The Sixth Dynasty of Egypt

The blog post for this week is written by Linda Kimmel, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. When she retired from full-time work as a data research manager in late 2020, she began studying about the ancient world, and serving as a docent at the University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Linda had never heard of the Egypt Centre before the pandemic but has taken every course offered since she first noticed a tweet about the Centre in the fall of 2020 and has been taking online courses there ever since. She hopes to visit the Egypt Centre in 2024, provided the trains are running!

 

The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt had it all: assassinations, harem plots, mysterious pharaohs, intrigue, and the longest-reigning monarch in world history. The fourth class in the Egypt Centre’s latest course – The Pyramid Age: Life in the Old Kingdom – covered it all, as we swept through the Sixth Dynasty (approximately 2323–2150 BCE). Honestly, this could be a course all on its own! As a longtime fan of mysteries, this class was perfect. It also made it difficult to pick a topic for this week’s blog! What should I cover?

Fig. 1: Kings of the Sixth Dynasty

The Sixth Dynasty is generally considered the last of the traditional dynasties of the Old Kingdom. During our class, Ken covered the seven rulers of the dynasty (fig. 1). I decided to focus my blog post on Pepi I, the third ruler of the dynasty, looking at how he came to power, and some of the events that happened during his reign. Why did I decide to focus on Pepi I? Because one of my favorite artifacts at the University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is a portion of a false door from the Saqqara tomb of Qar (or Kara-Pepy-Nefer), an official under Pepi I (Root, 1982) (fig. 2). I have used the artifact many times in tours to highlight the hieroglyphs, in particular the portion of the text that indicates that Qar was “beloved” of Pepi. Even though I generally point out and describe the cartouche of Pepi I, I had never looked into Pepi I’s story.

Fig. 2: false door from the Saqqara tomb of Qar

Pepi I was the third ruler of the Sixth Dynasty. But should he have been the second? He was the son of Teti (the first ruler of the Sixth Dynasty) and his wife Iput (the daughter of the last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas, and Teti’s chief wife). So why did Pepi I not immediately follow his father? That is one of the mysteries of the Sixth Dynasty. Instead of Pepi I, Teti was followed briefly by Userkare. Ken told us that Userkare may be the most elusive of all the kings of the period, and that scholars are still trying to figure out who he was and identify his pyramid. We watched an interesting video in class about the archaeologist Vassil Dobrev’s search for Userkare’s pyramid available on YouTube.

There is some evidence suggesting there was an assassination at the beginning of the Sixth Dynasty. A particularly interesting part of this week’s class was an exploration of the autobiographical inscription of Weni, who served under numerous kings, beginning with Teti. Ken noted that one of the most important parts of the inscription is the mention of a harem plot. It is possible that Userkare was involved in plotting to kill Teti, via his bodyguards. However, Ken cautioned us that there are no Egyptian documents saying Teti was killed. Nevertheless, some speculate that Pepi I may have been the legitimate heir to the throne after Teti died, and that Userkare was a usurper to the throne.

Once in power, Pepi I served a long time (although he was not the longest-reigning monarch). Surviving data mention both a 21st and 25th population count during Pepi I’s reign, which suggests Pepi I may have reigned 50 years if the population counts were done every other year. During his reign, Pepi I faced both internal and external challenges. Internally, it would seem he had to deal with the fallout of his father’s potential assassination. Externally, there is evidence of numerous military campaigns into the Sinai, southern Palestine, and Nubia to the south.

Aside from the challenges, there is also evidence that Pepi I launched trade expeditions into Punt, an as yet unidentified location, believed to be in the area of Eretria. Pepi I was also a prolific builder, building temples at Tanis, Bubastis, Abydos, Dendera, and Coptos. What I found especially fascinating, is that about 2,000 years after his death, the Ptolemies revered Pepi I, and included his name in reliefs at the Temple of Dendera, with one showing a statue of Pepi I being presented. What was it that made Pepi I stand out for the Ptolemies? Ken said Pepi I may have built a temple to Hathor on the site of the Ptolemaic Temple at Dendera.

It has been suggested that the status of the kings’ wives increased during the Sixth Dynasty, with their funerary temples becoming larger. It has been noted that Pepi I married a large number of women, perhaps between six and eight (Prakash, 2019). We looked at a few of Pepi I’s wives in class, most notably Queen Ankhesenpepi II, his chief wife, whose pyramid contained the first Pyramid Texts attributed to a queen. Was one of these wives involved in a conspiracy?

Fig. 3: Pyramid of Pepi I

One of the many things I love about the Egypt Centre courses is the additional literature on selected topics Ken sends us on a weekly basis, and also mentions during our classes. When we got to the part about palace conspiracies, Ken mentioned a book by Naguib Kanawati, Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I. He cautioned us that it was expensive. Fortunately, I was able to get it from my University library and took a deep dive into the conspiracies. Kanawati notes that Weni suggests there was a harem conspiracy during Pepy I’s reign, with one of his queens being brought to trial.

As we have with all of the pharaohs covered in this course, Ken showed us Pepi I’s pyramid. Admittedly, it is not much in comparison to the Fourth Dynasty pyramids at Giza. In the Sixth Dynasty, the emphasis was more on the Pyramid Texts located inside the pyramids than on the height of the pyramid itself. The pyramid of Pepy I is located at South Saqqara. While it was originally 52.5 meters high, today only 12 meters of its original height survive. It was made of poor-quality local sandstone, cased with white limestone (fig. 3).

Fig. 4: Statue of Pepi I (Brooklyn Museum)

Much more impressive were the two statues we saw of Pepi I. The first is a small statue from the Brooklyn Museum (39.121) that depicts Pepi I kneeling and holding nw-pots, which were ritual vessels that held milk or wine (fig. 4). Since kings would only kneel before a god, it is assumed that this statue would have been placed in front of the statue of a deity (Brooklyn Museum). The second are two larger statues found in the area of Hierakonpolis, now on display in the Egyptian museum (fig. 5). These are the largest copper alloy statues found in Egypt from this time.

Fig. 5: Copper alloy statue of Pepi I

This past Friday, I led a tour at the Kelsey Museum and included the false door of Qar. This time, I included a bit of information about Pepy I, which seemed to interest the people in my tour! I look forward to learning more about Pepi I and the other kings we have covered in this course. Thanks to the readings Ken sends us each week, I have a lot of information available.

Bibliography

Brooklyn Museum, Kneeling Statuette of Pepy I,  https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3448

Kanwati, N. (2003). Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I. London: Routledge.

Malek, J. (2000). “The Old Kingdom.” In Ian Shaw (Ed.) The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 89-117.

Prakash, T. “Egypt in the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649–2130 B.C.).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oking/hd_oking.htm (February 2019)

Root, M. C. (1982). A Scientist Views the Past: The Samuel A. Goldsmit Collection of Egyptian Antiquities.  https://lsa.umich.edu/content/dam/kelsey-assets/kelsey-publications/pdfs/Scientist_Views_Past.pdf