Userkaf
Userkaf 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 Fourth Dynasty royal family, although his parentage is uncertain; he could have been the son of Khentkaus I. He had at least one daughter and very probably a son, Sahure, with his consort Neferhetepes. 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 and Abu Gurab. 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 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 in El-Tod where he is the earliest attested pharaoh. Beyond the borders of Egypt, a military expedition to Canaan or the Eastern Desert 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. Egyptologist Miroslav Verner proposes that he was a son of Menkaure by one of his secondary queens and possibly a full brother to his predecessor and the last king of the Fourth Dynasty, Shepseskaf.Alternatively, Nicolas Grimal, 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 and Hetepheres II. 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. Aidan Dodson 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.
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. 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, 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. 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, to evaluate the amount of taxes to be levied on the population. This significant event is believed to have been biennial 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 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, as well as an ivory cylinder seal in the British Museum and yet another seal in the Bulaq Museum.The only historical source favouring a longer reign is the Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II by Manetho. No copies of the Aegyptiaca have survived and it is now known only through later writings by Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius. According to the Byzantine scholar George Syncellus, 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 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 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
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 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.
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 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, who noted that in Egyptian hieroglyphs 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
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, 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 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 temple".
Other gods honoured by Userkaf include Ra and Hathor, both of whom received land donations recorded in the annals, as well as Nekhbet, Wadjet, 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 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 at Lisht 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 in a ship called "He who controls the subjects ".
While Userkaf chose Saqqara to build his pyramid complex, officials at the time, including the vizier Seshathotep Heti, continued to build their tombs in the Giza necropolis.