Ptahshepses was an ancient Egyptian official at the end of the Fourth and the beginning 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 ...

. His main title was that of a ''great one of the leaders of craftsmen'', that in later periods is the main designation of the

High Priest of Ptah The High Priest of Ptah was sometimes referred to as "the Greatest of the Directors of Craftsmanship" ('' wr-ḫrp-ḥmwt''). This title refers to Ptah as the patron god of the craftsmen.Dodson and Hilton, ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancie ...

. Ptahshepses is mainly known from a false door that is today in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(Inv. no. EA 862), but coming from his tomb. A smaller fragment of the door is kept in the

Oriental Institute Museum The Oriental Institute (OI), established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's interdisciplinary research center for ancient Near Eastern ("Orient") studies and archaeology museum. It was founded for the university by professor James Henry Bre ...

(Inv. no. 11084) in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

He is also known from statues and had a

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. ...

(mastaba C 1). His false door bears a biographical inscription that reports the main events in his life. Starting on the far right of the door, column 1 records that Ptahshepses was born under king

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 ...

and educated at the palace. Excluding the center of the door, it is assumed that each of the 8 columns records events under successive kings. So while only Menkaure and

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 ...

's cartouches are visible, it is thought that under

Userkaf Userkaf (known in Ancient Greek as , ) was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Fifth Dynasty. He reigned for seven to eight years in the early 25th century BC, during the Old Kingdom period. He probably belonged to a branch of the ...

, Ptahshepses married the eldest king's daughter Khamaat. In like manner, he would have lived at least until the reign of

Niuserre Nyuserre Ini (also Niuserre Ini or Neuserre Ini; in Greek known as Rathurês, ''Ῥαθούρης'') was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He is credited with a reign of 24 to 35 ye ...

. On the lintel of the false door appears the underworld god

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 ...

in the offering formula. Osiris is otherwise not well attested in the Fifth Dynasty and there is a scholarly debate going on, about the first mentioning of Osiris in Ancient Egyptian sources. Depending on the life time of Ptahshepses, his inscriptions might be the earliest evidence for this deity. However, it is also possible that Ptahshepses died after Niuserre.Mark Smith: ''Following Osiris, Perspectives on the Osirian Afterlife from Four Millennia'', Oxford 2017, 118-120

References

Memphis High Priests of Ptah People of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt People of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub