The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI) and the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Dynasties constitute the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt. From a cultural point of view, the 6th Dynasty is the continuation of the end of the 5th Dynasty. The kings continued to commission pyramids for their mortuary cult. The pyramids and mortuary temples of this period are of a standard size and have the same layout. The burial chamber, antechamber and entrance corridor of these pyramids are inscribed with Pyramid Texts, following the example set by Unas of the 5th Dynasty. Most kings of the 6th Dynasty also chose to build their funerary monuments in Saqqara, and they followed the example of the last two kings of the 5th Dynasty.
Pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt
Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho accords the Dynasty 203 regnal years from Teti to Nitocris. In comparison, the Turin Canon assigns 181 regnal years. Still, with three additional kings concluding with Aba – discounting the reigns of the added Eight Dynasty kings, this is reduced to 155 regnal years. This estimate varies between both scholars and sources.
Teti
Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, sometimes also Tata, Atat, or Athath in ancient sources, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List but is believed to have been about 12 years. He was buried at Saqqara.
The Pyramid of Teti is smooth-sided in the pyramid field at Saqqara in Egypt. It is the second known pyramid containing pyramid texts. Excavations have revealed a satellite pyramid, two pyramids of queens accompanied by cult structures, and a funerary temple. Gaston Maspero opened the pyramid in 1882, and the complex was explored during several campaigns ranging from 1907 to 1965. It was initially called Teti’s Places Are Enduring. The preservation above ground is very poor, and it now resembles a small hill. Below ground, the chambers and corridors are very well preserved.
Userkare
Userkare, also Woserkare, meaning “Powerful is the soul of Ra”, was the second pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty, reigning briefly for 1 to 5 years in the late 24th to early 23rd century BC. Userkare’s relation to his predecessor Teti and successor Pepi I is unknown, and his reign remains enigmatic. Although he is attested in historical sources, Userkare is absent from the tomb of the Egyptian officials who lived during his reign. In addition, the Egyptian priest Manetho reports that Userkare’s predecessor, Teti, was murdered. Userkare is often considered to have been a short-lived usurper. Alternatively, he may have been a regent who ruled during Teti’s son’s childhood and later ascended the throne as Pepi I.
Pepi I Meryre
Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of Teti, the Dynasty’s founder, and ascended the throne only after the brief intervening reign of the shadowy Userkare. His mother was Iput, who may have been a daughter of Unas, the final ruler of the preceding Fifth Dynasty. Pepi I, who had at least six consorts, was succeeded by his son Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, with whom he may have shared power in a coregency at the very end of his reign. Pepi II Neferkare, who might also have been Pepi I’s son, succeeded Merenre.
Several difficulties accumulated during Pepi’s reign, beginning with the possible murder of his father and the ensuing authority of Userkare. Later, probably after his twentieth year of reign, Pepi faced a harem conspiracy hatched by one of his consorts who may have tried to have her son designated heir to the throne, and possibly another scheme involving his vizier at the end of his reign. Confronted with the protracted decline of pharaonic power and the emergence of dynasties of local officials, Pepi reacted with a vast architectural program involving the construction of temples dedicated to local gods and numerous chapels for his cult throughout Egypt, reinforcing his presence in the provinces. Egypt’s prosperity allowed Pepi to become the most prolific builder of the Old Kingdom.
At the same time, Pepi favoured the rise of small provincial centres and recruited officials of non-noble extraction to curtail the influence of powerful local families. Continuing Teti’s policy, Pepi expanded a network of warehouses accessible to royal envoys from which taxes and labour could easily be collected. Finally, he buttressed his power after the harem conspiracy by forming alliances with Khui, the provincial nomarch of Abydos, marrying two of his daughters, Ankhesenpepi I and Ankhesenpepi II, and making both Khui’s wife Nebet and her son Djau viziers. The Egyptian state’s external policy under Pepi comprised military campaigns against Nubia, Sinai and the southern Levant, landing troops on the Levantine coast using Egyptian transport boats. Trade with Byblos, Ebla and the oases of the Western Desert flourished while Pepi launched mining and quarrying expeditions to Sinai and further afield.
Pepi had a pyramid complex built for his funerary cult in Saqqara; next, he constructed at most minuscule six pyramids for his consorts. Pepi’s pyramid, which initially stood 52.5 m (172 ft) tall and an accompanying high temple, followed the standard layout inherited from the late Fifth Dynasty. The most extensive corpus of Pyramid Texts from the Old Kingdom covers the walls of Pepi I’s burial chamber, antechamber and much of the corridor leading to it. For the first time, these texts appear in some of the consorts’ pyramids. Excavations revealed a bundle of viscera and a mummy fragment, presumed to belong to the pharaoh. Pepi’s complex, called Pepi Mennefer, remained the focus of his funerary cult well into the Middle Kingdom and ultimately gave its name to the nearby capital of Egypt, Memphis. Pepi’s cult stopped early in the Second Intermediate Period. Pepi’s monuments began to be quarried for their stone in the New Kingdom, and in the Mamluk era, they were almost entirely dismantled.
Merenre Nemtyemsaf I
Merenre Nemtyemsaf I (meaning “Beloved of Ra, Nemty is his protection”) was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth king of the Sixth Dynasty. He ruled Egypt for six to 11 years in the 23rd century BC, succeeding his father, Pepi I Meryre, on the throne.
Merenre Nemtyemsaf II
Merenre Nemtyemsaf II was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth and penultimate ruler of the 6th Dynasty. He reigned for one year and one month in the first half of the 22nd century BC, at the very end of the Old Kingdom period. Nemtyemsaf II likely ascended the throne as an older man, succeeding his long-lived father, Pepi II Neferkare, when the pharaoh’s power was crumbling.
Pepi II Neferkare
Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either c. 2216 or c. 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt’s Old Kingdom who reigned from c. 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (Nefer-ka-Re), means “Beautiful is the Ka of Re”. He succeeded to the throne at age six, after the death of Merenre I.
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 king 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 son. Pepi II would, thus, 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.
Pepi II’s reign marked a sharp decline in the Old Kingdom. As the power of the nomarchs grew, the pharaoh’s power declined. With no dominant central administration, local nobles began raiding each other’s territories, and the Old Kingdom ended within a couple of years after the close of Pepi II’s reign.
Netjerkare Siptah
Netjerkare Siptah (also Neitiqerty Siptah and possibly the origin of the legendary figure Nitocris) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the seventh and last ruler of the Sixth Dynasty. As the previous king of the 6th Dynasty, Netjerkare Siptah is considered by some Egyptologists to be the last king of the Old Kingdom period. Alternatively, some scholars classify him as the first king of the Seventh or Eighth Dynasty.
Pharaoh Netjerkare Siptah enjoyed a short reign in the early 22nd century BC when the pharaoh’s power was crumbling and that of the local nomarchs was rising. Although he was male, Netjerkare Siptah was most likely the same person as the female ruler Nitocris, as mentioned by Herodotus and Manetho.
History of the Sixth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt
The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt is considered by many authorities to be the last Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. However, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt includes Dynasties VII and VIII as part of the Old Kingdom. Manetho writes that these kings ruled from Memphis since their pyramids were built at Saqqara, which is very close to one another.
By the Fifth Dynasty, the religious institution had established itself as the dominant force in society; a trend of growth in the bureaucracy and the priesthood and a decline in the pharaoh’s power had been established during Neferirkare Kakai’s reign. During Djedkare Isesi’s rule, officials were endowed with greater authority—evidenced by the opulent private tombs they constructed—eventually leading to a feudal system. These established trends—decentralization of power and bureaucracy growth—intensified during the three decades of Unas’s rule, which also witnessed an economic decline. This continued into the Sixth Dynasty, leading into the First Intermediate Period.
Teti reign
Manetho identifies Teti as the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt after the conclusion of the reign of Unas. He acceded to the throne in the 23rd century BC.
Manetho assigns Teti a regnal duration of 30 or 33 years — improbably long as the celebration of a Sed festival is not attested to, and the latest date recorded corresponds to the sixth cattle count, 12 or 13 years into his reign. The Royal Canon of Turin (RCT) gives another unlikely estimate of seven months. The archaeologist Hartwig Altenmüller mediates between Manetho and the record of the cattle count to offer a reign length of around 23 years. The Egyptologists Peter Clayton and William Smith accord 12 years to his reign.
The relationship between Teti and his predecessors remains unclear, but his wife, Iput, is thought to be the daughter of Unas. This would mean that Teti ascended to the throne as Unas’s son-in-law. His inauguration solved a potential succession crisis. Unas had died without a male heir. Teti adopted the Horus name Seheteptawy (meaning “He who pacifies the Two Lands”) to establish his reign as one of renewed political unity. The transition appears to have occurred smoothly, and Teti retained officials from his predecessors of the Fifth Dynasty, such as viziers Mehu and Kagemni. They had begun their careers under Djedkare Isesi. Despite this, the RCT inserts a break between Unas and Teti, which the Egyptologist Jaromìr Malek contends relates to a “change of location of the capital and royal residence”. The capital migrated from “White Wall” to the populous suburbs further south to “Djed-isut”—derived from the name of Teti’s pyramid and pyramid town and located east of the monument. The royal residence might have been yet further south, in the valley away and across a lake from the city, east of South Saqqara—where the pyramids of Djedkare Isesi and Pepi I were built.
Teti had his daughter, Sesheshet, married to one of his viziers and later chief priest, Mereruka, a clear sign of his interest in cooperating with the noble class. Mereruka was buried close to Teti’s pyramid in a lavish tomb in North Saqqara. As part of his pacification policy, Teti issued a decree exempting the temple at Abydos from taxation. He was the first ruler to be closely associated with the cult of Hathor at Dendera. Abroad, Teti maintained trade relations with Byblos and Nubia.
Teti commissioned the construction of a pyramid at North Saqqara. His pyramid follows the standard Djedkare Isesi, with a base length of 78.5 m (258 ft; 150 cu) converging to the apex at ~53°, attaining a peak height of 52.5 m (172 ft; 100 cu). The substructure of the pyramid was very similar to Unas’ and Djedkare Isesi’s; it had a descending corridor and horizontal passage guarded at about the middle by three granite portcullises, leading to an antechamber flanked to its east by the serdab with its three recesses and to its west by the burial chamber containing the sarcophagus. The walls of the chambers and a section of the horizontal passage were inscribed with pyramid texts, as in Unas’s pyramid.
Except for its entrance, the mortuary temple conforms to its predecessors’ basic plans. The complex contained a cult pyramid to the southeast with a base length of 15.7 m (52 ft; 30 cu). The causeway connecting to the mortuary temple is yet to be excavated, while the valley temple and pyramid town are missing. Teti’s pyramid became the site of an extensive necropolis. It included the pyramids of his wives Neith and Iput, mother of Pepi I. Iput’s skeleton was discovered in a wooden coffin in her pyramid.
Manetho claims that a bodyguard assassinated Teti, but no contemporary sources confirm this. The story, if true, might explain the references to the ephemeral ruler Userkare, who proposed to have briefly reigned between Teti and Pepi I. Userkare is attested to in the Royal Turin Canon and Abydos king list and is mentioned in several contemporary documents.
Pepi I reign
During the Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, expeditions were sent to Wadi Maghara in the Sinai Peninsula to mine for turquoise and copper and to the mines at Hatnub and Wadi Hammamat—the pharaoh Djedkara sent trade expeditions south to Punt and north to Byblos. Pepi I sent expeditions not only to these locations but also to Ebla in modern-day Syria.
Pepi II reign
The most notable member of the Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt was Pepi II, credited with a reign of 94 years.
Nitiqret
Also known by the Greek name Nitocris, this woman is believed by some authorities to have been the first female pharaoh and the first queen in the world. However, it is currently accepted that her name is a mistranslation of the name of King Neitiqerty Siptah.
Our knowledge of contemporary history broadens with the growing number of biographical inscriptions in non-royal tombs. For example, we hear of an unsuccessful plot against Pepi I. We also read a letter by the young king Pepi II, excited that one of his expeditions would return with a dancing pygmy from the land of Yam, located south of Nubia.
These non-royal tomb inscriptions are one example of the growing power of the nobility, which further weakened the king’s absolute rule. As a result, it is believed that on the death of the long-lived Pepi II, his vassals were entrenched enough to resist the authority of his many successors, which may have contributed to the rapid decline of the Old Kingdom.
