Userkaf (known in
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
as , ) was a
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 ...
of
ancient Egypt and the founder of the
Fifth Dynasty
The Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty V) is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. The Fifth Dynasty pharaohs reigned for approximately 150 years, from the early 25th century BC until ...
. He reigned for seven to eight years in the early 25th century BC, 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 probably belonged to a branch 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 ...
royal family, although his parentage is uncertain; he could have been the son of
Khentkaus I
Khentkaus I, also referred to as Khentkawes, was a royal woman who lived in ancient Egypt during both the Fourth Dynasty and the Fifth Dynasty. She may have been a daughter of king Menkaure, the wife of both king Shepseskaf and king Userkaf (t ...
. He had at least one daughter and very probably a son,
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. ...
, with his consort
Neferhetepes
Neferhetepes (''nefer-hetep-es''; '' nfr-ḥtp- s,'' "Her Peace/Grace Is Beautiful") was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 4th Dynasty; a daughter of Pharaoh Djedefre who ruled between his father Khufu and his brother Khafre. Her mother was Het ...
. This son succeeded him as pharaoh.
His reign heralded the ascendancy of the cult of
Ra, who effectively became Egypt's
state god during the Fifth Dynasty. Userkaf may have been a high-priest of Ra before ascending the throne, and built a
sun temple, known as the ''
Nekhenre'', between
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 o ...
and
Abu Gurab
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. ...
. In doing so, he instituted a tradition followed by his successors over a period of 80 years. The ''Nekhenre'' mainly functioned as a mortuary temple for the setting sun. Rites performed in the temple were primarily concerned with Ra's creator function and his role as father of the king. Taken with the reduction in the size of the royal mortuary complex, this suggests a more concrete separation between the sun god and the king than in the preceding dynasties. After Userkaf's death, his temple was the subject of four building phases, during which it acquired a large obelisk.
Userkaf 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 ...
in Saqqara close to
that of Djoser, a location that forced architects to put the associated mortuary temple in an unusual position, to the south of the pyramid. The latter was much smaller than those built during the Fourth Dynasty but the mortuary complex was lavishly and extensively decorated with fine painted reliefs. In addition to his own pyramid and temple, Userkaf built a smaller pyramid close to his for one of his queens, likely Neferhetepes. Although Userkaf was the object of a funerary cult after his death like the other Fifth Dynasty kings, his was relatively unimportant, and was abandoned after the end of the dynasty. Little is known of his activities beyond the construction of his pyramid and sun temple. The Old Kingdom royal annals record offerings of beer, bread and lands to various gods, some of which may correspond to building projects on Userkaf's behalf, including the temple of
Montu
Montu was a falcon-god of war in ancient Egyptian religion, an embodiment of the conquering vitality of the pharaoh.Hart, George, ''A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses'', Routledge, 1986, . p. 126. He was particularly worshipped in Upp ...
in
El-Tod
El-Tod ( ar, طود , from , , , ) was the site of an ancient Egyptian town and a temple to the Egyptian god Montu. It is located southwest of Luxor, Egypt, near the settlement of Hermonthis. A modern village now surrounds the site.
History ...
where he is the earliest attested pharaoh. Beyond the borders of Egypt, a military expedition to
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
or the
Eastern Desert
The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea an ...
may have taken place, and trade contacts with the
Aegean seem to have existed at the time.
Family
Parents and consort
The identity of Userkaf's parents is uncertain, but he undoubtedly had family connections with the rulers of the preceding
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 ...
. Egyptologist
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 th ...
proposes that he was a son 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 Herod ...
by one of his secondary queens and possibly a full brother to his predecessor and the last king of the Fourth Dynasty,
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 ...
.
Alternatively,
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 1 ...
, Peter Clayton and Michael Rice propose that Userkaf was the son of a Neferhetepes, whom Grimal, Giovanna Magi and Rice see as a daughter of
Djedefre
Djedefre (also known as Djedefra and Radjedef – Modern Greek: ) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the Hellenized form of his name Rhatoisēs (Ῥατοίσης) by Manetho. D ...
and
Hetepheres II
Hetepheres II was a Queen of Ancient Egypt during the 4th Dynasty.
Biography
Birth and family
Queen Hetepheres II may have been one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted from ca. 2723 ...
. The identity of Neferhetepes's husband in this hypothesis is unknown, but Grimal conjectures that he may have been the "priest of
Ra, lord of Sakhebu", mentioned in
Westcar papyrus
The Westcar Papyrus (inventory-designation: ''P. Berlin 3033'') is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. In the papyrus text, each of these tales are told at the royal court of king K ...
.
Aidan Dodson
Aidan Mark Dodson (born 1962) is an English Egyptologist and historian. He has been honorary professor of Egyptology at the University of Bristol since 1 August 2018.
Academic career
Dodson, born in London on 11 September 1962, studied at Langl ...
and Dyan Hilton propose that Neferhetepes was buried in the pyramid next to that of Userkaf, which is believed to have belonged to a woman of the same name.
![Khentkaus I 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Khentkaus_I_2.jpg)
The location of the pyramid attributed to Neferhetepes, however, strongly suggests that she may instead have been Userkaf's wife. If so she should be identified with the Neferhetepes who is the mother of Userkaf's successor and likely son,
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. ...
. A relief from Sahure's causeway depicts this king and his queen together with the king's mother, identified as a Neferhetepes, which very likely makes her Userkaf's wife. Like Grimal, Jaromír Malek sees her as a daughter of Djedefre and Hetepheres II. Following this hypothesis,
Mark Lehner also suggests that Userkaf's mother may have been
Khentkaus I
Khentkaus I, also referred to as Khentkawes, was a royal woman who lived in ancient Egypt during both the Fourth Dynasty and the Fifth Dynasty. She may have been a daughter of king Menkaure, the wife of both king Shepseskaf and king Userkaf (t ...
, an idea shared by Arielle Kozloff.
Dodson and Hilton argue that Neferhetepes is not given the title of king's wife in later documents pertaining to her mortuary cult, although they note that this absence is inconclusive. They propose that Userkaf's queen may have been Khentkaus I, a hypothesis shared by
Selim Hassan
Selim Hassan ( ar, سليم حسن; born on 15 April 1886 – 1961) was an Egyptian Egyptologist.
He was the first native Egyptian to be appointed Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo, a post he held from 1936 to 1939. He was then ...
. Clayton and Rosalie and Anthony David concur, further positing that Khentkaus I was Menkaure's daughter. Bernhard Grdseloff argues that Userkaf, as a descendant of pharaoh Djedefre marrying a woman from the main royal line—that of Khafre and Menkaure—could have unified two rival factions within the royal family and ended possible dynastic struggles. Alternatively, Userkaf could have been the high priest of Ra before ascending the throne, giving him sufficient influence to marry Shepseskaf's widow in the person of Khentkaus I.
Children
Many Egyptologists, including Verner, Zemina, David, and Baker, believe that Sahure was Userkaf's son rather than his brother as suggested by the Westcar papyrus. The main evidence is a relief showing Sahure and his mother Neferhetepes, this being also the name of the queen who is believed to have owned the pyramid next to Userkaf's. An additional argument supporting the filiation of Sahure is the location of his pyramid in close proximity to Userkaf's sun temple. No other child of Userkaf has been identified except a daughter named Khamaat, mentioned in inscriptions uncovered in the
mastaba of
Ptahshepses.
Reign
Duration
The exact duration of Userkaf's reign is unknown. Given the historical and archeological evidence, the consensus among Egyptologists is that he ruled for seven to eight years at the start of Egypt's Fifth Dynasty. First, an analysis of the nearly contemporaneous
Old Kingdom royal annals shows that Userkaf's reign was recorded on eight compartments corresponding to at least seven full years but not much more. The latest legible year recorded on the annals for Userkaf is that of his third
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 ...
, to evaluate the amount of taxes to be levied on the population. This significant event is believed to have been
biennial
Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years.
In particular, it can refer to:
* Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...
during the Old Kingdom period, meaning that the third cattle count represents the sixth year of his reign. The same count is also attested in a mason's inscription found on a stone of Userkaf's sun temple. Second, Userkaf is given a reign of seven years on the third column, row 17, of the
Turin Royal Canon, a document copied during the reign of
Ramesses 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 ...
from earlier sources. Third, very few small artefacts bearing Userkaf's name have been found, witnessing a short reign. These include a gold mounted diorite jar, a five-
deben stone weight and a stone cylinder seal from Elephantine, now all in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, as well as an ivory cylinder seal 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 ...
and yet another seal in the Bulaq Museum.
The only historical source favouring a longer reign is the ''Aegyptiaca'' (Αἰγυπτιακά), a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC, during the reign of
Ptolemy II (283–246 BC) by
Manetho. No copies of the Aegyptiaca have survived and it is now known only through later writings 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 Chris ...
. According to the Byzantine scholar
George Syncellus
George Syncellus ( el, Γεώργιος Σύγκελλος, ''Georgios Synkellos''; died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic. He had lived many years in Palestine (probably in the Old Lavra of Saint Chariton or Souka, near Tekoa ...
, Africanus wrote that the ''Aegyptiaca'' mentioned the succession "Usercherês → Sephrês → Nefercherês" at the start of the Fifth Dynasty. Usercherês, Sephrês, and Nefercherês are believed to be the
Hellenized
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
forms for Userkaf, Sahure and Neferirkare, respectively. In particular, Manetho's reconstruction of the early Fifth Dynasty is in agreement with those given on the
Abydos king list and the
Saqqara Tablet, two lists of kings written during the reigns 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 ...
and Ramesses II, respectively. In contrast with the Turin canon, Africanus's report of the ''Aegyptiaca'' estimates that Userkaf reigned for 28 years, much longer than the modern consensus.
Founder of the Fifth Dynasty
![PapyrusWestcar photomerge-AltesMuseum-Berlin-5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/PapyrusWestcar_photomerge-AltesMuseum-Berlin-5.jpg)
The division of ancient Egyptian kings into dynasties is an invention of Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca'', intended to adhere more closely to the expectations of Manetho's patrons, the
Greek rulers of
Ptolemaic Egypt.
A distinction between the Fourth and Fifth dynasties may nonetheless have been recognised by the ancient Egyptians, as recorded by a much older tradition found in the tale of the Westcar papyrus. In this story, King
Khufu
Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having c ...
of the Fourth Dynasty is foretold the demise of his line and the rise of a new dynasty through the accession of three brothers, sons of Ra, to the throne of Egypt. This tale dates to the
Seventeenth or possibly 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 ...
.
Beyond such historical evidence, the division between the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties seems to reflect actual changes taking place at the time, in particular in Egyptian religion, and in the king's role. Ra's primacy over the rest of the
Egyptian pantheon
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural f ...
and the increased royal devotion given to him made Ra a sort of
state-god, a novelty in comparison with the Fourth Dynasty, when more emphasis was put on royal burials.
Userkaf's position before ascending to the throne is unknown. Grimal states that he could have been a high-priest of Ra in
Heliopolis or
Sakhebu, a cult-center of Ra mentioned in the Westcar papyrus. The hypothesis of a connection between the origins of the Fifth Dynasty and Sakhebu was first proposed by the Egyptologist
Flinders Petrie
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...
, who noted that in
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1, ...
the name of Sakhebu resembles that of
Elephantine, the city that Manetho gives as the cradle of the Fifth Dynasty. According to Petrie, positing that the Westcar papyrus records a tradition that remembered the origins of the Fifth Dynasty could explain Manetho's records, especially given that there is otherwise no particular connection between Elephantine and Fifth Dynasty pharaohs.
Activities in Egypt
![Seal Userkaf](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Seal_Userkaf.png)
Beyond the constructions of his mortuary complex and sun temple, little is known of Userkaf. Malek says his short reign may indicate that he was elderly upon becoming pharaoh. Verner sees Userkaf's reign as significant in that it marks the apex of the sun cult, the pharaonic title of "Son of Ra" becoming systematic from his reign onwards.
In
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient E ...
, Userkaf either commissioned or enlarged the temple of
Montu at Tod, where he is the earliest attested pharaoh. Due to structural alterations, in particular during the early
Middle Kingdom,
New Kingdom and Ptolemaic periods, little of Userkaf's original temple has survived. It was a small mud-brick chapel including a granite pillar, inscribed with the name of the king.
Further domestic activities may be inferred from the annals of the Old Kingdom, written during Neferirkare's or Nyuserre's reign. They record that Userkaf gave endowments for the gods of
Heliopolis in the second and sixth years of his reign as well as to the gods of
Buto
Buto ( grc, Βουτώ, ar, بوتو, ''Butu''), Bouto, Butus ( grc, links=no, Βοῦτος, ''Boutos'')Herodotus ii. 59, 63, 155. or Butosus was a city that the Ancient Egyptians called Per-Wadjet. It was located 95 km east of Alexandri ...
in his sixth year, both of which may have been destined for building projects on Userkaf's behalf. In the same vein, the annals record a donation of land to Horus during Userkaf's sixth year on the throne, this time explicitly mentioning "building
orus'temple".
Other gods honoured by Userkaf include Ra and
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 sk ...
, both of whom received land donations recorded in the annals, as well as
Nekhbet
Nekhbet (; also spelt Nekhebit) is an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb (her name meaning ''of Nekheb''). Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron d ...
,
Wadjet
Wadjet (; egy, wꜢḏyt "Green One"), known to the Greek world as Uto (; grc-koi, Οὐτώ) or Buto (; ) among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep. It became part ...
, the "gods of the divine palace of Upper Egypt" and the "gods of the estate Djebaty" who received bread, beer and land. Finally, a fragmentary piece of text in the annals suggests that
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 ...
might also have benefited from Userkaf's donations. Further evidence for religious activities taking place at the time is given by a royal decree found in the
mastaba of the administration official Nykaankh
buried at Tihna al-Jabal in Middle Egypt. By this decree, Userkaf donates and reforms several royal domains for the maintenance of the cult of Hathor and installs Nykaankh as priest of this cult.
Excavations of the pyramid temple 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 Dynas ...
at
Lisht
Lisht or el-Lisht ( ar, اللشت, translit=Al-Lišt) is an Egyptian village located south of Cairo. It is the site of Middle Kingdom royal and elite burials, including two pyramids built by Amenemhat I and Senusret I. The two main pyramids were ...
produced a block decorated with a relief bearing the titulary of Userkaf. The block had been reused as a building material. The relief mentions a journey of the king to the temple of
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 (2 ...
in a ship called "''He who controls the subjects
..'".
While Userkaf chose
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 ...
to build his pyramid complex, officials at the time, including the
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
Seshathotep Heti, continued to build their tombs in 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 M ...
.
Trade and military activities
![Userkaf Kythera](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Userkaf_Kythera.png)
Userkaf's reign might have witnessed the birth of direct trade between Egypt and its
Aegean neighbors as shown by a series of reliefs from his mortuary temple representing ships engaged in what may be a naval expedition. Further evidence for such contacts is a stone vessel bearing the name of his sun temple that was uncovered on the Greek island of
Kythira
Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands ...
. This vase is the earliest evidence of commercial contacts between Egypt and the Aegean world. Finds in
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
, dating to the reigns of
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 24t ...
and
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 ...
, demonstrate that these contacts continued throughout the Fifth Dynasty.
South of Egypt, Userkaf launched a military expedition into
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 ...
, while the Old Kingdom annals record that he received tribute from a region that is either the
Eastern Desert
The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea an ...
or
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
in the form of a workforce of one chieftain and 70 foreigners (likely women), as well as 303 "pacified rebels" destined to work on Userkaf's pyramid. These might have been prisoners from another military expedition to the east of Egypt or rebels exiled from Egypt prior to Userkaf's second year on the throne and now willing to reintegrate into Egyptian society. According to the Egyptologist
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 ...
these people might have been punished following dynastic struggles connected with the end of the Fourth Dynasty. Finally, some reliefs from Userkaf's mortuary temple depict a successful military venture against Asiatic Bedouins, whom Userkaf is shown smiting, as well as a naval expedition.
Statuary
![Userkaf fragment Berlin ÄM 19774](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Userkaf_fragment_Berlin_%C3%84M_19774.jpg)
Several fragmentary statues of Userkaf have been uncovered. These include a bust of the goddess
Neith
Neith ( grc-koi, Νηΐθ, a borrowing of the Demotic form egy, nt, likely originally to have been nrt "she is the terrifying one"; Coptic: ⲛⲏⲓⲧ; also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an early ancient Egyptian deity. She was said to b ...
in his likeness found in his sun temple at Abusir, 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 ...
. This head of Userkaf is high and carved from
greywacke
Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...
stone. It is considered particularly important as it is among the very few sculptures in the round from 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 ...
that show the monarch wearing the
Deshret
Deshret ( egy, dšrt "Red One") was the formal name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and for the desert Red Land on either side of Kemet (Black Land), the fertile Nile river basin. When combined with the Hedjet (White Crown) of Upper Egypt, it fo ...
of
Lower Egypt. The head was uncovered in 1957 during the joint excavation expedition of the German and Swiss Institutes of Cairo. Another head which might belong to Userkaf, wearing the
Hedjet
Hedjet ( egy, ḥḏt "White One") is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. After the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, it was combined with the Deshret, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, to form the Pschent, the double cr ...
of Upper Egypt and made of painted limestone, is in the
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
.
The head of a colossal larger-than-life sphinx statue of Userkaf, now in the Egyptian Museum, was found in the temple courtyard of his mortuary complex at Saqqara by
Cecil Mallaby Firth
Cecil Mallaby Firth (5 July 1878 – 1931) was a British Egyptologist.
Firth was baptised at Ashburton in Devon on 14 August 1878, the son of Henry Mallaby Firth, gent., and Frances (Fanny) Caunter. He became a lawyer, and after briefly wor ...
in 1928. This colossal head of pink Aswan granite shows the king wearing the
nemes
Nemes were pieces of striped head cloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt. It covered the whole crown and behind of the head and nape of the neck (sometimes also extending a little way down the back) and had lappets, two large flaps which hung ...
headdress with a cobra on his forehead. It is the largest surviving head dating to the Old Kingdom other than that of the
Great Sphinx of Giza and the only colossal royal statue from this period. Many more fragments of statues of the king made of diorite, slate and granite but none of limestone have been found at the same site. Some bore Userkaf's cartouche and Horus name.
Kozloff notes the youthful features of Userkaf on most of his representations and concludes that if these are good indications of his age, then he might have come to the throne as an adolescent and died in his early twenties.
Sun temple
Significance
Userkaf is the first pharaoh to build a dedicated
temple to the sun god Ra in the Memphite necropolis north 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 o ...
, on a promontory on the desert edge just south of the modern locality of
Abu Gurab
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. ...
. Works might have started during Userkaf's fifth or sixth year of reign.
The only plausible precedent for Userkaf's sun temple was the temple associated with the Great Sphinx of Giza, which may have been dedicated to Ra and may thus have served similar purposes. In any case, Userkaf's successors for the next 80 years followed his course of action: sun temples were built by all subsequent Fifth Dynasty pharaohs until
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 24t ...
, with the possible exception of
Shepseskare
Shepseskare or Shepseskara ( Egyptian for "Noble is the Soul of Ra") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) during the Old Kingdom period. Shepseskare lived in the mid-25th century BC ...
, whose reign might have been too short to build one. Userkaf's choice of Abusir as the site of his sun temple has not been satisfactorily explained, the site being of no particular significance up to that point. Userkaf's choice may have influenced subsequent kings of the Fifth Dynasty who made Abusir the royal necropolis until the reign of Menkauhor Kaiu.
For the Egyptologist Hans Goedicke, Userkaf's decision to build a temple for the setting sun separated from his own mortuary complex is a manifestation of and response to sociopolitical tensions, if not turmoil, at the end of the Fourth Dynasty. The construction of the sun temple permitted a distinction between the king's personal afterlife and religious issues pertaining to the setting sun, which had been so closely intertwined in the pyramid complexes of Giza and in the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty. Thus, Userkaf's pyramid would be isolated in Saqqara, not even surrounded by a wider cemetery for his contemporaries, while the sun temple would serve the social need for a solar cult, which, while represented by the king, would not be exclusively embodied by him anymore. Malek similarly sees the construction of sun temples as marking a shift from the royal cult, which was so preponderant during the early Fourth Dynasty, to the cult of the sun god Ra. A result of these changes is that the king was now primarily revered as the son of Ra.
Name
The ancient Egyptians called Userkaf's sun temple Nekhenre (''Nḫn Rˁ.w''), which has been variously translated as "The fortress of Ra", "The stronghold of Ra", "The residence of Ra", "Ra's storerooms" and "The birthplace of Ra".
According to Coppens, Janák, Lehner, Verner, Vymazalová, Wilkinson and Zemina, ''Nḫn'' here might actually refer instead to the town of
Nekhen
Nekhen ( egy, nḫn, ); in grc, Ἱεράκων πόλις Hierakonpolis ( either: City of the Hawk, or City of the Falcon, a reference to Horus or ''Hierakōn polis'' "Hawk City" in arz, الكوم الأحمر, el-Kōm el-Aḥmar, lit=the ...
, also known as Hierakonpolis. Hierakonpolis was a stronghold and seat of power for the late predynastic kings who unified Egypt. They propose that Userkaf may have chosen this name to emphasise the victorious and unifying nature of the cult of Ra or, at least, to represent some symbolic meaning in relation to kingship. Nekhen was also the name of an institution responsible for providing resources to the living king as well as to his funerary cult after his death. In consequence, the true meaning of ''Nekhenre'' might be closer to "Ra's Nekhen" or "The Hierakonpolis of Ra".
Function
The sun temple of Userkaf first appears as pyramid XVII in
Karl Richard Lepsius' pioneering
list of pyramids in the mid-19th century. Its true nature was recognised by
Ludwig Borchardt
Ludwig may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Ludwig (surname), including a list of people
* Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and ...
in the early 20th century but it was only thoroughly excavated from 1954 until 1957 by a team including Hanns Stock,
Werner Kaiser,
Peter Kaplony,
Wolfgang Helck
Hans Wolfgang Helck (16 September 1914 – 27 August 1993) was a German Egyptologist, considered one of the most important Egyptologists of the 20th century. From 1956 until his retirement in 1979 he was a professor at the University of Hamburg. H ...
, and
Herbert Ricke. According to the royal annals, the construction of the temple started in Userkaf's fifth year on the throne and, on that occasion, he donated 24 royal domains for the maintenance of the temple.
Userkaf's sun temple covered an area of and was oriented to the west. It served primarily as a place of worship for the mortuary cult of Ra and was supposed to relate it to the royal funerary cult. Structurally, the sun temple and the royal mortuary complex were very similar, as they included a valley temple close to the Nile and a causeway leading up to the high temple on the desert plateau. In other ways their architectures differed. For example, the valley temple of the sun temple complex is not oriented to any cardinal point, rather pointing vaguely to Heliopolis, and the causeway is not aligned with the axis of the high temple. The
Abusir Papyri, a collection of administrative documents from later in the Fifth Dynasty, indicates that the cultic activities taking place in the sun and mortuary temples were related; for instance, offerings for both cults were dispatched from the sun temple. In fact, 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. Rites 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 the royal funerary cult.
Construction works on the Nekhenre did not stop with Userkaf's death but continued in at least four building phases, the first of which may have taken place under Sahure, and then under his successors Neferirkare Kakai and Nyuserre Ini. By the end of Userkaf's rule, the sun temple did not yet house the large granite obelisk on a pedestal that it would subsequently acquire. Instead its main temple seems to have comprised a rectangular enclosure wall with a high mast set on a mound in its center, possibly as a perch for the sun god's falcon. To the east of this mound was a mudbrick altar with statue shrines on both sides. According to the royal annals, from his sixth year on the throne, Userkaf commanded that two oxen and two geese were to be sacrificed daily in the Nekhenre. These animals seem to have been butchered in or around the high temple, the causeway being wide enough to lead live oxen up it. In addition to these sacrifices Userkaf endowed his sun temple with vast agricultural estates amounting to of land, which Klaus Baer describes as "an enormous and quite unparalleled gift for the Old Kingdom". Kozloff sees these decisions as a manifestation of Userkaf's young age and of the power of the priesthood of Ra rather than as a result of his personal devotion to the sun god.
Pyramid complex
Pyramid of Userkaf
Location
Unlike most pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty, Userkaf built a modest pyramid at North
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 ...
, at the north-eastern edge of the enclosure wall surrounding
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 Eusebiu ...
's
pyramid complex. This decision, probably political, may be connected to the return to the city of
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
as center of government, of which Saqqara to the west is the necropolis, as well as a desire to rule according to principles and methods closer to Djoser's. In particular, like Djoser's and unlike the pyramid complexes of Giza, Userkaf's mortuary complex is not surrounded by a necropolis for his followers. For Goedicke, the wider religious role played by Fourth Dynasty pyramids was now to be played by the sun temple, while the king's mortuary complex was to serve only the king's personal funerary needs. Hence, Userkaf's choice of Saqqara is a manifestation of a return to a "harmonious and altruistic" notion of kingship which Djoser seemed to have symbolized, against that represented by Khufu who had almost personally embodied the sun-god.
Pyramid architecture
Userkaf's pyramid complex was called ''Wab-Isut Userkaf'', meaning "Pure are the places of Userkaf" or "Userkaf's pyramid, holiest of places".
The pyramid originally reached a height of for a base-side of . By volume, this made it the second smallest king's pyramid finished during the Fifth Dynasty after
that of the final ruler,
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 ...
. The reduced size of the pyramid as compared to those of Userkaf's Fourth Dynasty predecessors owes much to the rise of the cult of Ra which diverted spiritual and financial resources away from the king's burial. The pyramid was built following techniques established during the Fourth Dynasty, with a core made of stones rather than employing rubble as in subsequent pyramids of the Fifth and
Sixth Dynasties. The core was so poorly laid out, however, that once the pyramid's outer casing of fine limestone had been robbed, it crumbled into a heap of rubble. The burial chamber was lined with large limestone blocks, its roof made of
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d limestone beams.
Mortuary temple
![Papyrus thicket relief](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Papyrus_thicket_relief.JPG)
The pyramid's funerary complex is peculiar in that Userkaf's mortuary temple is located on the southern side rather than the usual eastern one. This was almost certainly due to the presence of a large moat surrounding Djoser's pyramid and running to the east as proposed by Verner, or to the general topography of Saqqara and the presence of older tombs in the vicinity as expounded by Edwards and Lauer.
In any case, this means that Userkaf chose to be buried in close proximity to Djoser even though this implied that he could not use the normal layout for his temple.
Rainer Stadelmann
Dr. Rainer Stadelmann (24 October 1933 – 14 January 2019) was a German Egyptologist. He was considered an expert on the archaeology of the Giza Plateau.
Biography
After studying in Neuburg an der Donau in 1933, he studied Egyptology, orienta ...
believes that the reason for the choices of location and layout were practical and due to the presence of the necropolis's administrative center on the north-east corner of Djoser's complex. Verner rather identifies a desire on Userkaf's behalf to benefit from the religious significance of Djoser's complex. Alternatively, Userkaf's decision to locate the temple on the pyramid's southern side may be motivated by entirely religious reasons, with the Egyptologists
Herbert Ricke and
Richard H. Wilkinson proposing that it could have ensured the temple's year-round exposure to the sun, while Altenmüller suggests it was aligned with an obelisk that could have been located nearby.
The mortuary temple walls were extensively adorned with raised reliefs of exceptional quality. Scant remains of pigments on some reliefs show that these reliefs were originally painted. Userkaf's pyramid temple represents an important innovation in this respect; he was the first pharaoh to introduce nature scenes in his funerary temple, including scenes of hunting in the marshes that would subsequently become common. The artistic work is highly detailed, with a single relief showing no less than seven different species of birds and a butterfly. Hunting scenes symbolised the victory of the king over the forces of chaos, and might thus have illustrated Userkaf's role as ''Iry-Maat'', that is "the one who establishes Maat", which was one of Userkaf's names.
The funerary complex of Userkaf was accessed from the Nile via a valley temple connected to the mortuary temple with a causeway. This valley temple is yet to be excavated.
Pyramid complex of Neferhetepes
Pyramid
![Saqqarah Ouserkaf 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Saqqarah_Ouserkaf_05.jpg)
Some to the south of Userkaf's funerary enclosure, there stands a separate pyramid complex built in all likelihood for one of his queens. The pyramid, built on an east–west axis, is ruined and only a small mound of rubble can be seen today. Although no name has been identified in the pyramid proper, its owner is believed by Egyptologists including
Cecil Mallaby Firth
Cecil Mallaby Firth (5 July 1878 – 1931) was a British Egyptologist.
Firth was baptised at Ashburton in Devon on 14 August 1878, the son of Henry Mallaby Firth, gent., and Frances (Fanny) Caunter. He became a lawyer, and after briefly wor ...
, Bernard Grdseloff, Audran Labrousse (
fr),
Jean-Philippe Lauer
Jean-Philippe Lauer (7 May 1902 – 15 May 2001), was a French architect and Egyptologist. He was considered to be the foremost expert on pyramid construction techniques and methods.
Biography
Arrival in Egypt
He was born in the 8th arrondi ...
and Tarek El-Awady to have been Neferhetepes, mother of Sahure and in all probability Userkaf's consort.
The pyramid was originally some high with a slope of 52°, similar to that of Userkaf's, and a base long. The core of the main and cult pyramids were built with the same technique, consisting of three horizontal layers of roughly hewn local limestone blocks and gypsum mortar. The core was covered with an outer casing of fine
Tura limestone
Tura ( arz, طرة ' , , ) was the primary quarry for limestone in ancient Egypt. The site, which was known by the ancient Egyptians as ''Troyu'' or ''Royu'', is located about halfway between modern-day Cairo and Helwan. Its ancient Egypt ...
, now gone. The pyramid was so extensively used as a stone quarry that even its internal chambers are exposed. These chambers are a scaled-down version of those in Userkaf's main pyramid, but without storage rooms.
Mortuary temple
The queen's pyramid complex had its own separate mortuary temple, located on the pyramid eastern side. The temple entrance led to an open pillared courtyard, stretching from east to west, where the ritual cleaning and preparation of the offerings took place. A sacrificial chapel adjoined the pyramid side and there were three statue niches and a few magazine chambers to store offerings. The temple halls were adorned with reliefs of animal processions and carriers of offerings moving towards the shrine of the queen.
Legacy
Funerary cult
Old Kingdom
![Userkaf Teti Sekhemket](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Userkaf_Teti_Sekhemket.png)
Like other Fourth and Fifth Dynasty pharaohs, Userkaf received a funerary cult after his death. His cult was state-sponsored and relied on goods for offerings produced in dedicated agricultural estates established during his lifetime, as well as such resources as fabrics brought from the "house of silver" (the treasury).
The cult flourished in the early to mid-Fifth Dynasty, as evidenced by the tombs and seals of participating priests and officials such as Nykaure, who served in the cults of Userkaf and Neferefre; Nykaankh and Khnumhotep, who served in Userkaf's pyramid complex; Ptahhotep, a priest of the Nekhenre and of Userkaf's mortuary temple; Tepemankh, Nenkheftka and Senuankh, who served in the cults of Userkaf and Sahure; Pehenukai, a vizier under Sahure and Neferirkare Kakai; and Nykuhor, a judge, inspector of scribes, privy councillor, and priest of funerary cults of Userkaf and Neferefre.
Middle Kingdom
The long-term importance of Userkaf's official cult may be judged by its abandonment at the end of the Fifth Dynasty. In comparison, the official funerary cult of at least one of Userkaf's successors, Nyuserre Ini, may have lasted until the Middle Kingdom period. The mortuary temple of Userkaf must have been in ruins or dismantled by the time of the Twelfth Dynasty as indicated, for example, by a block showing the king performing a ritual found re-used as a construction material in the
pyramid of Amenemhat I. Userkaf was not the only king whose mortuary temple met this fate: Nyuserre's temple was targeted even though its last priests were serving in it around this time. These facts hint at a lapse of royal interest in the state-sponsored funerary cults of Old Kingdom rulers.
Later periods
Examples of personal devotions on behalf of pious individuals endured much longer. For example, Userkaf is depicted on a relief from the Saqqara tomb of the priest Mehu, who lived 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 ...
(c. 1292–1189 BCE). Early in this period, during the reign of
Ramesses 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 ...
, Ramesses's fourth son,
Khaemwaset
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 ...
(
fl. c. 1280–1225 BCE), ordered restoration work on Userkaf's pyramid as well as on other pyramids of the Fifth Dynasty. In the case of Userkaf, this is established by inscriptions on stone cladding from the pyramid field showing Khaemwaset with offering bearers.
The reliefs from Userkaf's funerary complex were copied during the
26th Dynasty
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 ...
of the
Late Period. A particular example is a relief showing Userkaf wearing a boatman's circlet with streamers and
urae with the horns of an
Atef crown, a motif which had disappeared from Egyptian arts since Userkaf's time.
In contemporary culture
Egyptian
Nobel Prize for Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
-laureate
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. M ...
published a short story in 1945 about Userkaf entitled "Afw al-malik Usirkaf: uqsusa misriya". This short story was translated by
Raymond Stock as "King Userkaf's Forgiveness" in the collection of short stories ''Sawt min al-ʻalam al-akhar'', whose title translates to ''Voices from the other world: ancient Egyptian tales''.
Notes, references and sources
Notes
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{{featured article
25th-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt