre's reign. This duration is accepted by some scholars including
Nicolas Grimal
Nicolas-Christophe Grimal (born 13 November 1948 in Libourne) is a French Egyptologist.
Biography
Nicolas Grimal was born to Pierre Grimal in 1948. After his Agrégation in Classics in 1971, he obtained a PhD in 1976 and a Doctorat d'État in ...
. More recent analyses of the original papyrus conducted by
Kim Ryholt
Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research centeCanon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Litera ...
have shown that Nyuserre's reign length as reported on the document could equally be 11–14, 21–24, or 31–34 years. The later figure is now favoured by Egyptologists including Strudwick and Verner.
The view that Nyuserre reigned in excess of twenty years is furthermore supported by archaeological evidence, which points to a fairly long reign for him. Verner, who has been excavating the Abusir
necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
on behalf of the
University of Prague since 1976, points in particular to Nyuserre's numerous constructions, amounting to no less than three new pyramids, the completion of a further three, the construction of the largest sun temple built during the Old Kingdom and further smaller works such as the refurbishment of
Menkaure
Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by Herodo ...
's mortuary complex.
Nyuserre's ''Sed'' festival
![Berlin 122009 032a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Berlin_122009_032a.jpg)
The hypothesis of a reign more than three decades long for Nyuserre Ini is supported, albeit indirectly, by reliefs discovered in his solar temple showing him participating in a
Sed festival
The Sed festival (''ḥb-sd'', conventional pronunciation ; also known as Heb Sed or Feast of the Tail) was an ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh. The name is taken from the name of an Egyptian wolf god, ...
. This festival was meant to rejuvenate the king and was normally (though not always) first celebrated after 30 years of rule. Representations of the festival were part of the typical decorations of temples associated to the king during the Old Kingdom and mere depictions of it do not necessarily imply a long reign. For example, a relief showing
Sahure
Sahure (also Sahura, meaning "He who is close to Re") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the second ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2465 – c. 2325 BC). He reigned for about 13 years in the early 25th century BC during the Old Kingdom Period. ...
in the tunic of the Sed festival has been found in his mortuary temple, although both historical sources and archeological evidence agree that he ruled Egypt for less than 14 full years.
Yet, in Nyuserre's case, these reliefs taken together with the archaeological evidence have convinced most Egyptologists that Nyuserre enjoyed over 30 years of reign and that "the sed-festival scenes from Abu Gurab
ost probably reflectthe 30th jubilee of the king's accession to the throne".
The reliefs of Nyuserre's ''Sed'' festival offer a rare glimpse into the ritual acts carried out during this ceremony. In particular, the festival seems to have involved a procession in a barque over a body of water, a detail either not represented or lost in all subsequent representations of the festival until the reign of
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
(fl. c. 1390–1350 BCE), over 1000 years after Nyuserre's lifetime.
Domestic activities
![Ptahchepses1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Ptahchepses1.jpg)
The reign of Nyuserre Ini witnessed the unabated growth of the priesthood and state bureaucracy, a phenomenon which had started in the early Fifth Dynasty in particular under Neferirkare Kakai. Changes in the Egyptian administration during this period are manifested by a multiplication in the number of titles, reflecting the creation of new administrative offices. These in turn, reflect a movement to better organise the administration of the state with the new titles corresponding to charges attached to very specific duties.
The king's power slowly weakened as the bureaucracy expanded, although he remained a living god in the eyes of his subjects.This situation went unchecked until the reign of Nyuserre's second successor Djedkare Isesi, who implemented the first comprehensive reforms of the system of ranking titles and thus of the administration.
There are two pieces of direct evidence of administrative activities during Nyuserre's reign. The first is that the Old Kingdom royal annals, of which only
fragments survive, are believed to have been composed during his reign. The annals, which give details on the reigns of kings from the
First Dynasty onwards on a year-by-year basis, are damaged and break off following the reign of Neferirkare Kakai. The second piece of evidence for administrative activity relates to the provincial administration. During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptian state was divided administratively into provinces, called
nomes. These provinces were recognised as such since the time of
Djoser
Djoser (also read as Djeser and Zoser) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Tosorthros (from Manetho) and Sesorthos (from Euseb ...
, founder of the
Third Dynasty
The Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty III) is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Other dynasties of the Old Kingdom include the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth. The capital during the period of the Old Kingdom was at Memphis.
Overview
Af ...
, and probably harked back to the predynastic kingdoms of the Nile valley. The earliest topographical lists of the nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt date back to the reign of Nyuserre, a procession of personified nomes being depicted on reliefs from Nyuserre's sun temple. It is also around this time that the
nomarch
A nomarch ( grc, νομάρχης, egy, ḥrj tp ꜥꜣ Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsib ...
s started to reside in their province rather than at the royal residence.
Activities outside Egypt
Trade and mining expeditions
![Niuserre Iny Wadi Maghara](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Niuserre_Iny_Wadi_Maghara.jpg)
To the north of Egypt, trade contacts with
Byblos
Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 880 ...
on the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
ine coast, which existed during much of the Fifth Dynasty, were seemingly active during Nyuserre's reign, as suggested by a fragment of cylindrical alabaster vase bearing his name uncovered in the city.
East of Egypt, Nyuserre commissioned at least one expedition to the
Wadi Maghareh
Wadi Maghareh (also spelled Maghara or Magharah, meaning "The Valley of Caves" in Egyptian Arabic), is an archaeological site located in the southwestern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It contains Pharaoh, pharaonic monuments and turquoise mines dating ...
in
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
, where mines of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and
turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of yea ...
were exploited during much of the Old Kingdom. This expedition left a large rock relief, now in the
Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. The relief shows Nyuserre "smiting the Bedouins of all foreign lands, the great god, lord of the two lands".
At the right of Nyuserre is a dedication to "
Thoth
Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a ...
, lord of the foreign lands, who has made pure libations". This expedition departed Egypt from the port of
Ain Sukhna
Al-'Ain al-Sokhna ( ar, العين السخنة, al-ʿAyn as-Sukhna , "the Hot Spring") is a town in the Suez Governorate, lying on the western shore of the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez. It is situated south of Suez and approximately east of Cairo.
...
, on the western shore of the
Gulf of Suez
The Gulf of Suez ( ar, خليج السويس, khalīǧ as-suwais; formerly , ', "Sea of Calm") is a gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea, to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. Situated to the east of the Sinai Peninsula is the smaller Gulf of ...
, as revealed by seal impressions bearing Nyuserre's name found on the site. The port comprised large galleries carved into the sandstone serving as living quarters and storage places. The wall of one such gallery was inscribed with a text in ink mentioning the expedition to Sinai and dating it to the year of the second
cattle count In ancient Egypt, the cattle count was one of the two main means of evaluating the amount of taxes to be levied, the other one being the height of the annual inundation. A very important economic event, the cattle count was controlled by high offic ...
possibly Nyuserre's fourth year on the throne.
To the south of Egypt, in Lower
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
, Nyuserre exploited the
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
quarries of Gebel el-Asr near
Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
, which provided material for buildings and statues, as shown by a fragmentary stone stela inscribed with Nyuserre's Horus name that was discovered in a settlement adjacent to the quarries.
Military activity
There is little evidence for military action during Nyuserre's reign. William C. Hayes proposed that a few fragmentary limestone statues of kneeling and bound prisoners of war discovered in his mortuary temple possibly attest to punitive raids in Libya to the west or the Sinai and Palestine to the east during his reign. The art historian William Stevenson Smith has pointed out, that such statues were customary elements of the decoration of royal temples and mastabas, suggesting that they may not be immediately related to actual military campaigns. Similar statues and small wooden figures of kneeling captives were discovered in the mortuary complexes of Neferefre, Djedkare Isesi,
Unas
Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), was a pharaoh, 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 23 ...
,
Teti
Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, sometimes also Tata, Atat, or Athath in outdated sources, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List bu ...
,
Pepi I
Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth 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 ...
and
Pepi II
Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is ...
as well as in the tomb of vizier
Senedjemib Mehi.
Main building activities
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 .
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.
Pyramid of Nyuserre
![Niouserre1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Niouserre1.JPG)
Nyuserre built a
pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
for himself at
Abusir
Abusir ( ar, ابو صير ; Egyptian ''pr wsjr'' cop, ⲃⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲓ ' "the House or Temple of Osiris"; grc, Βούσιρις) is the name given to an Egyptian archaeological locality – specifically, an extensive necropolis of ...
named ''Mensut Nyuserre'', meaning "Established are the places of Nyuserre" or "The places of Nyuserre endure".
The completed pyramid was entirely covered in fine limestone. It was about tall, with a base of along each side, a slope of 52 degrees and a total volume of stone of about . The burial chamber and antechamber were both lined with fine limestone as well and roofed with three tiers of gigantic limestone beams long weighing 90 tons each.
The pyramid complex is unusual as the outer sections of the mortuary temple are offset to the south of the eastern side of the complex. This allowed Nyuserre to intercept and complete his father's causeway, which led from the valley temple close to the Nile to the pyramid itself on the desert edge. The valley temple of Nyuserre was thus built on the foundations laid by his father for his own unfinished valley temple. Once completed, it consisted of a portico with eight papyriform columns, its floor was of black
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and its walls were made of limestone with painted reliefs above a
dado of red granite. The back of the portico led to the causeway, the base of which was entirely covered in basalt, while its upper portions were decorated with numerous reliefs, some showing the king as a sphinx trampling over his enemies. The causeway was roofed by limestone blocks painted in blue with golden stars.
Arriving near the pyramid, the causeway led into a columned courtyard preceded by storage rooms and succeeded by the mortuary temple itself, which housed statues of the king and depictions of the royal family and Nyuserre in the presence of the gods. The wider pyramid complex was enclosed by a wall, with two large rectangular structures on its north-east and south-east corners. Both Lehner and Verner see these as the precursor of the
pylon, characteristic of later
Egyptian temple
Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and in commemoration of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and regions under Egyptian control. Temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated. Within the ...
s. Beyond the main pyramid was a smaller one for the
Ka of the king.
Pyramid Lepsius XXIV
![Pyramide LXXIV b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Pyramide_LXXIV_b.jpg)
South of the pyramid of his mother Khentkaus II, Nyuserre built a pyramid for a queen, either a consort of himself or of his brother Neferefre. The pyramid is known today as Lepsius XXIV, after its number in
Karl Richard Lepsius
Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist.
He is widely known for his magnum opus ''Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien'' ...
' pioneering
list of pyramids. It originally reached about high with a base of , its core made of limestone and clay mortar organised in horizontal and accretion layers.
Today the pyramid is heavily ruined, its outer casing of fine white limestone long gone, and it stands only tall. While graffiti left by the builders indicate that the construction of this pyramid dates to the later part of Nyuserre's reign and took place under the direction of vizier Ptahshepses, the name of the queen for whom the pyramid was intended is lost.
Reptynub
Reptynub (; also written as Repytnub and Reputnebu) was a Queen during the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the wife of King Nyuserre Ini. She was possibly a mother of Menkauhor Kaiu (if he was Nyuserre’s son).M. Verner, ''The Pyramids'', 1997
Re ...
has been cited as a likely candidate. In the burial chamber, which is reached via a straight north–south passageway, the broken up mummy of a young woman was discovered. She stood around tall and died between 21 and 23 years of age. It is unclear whether the mummy is that of the original owner of the pyramid or dates to a later period as the mummification method employed could suggest. Excavations of the burial chamber yielded fragments of a pink granite sarcophagus as well as pieces of large calcite canopic jars and smaller funerary equipment.
On the eastern side of the pyramid, the ruins of a small satellite pyramid as well as of a mortuary temple have been discovered. Both were heavily affected by stone robbing, which started as early as the New Kingdom and reached a climax during the
Saite
The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...
(664–525 BCE) and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
(525–402 BCE) periods, making a modern reconstruction of the temple layout impossible.
Lepsius XXV
![Lepsius-XXV pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Lepsius-XXV_pyramid.jpg)
The ruins known today as Lepsius XXV constitute not one but two large adjacent tombs built as a single monument on the south-eastern edge of the Abusir necropolis. The peculiar construction, which Verner has called a "double pyramid", was known to ancient Egyptians as "The Two are Vigilant". The pyramids, both truncated, had rectangular bases of for the eastern one and for the western one, their walls reaching an inclination of about 78 degrees. This means that the construction resembled a pair of mastabas more than a couple of pyramids, in fact so much so that Dušan Magdolen proposed that Lepsius XXV is a mastaba.
A further peculiarity of the structure is the lack of associated mortuary temple. Instead, the eastern tomb boasts a small offering chapel built of undecorated white limestone and situated within the tomb superstructure. Its ceiling reached high. Excavations revealed small pieces of papyrus inscribed with a list of offerings as well as fragments of an alabaster statue of a woman clothed in a simple robe. The burial chamber revealed scant remains of the female owner and a few pieces of funerary equipment.
The western tomb was built subsequently to the eastern one and seems to have served to bury another woman. Builders graffiti uncovered during the Czech excavations demonstrate in all likelihood that the monument was built under Nyuserre, its owners possibly amongst the last members of the broader royal family to be buried in Abusir, the necropolis being abandoned by Nyuserre's successor Menkauhor.
Sun Temple
![Musee Caire Niouserre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Musee_Caire_Niouserre.jpg)
Nyuserre was the penultimate Egyptian pharaoh to build a
sun temple
A sun temple (or solar temple) is a building used for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, dedicated to the sun or a solar deity. Such temples were built by a number different cultures and are distributed around the ...
. In doing so, he was following a tradition established by Userkaf that reflects the paramount importance of the cult of
Ra during the Fifth Dynasty. Sun temples built during this period were meant to play for Ra the same role that the pyramid played for the king: they were funerary temples for the sun god, where his renewal and rejuvenation necessary to maintain the order of the world could take place. Cults performed in the temple were thus primarily concerned with Ra's creator function as well as his role as father of the king. During his lifetime, the king would appoint his closest officials to the running of the temple, allowing them to benefit from the temple's income and thus ensuring their loyalty. After the pharaoh's death, the sun temple's income would be associated with the pyramid complex, supporting Nyuserre's funerary cult.
Located in
Abu Ghurob, north of Abusir, Nyuserre's sun temple is the largest and best preserved of its kind, leading some Egyptologists such as von Beckerath to see Nyuserre's reign as the peak of the solar cult, an assertion which, according to Grimal, is exaggerated.
The temple was known as the ''Shesepibre'' by the Ancient Egyptians, which has been variously translated as "Joy of the heart of
Re", "Re's Favorite Place", "Delight of Ra", or "Place agreeable to Ra". Curiously, Nyuserre's sun temple was first built in mudbrick, only later to be reconstructed entirely in stone. It is the only such structure to receive this treatment, thanks to which much of the architectural elements and reliefs have survived to this day. While the reason for this renewal remains unclear, Lehner has proposed that it may be related to Nyuserre's ''Sed'' festival, or to some evolution in the ideology surrounding sun temples.
![Solar Temple of Niuserre - Altar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Solar_Temple_of_Niuserre_-_Altar.jpg)
The temple was entered from the eastern side following a long causeway which departed from a valley temple located closer to the Nile. This temple mostly served as a gateway to the upper temple and housed a pillared portico of mudbrick encased in yellow limestone. The upper temple comprised a large rectangular courtyard entered via five granite doorways located on its eastern side. An altar was located in the center of the courtyard, which can still be seen today. It was constructed from five large blocks of
alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...
, one shaped like the
hieroglyph
A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...
for Ra and the others shaped like the glyph for ''
hotep
Hotep (; also rendered ''hetep'') is an Egyptian word that roughly translates as "to be satisfied, at peace". The word also refers to an "offering" ritually presented to a deity or a dead person, hence "be pleased, be gracious, be at peace". ...
''. They were arranged so as to read ''Ra Hotep'', that is "May Ra be satisfied", from the four cardinal points. The sign for ''Hotep'' also means "offering" or "offering table" in Ancient Egyptian, so that the altar was literally an offering table to Ra.
At the western end of the rectangular court was a giant
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
, a symbol of the sun god Ra. It was built on a pedestal with sloping sides and a square top, like a truncated pyramid, which was high and was constructed of limestone and red granite around the base. The obelisk topping it was another high, built entirely of limestone.
The temple was adorned with numerous fine reliefs depicting Nyuserre's ''Sed'' festival as well as a "chapel of seasons" attached to the obelisk pedestal, decorated with representations of human activities throughout the seasons.
Completion and restoration works
Pyramid complex of Neferirkare
![Neferirkare](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Neferirkare.jpg)
The pyramid of Neferirkare was planned to be significantly larger than that of Neferirkare's Fifth Dynasty predecessors, with a square base side of and a height of . Although well underway at the death of the pharaoh, the pyramid was lacking its external limestone cladding and the accompanying mortuary temple still had to be built. Neferefre had begun covering the pyramid surface with limestone and had built the foundation of a stone temple on the pyramid eastern side; Nyuserre completed their father's pyramid complex, though he did so more parsimoniously than his brother. He abandoned the task of covering the pyramid altogether and finished the mortuary temple with cheaper materials than were normally used for such buildings. Its walls were made of mud-bricks rather than limestone and its floor was of beaten clay. The outer part of the temple was built to comprise a column portico and a pillared court, all columns being made of wood rather than the usual granite. The temple and pyramid were also surrounded by a brick wall. Likely for reasons of economy, the causeway leading to the mortuary temple at the foot of the pyramid was never built, no satellite pyramid was added to the mortuary complex, and the valley temple was left unfinished. Consequently, the priest of the mortuary cult of Neferirkare lived on the temple premises, in dwellings of mud-bricks and rushes, rather than in the pyramid town closer to the Nile valley.
Pyramid of Neferefre
![Pyramid of Neferefre, Abusir, 1970ies](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Pyramid_of_Neferefre%2C_Abusir%2C_1970ies.jpg)
Construction works on the pyramid of Neferefre had just begun when Neferefre died unexpectedly in his early twenties. At the time of Nyuserre's ascension to the throne, only one step of the core of Neferefre's pyramid had been completed. The substructures, built in a large open pit at the center of the pyramid were possibly unfinished as well. Nyuserre hastily completed the pyramid by transforming it into a stylised primeval mound resembling a mastaba: the walls of the core layer already in place were covered with limestone and the top was filled with clay and stones drawn from the local desert.
The accompanying mortuary temple, which then comprised only a small stone chapel possibly built by the ephemeral Shepseskare, was finished by Nyuserre. Extending over the whole length of the pyramid side, the temple was built of mudbrick and comprised the earliest
hypostyle hall
In architecture, a hypostyle () hall has a roof which is supported by columns.
Etymology
The term ''hypostyle'' comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος ''hypóstȳlos'' meaning "under columns" (where ὑπό ''hypó'' means below or un ...
of Ancient Egypt, its roof supported by wooden columns. The hall housed a large wooden statue of the deceased king. Nyuserre also built storage rooms to the north of the hall and, east of it, the "
Sanctuary of the Knife
The pyramid of Neferefre, also known as the pyramid of Raneferef, (in ancient Egyptian ''Nṯrỉ bꜣw Nfr-f-Rꜥ'' ("Divine is Neferefre's power")) is a 25th century BC unfinished pyramid complex built for the Egyptian pharaoh Neferefre of the ...
" where animals were ritually slaughtered. A column courtyard completed the temple entrance, adorned with two stone columns and 24 wooden ones.
Pyramid complex of Khentkaus II
![Abousir KhentkaousII 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Abousir_KhentkaousII_01.jpg)
Work on the pyramid and mortuary temple of Nyuserre's mother, Khentkaus II, had begun during her husband's rule but was stopped in the tenth year of his reign, at which point only the pyramid core was still uncased. After a delay of 12 years, Nyuserre Ini restarted the building work, and expended much effort in completing the majority of the construction. The motivation for this might have been to legitimise his rule following the premature death of Neferefre and the possible challenge by Shepseskare.
The pyramid is located in Abusir, next to that of Neferikare Kakai, who was Khentkaus' husband and under whose reign the construction of Khentkaus's complex had started.
Once completed, the pyramid stood high, with a side of at the base and a slope of 52 degrees. Its sepulchral chamber likely housed a sarcophagus of red
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
. Today, the pyramid is a high mound of rubble.
The mortuary temple of the queen, at the eastern foot of the pyramid, was the object of successive completion works during Nyuserre's reign, the earliest one used stone while the latest used only mudbrick. Completely ruined today, the temple seems to have been designed in imitation of the mortuary temples of kings incorporating, for example, a satellite pyramid, and being aligned on an east–west axis. The temple was administratively at least partially independent from the temple of Neferirkare Kakai with which it nonetheless shared some religious services, and it continued to function until the end of the Sixth Dynasty, some 300 years after Khentkaus' lifetime.
Valley Temple of Menkaure
Archaeological excavations in 2012–2015 revealed that Nyuserre Ini undertook building works on the valley temple of Menkaure, as witnessed by numerous seal impressions bearing his
serekh
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest conven ...
discovered on the site. These works ended a long period from the reign of
Shepseskaf
Shepseskaf (meaning "His Ka is noble") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, the sixth and probably last ruler of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He reigned most probably for four but possibly up to seven years in the late 26th t ...
until his reign during which the
Giza necropolis
The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Men ...
was not the object of royal attention. Beyond Menkaure's valley temple, Nyuserre apparently also took a wider interest in the administration of the pyramid town of
Khafre
Khafre (also read as Khafra and gr, Χεφρήν Khephren or Chephren) was an ancient Egyptian King (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He was the son of Khufu and the successor of Djedefre. According to the ancient historia ...
and revived the cult of both Menkaure and queen
Khentkaus I. According to Mark Lehner, this queen, who bore the same name as Nyuserre's mother and like his mother bore two pharaohs, provided Nyuserre with a genealogical link relating him to his Fourth Dynasty forebears. John Nolan believes that the mirroring position and names of both Khentkaus queens was emphasised so that Nyuserre could legimitise his rule after the troubled times surrounding Neferefre's death.
In the valley temple of Menkaure, Nyuserre extended the eastern annex, where he added two sets of alabaster columns, rebuilt the main entrance and refurbished the limestone causeway leading from the valley temple to the high temple. There, Mark Lehner suggested that Nyuserre expanded the inner part of the high temple, notably adding to it a square antechamber with a single central pillar.
Sun Temple of Userkaf
Userkaf, founder of the Fifth Dynasty, was also the first pharaoh to build a temple to Ra in Abu Gurob. The temple was called ''Nekhenre'' by the Ancient Egyptian, which means "The Fortress of Ra", and built in four phases by three pharaohs. Userkaf first constructed a rectangular enclosure with a mound in its center. Sahure or Neferirkare Kakai then transformed this mound into a granite obelisk on a pedestal, adding two statue shrines near its base. The last two phases of construction were undertaken during Nyuserre's reign. Nyuserre first added an inner enclosure of limestone in the pre-existing court, extended the outside enclosure and either completed or built entirely the valley temple. In the last construction phase, Nyuserre encased the inner enclosure in mudbrick, added an altar and five stone benches to the central court, and built an annex to the temple.
Temple of Satet
A temple dedicated to the goddess
Satet
Satet, Satit or Satjet, Satjit in Ancient Egyptian ( egy, Sṯt or ', ."Pourer" or "Shooter"), Greek: Satis, also known by numerous related names, was an Upper Egyptian goddess who, along with Khnum and Anuket, formed part of the Elephantine ...
, personification of the Nile floods, had stood on the island of
Elephantine
Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...
to the south of Egypt since at least the late
Predynastic Period
Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh, Narmer for some Egyptologists, Hor-Aha for others, with th ...
around 3200 BCE. The temple was enlarged and renovated several times from the
Early Dynastic Period onwards and was again rebuilt in the course of the Fifth Dynasty, possibly during Nyuserre's reign. A
faience
Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ad ...
plaque bearing Nyuserre's name was discovered in a deposit of votive offerings located under the floor of the sanctuary. Unfortunately, this deposit does not represent the original context of the plaque, which could have once adorned the walls of the temple or could equally have been deposed in a foundational offering made in anticipation of the temple reconstruction.
Family
Parents and siblings
The identity of the mother of Nyuserre is known with certainty: it was queen
Khentkaus II
Khentkaus II ( 2475 BC – 2445 BC) was a royal woman who lived in Ancient Egypt. She was a wife of Egyptian king Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty. She was the mother of two kings, Neferefre and Nyuserre Ini.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The ...
, in whose mortuary temple a fragmentary relief showing her facing her son Nyuserre and his family has been uncovered. On this relief both Khentkaus and Nyuserre appear on the same scale.
As a corollary, Nyuserre was almost certainly a son of Neferirkare Kakai as Khentkaus II was Neferirkare's queen. This relationship is also indicated by the location of Nyuserre's pyramid in Abusir next to that of Neferirkare, as well as his reuse for his own valley temple of materials from Neferikare's unfinished constructions.
At least one sibling of Nyuserre is known with near-certainty: Neferefre, who was a son of Neferirkare and Khentkaus II, was Nyuserre's elder brother. Since the relation between Shepseskare and Nyuserre remains uncertain, it is possible that the two were brothers too, as suggested by Roth, although the dominant hypothesis is that Shepseskare was a son of Sahure and hence Nyuserre's uncle. Finally, yet another brother, possibly younger than Nyuserre has also been proposed: Iryenre, a prince ''
Iry-pat
Iry-pat ( egy, jrj-pꜥt "member of the elite") was an ancient Egyptian ranking title, that is a title announcing a high position in the hierarchy of the country. Iry-pat was indeed the highest ranking title at the royal court, and only the mos ...
'' whose relationship is suggested by the fact that his funerary cult was associated with that of his mother, both having taken place in the temple of Khentkaus II.
Consorts and daughters
![Entrée LXXIV](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Entr%C3%A9e_LXXIV.jpg)
Nyuserre Ini seems to have had at least two wives, as witnessed by two small pyramids located at the southern end of the pyramid field of Abusir. Known today under the names of
Lepsius XXIV
The Lepsius XXIV Pyramid is an Egyptian pyramid, which was probably built for a wife of King Nyuserre Ini. The largely destroyed 5th Dynasty structure is located in the pyramid field of Abusir, east of the Pyramid of Neferefre and south of the ...
and
Lepsius XXV given to them by Lepsius in his list of pyramids, both monuments are heavily ruined and the names of their owners cannot be ascertained.
One of these two queens might have been
Reptynub
Reptynub (; also written as Repytnub and Reputnebu) was a Queen during the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the wife of King Nyuserre Ini. She was possibly a mother of Menkauhor Kaiu (if he was Nyuserre’s son).M. Verner, ''The Pyramids'', 1997
Re ...
, the only known consort of Nyuserre. Her existence and relation to Nyuserre are attested by a fragmentary alabaster statuette of her discovered in the valley temple of Nyuserre's pyramid complex. Pieces of relief from the tomb of vizier
Ptahshepses
Ptahshepses was the vizier and son-in-law of the Fifth Dynasty pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. As such he was one of the most distinguished members of the royal court.
Ptahshepses' mastaba complex in Abusir is considered by many to be the most exten ...
give the titles of a queen and while her name is lost, these titles are the same as those that Reptynub bore, leading Egyptologists to propose that these refer to her.
Nyuserre and Reptynub likely had a daughter in the person of
princess Khamerernebty
Khamerernebty A was a daughter of King Nyuserre Ini of ancient Egypt from the 5th Dynasty. She was married to Ptahshepses (a vizier). Her name means ''Appearance of the beloved of the Two Ladies''.
Biography
Khamerernebty was a daughter of K ...
, as suggested by her title of "King's daughter" as well as her marriage to the powerful vizier Ptahshepses. This remains conjectural until direct evidence of this relationship can be discovered. In particular, the only known connection between Reptynub and Khamerernebty are the reliefs from Ptahshepses's tomb, the presence of which would seem natural if Reptynub was Khamerernebty's mother.
Hartwig Altenmüller
Hartwig Altenmüller Hamburg University biography (in German) (born 1938, in Saulgau, Württemberg, Germany) is a German Egyptologist. He became professor at the Archaeological Institute of the University of Hamburg in 1971. He worked as an ar ...
goes further and hypothesises that Nyuserre had two more daughters, who he believes were buried close to Nyuserre's pyramid. In 2012, the tomb of
Sheretnebty
Sheretnebty was an ancient Egyptian princess of the Fifth Dynasty with the title ''king's daughter of his body, his beloved''. Archaeologists from the Czech Institute of Egyptology unearthed her tomb in 2012, in the Abusir region, south of Cair ...
, an hitherto unknown daughter of Nyuserre, was excavated in Abusir south by a team under the direction of Miroslav Bárta. She was married to an important Egyptian official, whose name is lost. According to Bárta, this type of marriage reflects the growing
nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
in the Egyptian elite and the progressive dilution of the king's power.
Sons
Nyuserre Ini is known to have had at least one son: his first born, whose name is lost, is represented on several relief fragments from the high temple of his pyramid complex. Beyond the title of ''Iry-pat'' and "eldest king's son", he likely held two priestly titles: "lector priest" and "priest of
Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Am ...
". Although the name of Nyuserre's eldest son is lost,
Michel Baud Michel Baud (11 November 1963 – 13 September 2012) was a French Egyptologist, head of the Nubian Sudan section in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre Museum. As such, he was the organizer of an exhibition devoted exclusively to M ...
observes that one relief fragment comprises a "r
, possibly part of the prince's name. If so then he would be distinct from
Menkauhor Kaiu
Menkauhor Kaiu (also known as Ikauhor and in Greek as Mencherês, Μεγχερῆς) was an Ancient Egyptian 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 24 ...
, Nyuserre's successor.
The precise relationship between Nyuserre and Menkauhor remains uncertain but indirect evidence from the mastaba of
Khentkaus III
Khentkaus III, often called Khentakawess III by news media, was an ancient Egyptian queen who lived during the Fifth Dynasty, around 2450 BC.
Khentkaus was very likely a daughter of king Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II, while her husba ...
, discovered in 2015, favors the hypothesis that Menkauhor was a son of Neferefre and thus a nephew of Nyuserre rather than his own son. Khentkaus is called "king's wife" and "king's mother" in inscriptions left by the tomb builders. Given the location of the mastaba, close to the pyramid of Neferefre, her husband was likely this pharaoh. Since she was also the mother of a king and since Nyuserre was a brother to Neferefre, the son in question is most probably the future Menkauhor Kaiu, who would thus have succeeded his uncle.
In any case, the succession of Nyuserre seems to have gone smoothly. A seal bearing both Nyuserre's and Menkauhor's names has been uncovered in the mortuary complex of Nyuserre's mother Khentkaus II. A further seal is believed to have both Nyuserre's and Djedkare's names on it,
Djedkare Isesi
Djedkare Isesi (known in Greek as Tancheres) 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 tu ...
being Nyuserre's second successor. Taken together these seals reveal that, at the very least, Menkauhor and Djedkare did not perceive Nyuserre as an antagonist.
Legacy
![Niuserre CG 38](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Niuserre_CG_38.jpg)
As pharaoh, Nyuserre Ini benefited from a funerary cult established at his death. Under the umbrella of the term "funerary cult" are grouped various cultic activities of two different types. First, there was an official cult taking place in the king's mortuary complex and which was provided for by agricultural domains established during Nyuserre's reign. This cult was most active until the end of the Old Kingdom but lasted at least until the
Twelfth Dynasty
The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some s ...
during the Middle Kingdom, at which point is the latest known mention of a priest serving in Nyuserre's funerary complex. In later times, the official cult of Nyuserre was essentially reduced to a cult of the royal ancestor figure, a "limited version of the cult of the divine" as Jaromir Malek writes, manifested by the dedication of statues and the compilation of lists of kings to be honoured.
In parallel to that official cult were the more private cults of pious individuals venerating Nyuserre as a kind of "saint", an intercessor between the believers and the gods. This popular cult, which developed spontaneously, perhaps because of the proximity of Nyuserre's pyramid to Memphis, referred to Nyuserre using his birth name Iny, and likely consisted of invocations and offerings to statues of the king or in his mortuary temple. Therefore, archaeological traces of this cult are difficult to discern, yet Nyuserre's special status is manifest in some
religious formulae, where his name is invoked, as well as in the
onomastics
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...
of individuals, notably during the Middle Kingdom, whose names included "Iny", such as Inhotep, Inemsaf, Inankhu and many more. Although the veneration of Nyuserre was originally a local phenomenon from Abusir, Saqqara and their surroundings, it may have ultimately reached even outside of Egypt proper, in Sinai, Byblos and Nubia, where fragments of statues, vessels and stelae bearing Nyuserre's name have been discovered in cultic contexts.
Old Kingdom
During the Old Kingdom, provisions for the official funerary cult of Nyuserre Ini were produced in agricultural estates set up during his reign. The names of some of these estates have been found inscribed on the walls of tombs in Saqqara or in Nyuserre's mortuary temple, such as "The track of Ini" and "The offerings of Ini". Several ''Ḥwt'' domains of the king, which comprise the land holdings of the mortuary temple of Nyuserre, are known: "
Hathor
Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...
wishes that Nyuserre lives", "
Horus
Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...
wishes that Nyuserre lives", "
Bastet
Bastet or Bast ( egy, bꜣstjt, cop, Ⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥⲧⲉ, Oubaste , Phoenician: 𐤀𐤁𐤎𐤕, romanized: ’bst, or 𐤁𐤎𐤕, romanized: bst) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty (289 ...
wishes that Nyuserre lives", and "
Ptah
Ptah ( egy, ptḥ, reconstructed ; grc, Φθά; cop, ⲡⲧⲁϩ; Phoenician: 𐤐𐤕𐤇, romanized: ptḥ) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god and patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the h ...
desires Nyuserre to live". Several priests serving in the pyramid complex and sun temple of Nyuserre are known from their tombs until the end of the Sixth Dynasty, showing that the official mortuary cult endured throughout the late Old Kingdom.
Nyuserre furthermore received special attention from at least two of his successors during this period: Djedkare Isesi either restored or completed his funerary temple, and
Pepi II Neferkare
Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is ...
erected a door jamb bearing an inscription mentioning both his first ''Sed'' festival and Nyuserre in the latter's valley temple, a close association meant to "evidence the pretended association of the king with his forefather".
First Intermediate Period
![Royal Head, Probably King Nyuserre LACMA 51](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Royal_Head%2C_Probably_King_Nyuserre_LACMA_51.15.6.jpg)
Nyuserre is one of the very few Old Kingdom kings for whom there is evidence that the funerary cult continued uninterrupted during the First Intermediate Period, when the central authority of the pharaohs had broken down and the Egyptian state was in turmoil. The tombs of two priests HeryshefhotepI and II, who lived during this period, mention their roles and duties in the funerary establishment of Nyuserre, witnessing to the continuing existence of the official mortuary cult.
Nyuserre's effective deification and popular veneration flourished in parallel to the official cult throughout the period, as revealed for example by inscriptions in the tomb of an individual named Ipi, who desires to be "honoured before Iny", a terminology in which Nyuserre plays a role normally reserved to the gods. Similar qualifications denoting Nyuserre's status are found in tombs dating to the subsequent early Middle Kingdom, such as the mummy chest of an individual named Inhotep, on which he says he is to be "honoured before
Osiris
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...
, lord of life, and Iny, lord of reverence".
Middle Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom saw the decline of the official cult of Nyuserre. Evidence from this period come from works undertaken in the Karnak temple by
Senusret I
Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the most ...
, who dedicated a number of statues of Old Kingdom kings including at least one of Nyuserre, to a cult of
Amun
Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
and of the royal ancestors. At the same time, the 12th Dynasty saw the widespread dismantling of many Old Kingdom funerary temples for their materials, which were notably reused in the
pyramid complexes of
Amenemhat I
:''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.''
Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynast ...
and
Senusret I
Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the most ...
. These events are contemporaneous with the life of the last priest serving the official cult of Nyuserre, a certain Inhotep. Both of these facts hint at a lapse of royal interest in the state-sponsored funerary cults of Old Kingdom rulers.
New Kingdom
The popular veneration of Nyuserre during earlier times continued to influence the cults performed during the New Kingdom. This is best exemplified by the Karnak king list, composed during the reign of
Thutmosis III
Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 28 ...
, with the purpose of honouring a selection of royal ancestors and which includes the cartouche showing "Iny" for Nyuserre. This choice is unusual, as cartouches normally include the king's praenomen rather than a birth name, "Iny" being likely chosen here because it was under this name that Nyuserre was venerated and had become deified.
Later, during the
Ramesside period
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...
, statues of Old Kingdom pharaohs including one of Nyuserre Ini were placed in a cachette (a hiding place) in the temple of Ptah in Memphis, suggesting their continued use for cultic purposes until that point. Concurrently with these activities, extensive restoration works in Abusir and Saqqara were undertaken during the reign of Ramses II under the direction of prince
Khaemweset
Prince Khaemweset (also translated as Khamwese, Khaemwese or Khaemwaset or Setne Khamwas) was the fourth son of Ramesses II and the second son by his queen Isetnofret. His contributions to Egyptian society were remembered for centuries after his d ...
. The sun temple of Nyuserre was among the monuments benefiting from these works.
Third Intermediate Period
During the late
Third Intermediate Period
The Third Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt began with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1077 BC, which ended the New Kingdom, and was eventually followed by the Late Period. Various points are offered as the beginning for the latt ...
, Old Kingdom mortuary temples enjoyed a revival of interest due primarily to the archaizing style favoured by the kings of the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of th ...
(c. 760–656 BCE). In particular,
Taharqa
Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo (Egyptian: 𓇿𓉔𓃭𓈎 ''tꜣ-h-rw-k'', Akkadian: ''Tar-qu-u2'', , Manetho's ''Tarakos'', Strabo's ''Tearco''), was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of ...
(fl. c. 690–664 BCE) had reliefs from the temples of Sahure, Nyuserre and Pepi II reproduced in the temple of Amun of Gem-Aten in
Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...
during his restoration works there.
Notes, citations and sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nyuserre Ini
25th-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt