Neferirkare (sometimes referred to as Neferirkare II to differentiate him from Neferirkare Kakai) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighth Dynasty during the early First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BC). Many scholars consider Neferirkare to have been the last pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, which ended with the 8th Dynasty. According to the egyptologists Kim Ryholt, Jürgen von Beckerath and Darrell Baker, he was the 17th and final king of the Eighth Dynasty.
Attestations
Neferirkare II’s name is attested on the 56th entry of the Abydos King List; a king list redacted some 900 years after the First Intermediate Period during the reign of Seti I. The latest reconstruction of the Turin canon, another king list compiled in the Ramesside era, indicates that Neferirkare II is also attested there in column 5, line 13.
Identity of Neferirkare
Farouk Gomaà, William C. Hayes and Baker identify Neferirkare II with the Horus name Demedjibtawy (Dmḏ-ib-t3wy, “He who unifies the heart of the two lands”) appearing on a single decree, the Coptos Decree R, now in the Egyptian Museum, JE 41894. The decree concerns the temple of Min at Coptos, exempting it from dues and duties. Jürgen von Beckerath rejects this identification.
Another proposed identification concerns the prenomen Wadjkare (W3ḏ-k3-Rˁ, “Flourishing is the Ka of Ra”), which also appears on the Coptos Decree R. Kurt Heinrich Sethe, Gomaà, Hayes, and Baker see Wadjkare as distinct from Demedjibtawy. Still, von Beckerath believes that Wadjkare may have been the prenomen of Neferkare II and the same person as Demedjibtawy. Conversely, Gomaà and Hayes equate Wadjkare with an obscure ruler named Hor-Khabaw. Alternatively, Hans Goedicke proposed that Wadjkare is the predecessor of Demedjibtawy and places both rulers chronologically into the 9th Dynasty. Thomas Schneider leaves the problem open and relates Wadjkare equally to either Neferkare II or Neferirkare II without further reference to Demedjibtawy.
Finally, Demedjibtawy and Wadjkare are not known from any contemporary attestation other than the decree unless they are identified with Neferirkare II or Neferkare II. They are also absent from the Abydos king list and the Turin canon.
In 2014 Maha Farid Mostafa published an inscription found in the tomb of Shemay. The inscription belongs most likely to Idy, a son of Shemay, albeit Idy’s name is not preserved. The text is dated under a king with the name Pepy and with a throne name Nefer-ka […]-Ra. Maha Farid Mostafa reconstructed that throne name to Neferirkare. The inscription dates for sure to the 8th Dynasty. If this reconstruction is correct, Neferirkare is most likely identical to Demedjibtawy. Idy is mentioned on one of the Coptos decrees together with Demedjibtawy.
Reign
The Turin canon and the Abydos king list record Neferirkare II as the last ruler of the combined 7th/8th. The Turin canon credits Neferirkare II with a year and a half of reign. Neferirkare was possibly overthrown by the first king of the succeeding Herakleopolitan 9th Dynasty, Meryibre Khety. Alternatively, the Egyptian state may have completely collapsed with the onset of low Nile floods, mass famine and chaos, which engulfed Egypt at the start of the First Intermediate Period.