Pepi II Neferkare


Pepi II Neferkare was a king of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom. His second name, Neferkare, means "Beautiful is the Ka of Re". He succeeded to the throne at age six, after the death of Nemtyemsaf I.
Pepi II's reign marked a sharp decline of the Old Kingdom. As the power of the nomarchs grew, the power of the king declined. With no dominant central power, local nobles began raiding each other's territories and the Old Kingdom came to an end within a couple of years after the end of Pepi II's reign. This led to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt which lasted from the Seventh Dynasty of Egypt to the Tenth Dynasty of Egypt.
According to the ancient historian Manetho, he reigned for 94 years, and according to the Turin King List, for 90 years. Since the latest contemporary documentary evidence for Pepi II dates from his 62nd year of reign, the 90+ years may be questionable.

Early reign

He was traditionally thought to be the son of Pepi I and Queen Ankhesenpepi II, but the South Saqqara Stone annals record that Merenre had a minimum reign of 11 years. Several 6th Dynasty royal seals and stone blocks – the latter of which were found within the funerary temple of Queen Ankhesenpepi II, the known mother of Pepi II – were discovered in the 1999–2000 excavation season at Saqqara, which demonstrate that she also married Merenre after Pepi I's death and became this king's chief wife. Inscriptions on these stone blocks give Ankhesenpepi II the royal titles of: "King's Wife of the Pyramid of Pepy I, King's Wife of the Pyramid of Merenre, King's Mother of the Pyramid of Pepy II". Therefore, today, many Egyptologists believe that Pepi II was likely Merenre's own son. Pepi II would, therefore, be Pepi I's grandson while Merenre was, most likely, Pepi II's father since he is known to have married Pepi II's known mother, Queen Ankhesenpepi II.
His mother Ankhesenpepi II most likely ruled as regent in the early years of his reign. She may have been helped in turn by her brother Djau, who was a vizier under the previous pharaoh. An alabaster statuette in the Brooklyn Museum depicts a young Pepi II, in full kingly regalia, sitting on the lap of his mother. Despite his long reign, this piece is one of only three known sculptural representations in existence of this particular king. Some scholars have taken the relative paucity of royal statuary to suggest that the royal court was losing the ability to retain skilled artisans.
A glimpse of the personality of the pharaoh while he was still a child can be found in a letter he wrote to Harkhuf, a governor of Aswan and the head of one of the expeditions he sent into Nubia. Sent to trade and collect ivory, ebony, and other precious items, he captured a pygmy. News of this reached the royal court, and an excited young king sent word back to Harkhuf that he would be greatly rewarded if the pygmy were brought back alive, where he would have likely served as an entertainer for the court. This letter was preserved as a lengthy inscription on Harkhuf's tomb, and has been called the first travelogue.

Family

Over his long life, Pepi II had several wives, including:
  • Neith – She may be a daughter of Ankhesenpepi I and hence also Pepi II's cousin and half-sister.
  • Iput II – A half-sister of Pepi II.
  • Ankhesenpepi III – She was the daughter of Nemtyemsaf I and hence a granddaughter of Pepi I.
  • Ankhesenpepi IV – The mother of King Neferkare according to texts in her tomb.
  • Udjebten – She may have been a daughter of Pepi I.
  • Meritites IV – Originally thought to be a wife of Pepi I, she is now known to have been one of Pepi II's consorts, and a daughter of Pepi I.
Of these queens, Neith, Iput, and Udjebten each had their own minor pyramids and mortuary temples as part of the king's own pyramid complex in Saqqara. Queen Ankhesenpepi III and Meritites IV were buried in pyramids near the pyramid of Pepi I Meryre, and Ankhesenpepi IV was buried in a chapel in the complex of Queen Udjebten.

Children with Ankhesenpepi IV

  • Neferkare: It is not known which Neferkare as there are several kings with that name during the First Intermediate Period. His name may be Neferkare Nebi.

    Possible children with Neith

  • Nemtyemsaf II

    Children with unknown spouse(s)

  • Nebkauhor-Idu
  • Ptahshepses

    Foreign policy

Pepi II seems to have carried on foreign policy in ways similar to that of his predecessors. Copper and turquoise were mined at Wadi Maghareh in the Sinai Peninsula, and alabaster was quarried from Hatnub. He is mentioned in inscriptions found in the Phoenician city of Byblos.
In the south, the trade relations consist of caravans trading with the Nubians. Harkhuf was a governor of Upper Egypt, who led several expeditions under Merenre and Pepi II. His last expedition was a trip to a place called Iam. Harkhuf brought back with him what his correspondence with the young pharaoh referred to as a dwarf, apparently a pygmy. Egypt received goods such as incense, ebony, animal skins, and ivory from Nubia.
The Western desert was known to have extensive caravan routes. Some of these routes allowed for trade with the Kharga Oasis, the Selima Oasis, and the Dakhla Oasis.
At Ebla, an alabaster lid was found in the destruction layer of Mardikh IIB1.

King Neferkare and General Sasenet

Only a small number of pharaohs were immortalized in ancient fiction, Pepi II may be among them. In the tale of "King Neferkare and General Sasenet", three fragments of a papyrus dating from the late New Kingdom, report clandestine nocturnal meetings with a military commander – a General Sasenet or Sisene. Some have suggested this reflects a homosexual relationship although it is disputed that the text relates to Pepi II at all. Some, like R. S. Bianchi, think that it is a work of archaizing literature and dates to the 25th Dynasty referring to Shabaka Neferkare, a Kushite king.

Decline of the Old Kingdom

The decline of the Old Kingdom arguably began before the time of Pepi II, with nomarchs becoming more and more powerful and exerting greater influence. Pepi I, for example, married two sisters who were the daughters of a nomarch and later made their brother a vizier. Their influence was extensive, both sisters bearing sons who were chosen as part of the royal succession: Merenre Nemtyemsaf I and Pepi II himself.
Increasing wealth and power appears to have been handed over to high officials during Pepi II's reign. Large and expensive tombs appear at many of the major nomes of Egypt, built for the reigning nomarchs, the priestly class and other administrators. Nomarchs were traditionally free from taxation and their positions became hereditary. Their increasing wealth and independence led to a corresponding shift in power away from the central royal court to the regional nomarchs.
Later in his reign, it is known that Pepi divided the role of vizier so that there were two viziers: one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower, a further decentralization of power away from the royal capital of Memphis. Further, the seat of vizier of Lower Egypt was moved several times. The southern vizier was based at Thebes.

Reign length

Pepi II is often mentioned as the longest reigning monarch in history, due to a 3rd-century BC account of Ancient Egypt by Manetho, which accords the king a reign of 94 years; this has, however, been disputed by some Egyptologists such as Hans Goedicke and Michel Baud due to the absence of attested dates known for Pepi II after his 31st count. Ancient sources upon which Manetho's estimate is based are long lost, and could have resulted from a misreading on Manetho's behalf. The Turin canon attributes 90+ years of reign to Pepi II, but this document dates to the time of Ramesses II, 1,000 years after Pepi II's death and its accuracy is uncertain.
Spalinger provides the highest attested date "Year after the 31st Count, 1st Month of Shemu, day 20" from Hatnub graffito No.7, which assuming a biennial cattle count system would represent 62+1 complete or partial years. Therefore, some Egyptologists suggest instead that Pepi II reigned no more than 64 years. This is based on the complete absence of higher attested dates for Pepi beyond his Year after the 31st Count. A previous suggestion by Hans Goedicke that the Year of the 33rd Count appears for Pepi II in a royal decree for the mortuary cult of Queen Udjebten was withdrawn by Goedicke himself in 1988 in favour of a reading of "the Year of the 24th Count" instead. Goedicke writes that Pepi II is attested by numerous year dates until the Year of his 31st count which strongly implies that this king died shortly after a reign of about 64 years. Other scholars note that the lack of contemporary sources dated after his 62nd year on the throne does not preclude a much longer reign, in particular since the end of Pepi II's reign was marked by a sharp decline in the fortunes of the Old Kingdom pharaohs who succeeded him.
The American Historian, David Henige, states while there have been examples of kinglists where rulers were ascribed reigns as long as that assigned to Pepi II, "often exceeding 100 years, but these are invariably rejected as mythical", the problems inherent in dating Pepi II's reign are many since:
...a hyperextended duration is not really necessary to bring Old Kingdom chronology into some equilibrium with other chronologies. For Mesopotamia from at least this early until virtually the Persian conquest, numerous localized synchronisms play vital roles in absolute dating, but seldom affect the duration of individual dynasties. Not only is Old Kingdom Egypt well outside any "synchronism zone" but, as it happens, since Pepy was the last substantive ruler of Egypt before a period of political and chronological chaos...there are no awkward ramifying effects by reducing his reign by twenty or thirty years, a period that can simply be added on to the First Intermediate Period.
Henige himself is somewhat skeptical of the 94 year figure assigned to Pepi II and follows Naguib Kanawati's 2003 suggestion that this king's reign was most probably much shorter than 94 years.
This situation could have produced a succession crisis and led to a stagnation of the administration, centered on an absolute yet aging ruler who was not replaced because of his perceived divine status. A later, yet better documented, example of this type of problem is the case of the long reigning Nineteenth Dynasty pharaoh Ramesses II and his successors.
It has been proposed that the 4.2 kiloyear event be linked to the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, though current resolution of evidence is not sufficient to make an assertion.