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.

Biography

Teti had several wives:

• Iput, the daughter of Unas, the last king of the Fifth dynasty. Iput was the mother of Pepi I.
• Khuit, who may have been the mother of Userkare (according to Jonosi and Callender)
• Khentkaus IV
• Neith

Teti is known to have had several children. He was the father of at least three sons and probably ten daughters. Of the sons, two are well attested, and a third one is likely:

• Pepi I
• Tetiankhkem
• Nebkauhor, with the name of Idu, “king’s eldest son of his body”, is buried in the mastaba of Vizier Akhethetep/Hemi, in a fallen Vizier’s tomb within the funerary complex of his maternal grandfather.

According to N. Kanawati, Teti had at least nine daughters by several wives, and the fact that they were named after his mother, Sesheshet, allows researchers to trace his family. At least three princesses bearing the name Seshseshet are designated as “king’s eldest daughter”, meaning that there were at least three different queens. It seems that there was a tenth one, born of a fourth queen as she is also designated as “king’s eldest daughter”.

• Seshseshet, whose name was Waatetkhéthor, married to Vizier Mereruka, in whose mastaba she has a chapel. She is designated as the “king’s eldest daughter of his body”. She may have been the eldest daughter of Iput.
• Seshseshet, with the name of Idut, “king’s daughter of his body”, died very young at the beginning of her father’s reign and was buried in the mastaba of Vizier Ihy.
• Seshseshet Nubkhetnebty, “king’s daughter of his body”, wife of Vizier Kagemni, is represented in her husband’s mastaba. She was maybe also born of Iput.
• Seshseshet, also called Sathor, married Isi, resident governor at Edfu and titled Vizier. She also would have been born of pharaoh Iput I.
• Seshseshet, with the name of Sheshit, king’s eldest daughter of his body and wife of the overseer of the great court Neferseshemptah, is depicted in her husband’s mastaba. As she is the king’s eldest daughter, she cannot be born to the same mother as Waatkhetethor and, therefore, may have been the daughter of Queen Khuit.
• Seshseshet, also called Sheshti, “king’s daughter of his body”, married the keeper of the head ornaments Shepsipuptah and is depicted in her husband’s mastaba.
• Seshseshet with the beautiful name of Merout, entitled “king’s eldest daughter” but without the addition “of his body” and therefore born of a third, maybe a minor queen, and married to Ptahemhat.
• Seshseshet, wife of Remni, “sole companion” and overseer of the department of the palace guards
• Seshseshet, married to Pepyankh, Senior of Meir.
• The so-called “Queen of the West Pyramid” in King Pepy I cemetery. She is called the “king’s eldest daughter of his body” and the king’s wife of Meryre (Pepy I). Therefore, she is the wife of Pepi and most certainly his half-sister. As she is also the king’s eldest daughter, her mother must be the fourth queen of Teti.

Another possible daughter is princess Inti.

Reign and possible assassination

During Teti’s reign, high officials began building funerary monuments that rivalled that of the pharaoh. His Vizier, Mereruka, built a mastaba tomb at Saqqara, consisting of 33 richly carved rooms and the most giant-known burial for an Egyptian nobleman. This is considered a sign that Egypt’s wealth was being transferred from the central court to the officials, a slow process that culminated at the end of the Old Kingdom.

The Egyptian priest and chronicler Manetho states that Teti was murdered by his palace bodyguards in a harem plot. He appears to have been briefly succeeded by a short-lived usurper, Userkare. Teti was buried in the royal cemetery at Saqqara. His pyramid complex is associated with the mastabas of officials from his reign. Teti’s highest date is his Year after the 6th Count 3rd Month of Summer day lost (Year 12 if the count was biannual) from Hatnub Graffito No.1. This information is confirmed by the South Saqqara Stone Annal document from Pepi II’s reign, which gave him control for around 12 years.

Third “subsidiary” pyramid to Teti’s tomb

Teti’s mother was Queen Sesheshet, who was instrumental in her son’s accession to the throne and reconciliation of two warring factions of the royal family. Sesheshet lived between 2323 BC to 2291 BC. Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced, on 11 November 2008, that she was interred in a 4,300-year-old 5-metre (16-foot) tall pyramid at Saqqara. This is the 118th pyramid discovered thus far in Egypt. The most considerable portion of its 2-metre wide casing was built with a superstructure 5 metres high. It initially reached 14 metres, with sides 22 metres long.

Once five stories tall, it lay beneath 7 meters (23 feet) of sand, a small shrine and mud-brick walls from later periods. The third-known “subsidiary” pyramid to Teti’s tomb was originally 46 feet (14 meters) tall and 72 feet (22 meters) square at its base due to its walls having stood at a 51-degree angle. Buried next to the Saqqara Step Pyramid, its base lies 65 feet underground and is believed to have been 50 feet tall when it was built.

Funerary temple of Queen Neith

In January 2021, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of more than 50 wooden sarcophagi in 52 burial shafts dating back to the New Kingdom period, as well as a 13ft-long papyrus containing texts from the Book of the Dead.

Archaeologists led by Zahi Hawass at Saqqara also found the funerary temple of queen Neith and warehouses made of bricks. Previously unknown to researchers, she was the wife of Teti.