Akhet - The Horizon

Overview of the Saqqara area. After M. Lehner - The Complete Pyramids

Merenre Nemtyemsaf
succeeded Pepi I and came to reign for a short period, it is believed about nine years only. Possibly it was a co-regency with his father. His moter was Ankhenesmeryre. In the autobiography of Weni, the Governor of the South, Merenre is said to have visited Aswan in his ninth regnal year, to receive chieftains from the south. So at least he reigned for nine years.

His pyramid which is badly destroyed and gives almost nothing to see, lies to the west of Djedkare-Isesi´s. In ancient times it was called 'The Perfection of Merenre Appears'. It was investigated in the 1830´s when block of white limestones were found but these are no longer visisble. It was also entered in the 1880´s by the Brugsch brothers, who found remains of the mummy, which was brought to London. It is however uncertain that this is MErenre as the mummification method is from the 18th Dynasty. There were also fragments of the Pyramid Texts. An entrance in the north wall with corner stones of a chapel was found. Then a sloping corridor led to a vestibule, a horisontal corridor which was blocked by big granite slabs. The tomb, like so many others, had been robbed in antiquity. There was also an antechamber with a niched statue room and a vaulted burial chamber. Though the chambers were in bad shape, the sarcophagus was intact. It enclosed the mummy of a young boy but it´s not certain this is Merenre, or if the tomb has been used for a later burial.

It is no longer possible to see there was any plan of a mortuary temple, a causeway or a valley temple. Remains of a mudbrick enclosure wall and a causeway 250 m long, going aruond the complex of Djedkare was found. Lately there has been some finds of a mortuary temple with limestone paving and some fragments of reliefs. No full investigation has been made and the site is difficult to get to.

Djedkare Isesi
Djedkare Isesi preceeded Unas. Djedkare, 5th Dynsty, was the first king to build his mortuary monuments in southern Saqqara. He reigned for some thirty years and changed the administration for Upper and Lower Egypt, plus he reorganized the mortuary cult at Abusir, where some of his officials were buried

His pyramid was once known as 'Beautiful is Djedkare'. It had a stepped core with an outer, smooth casing. A corridor inside was coverd with granite and sloped down from the north to a chamber covered with limestone. Next came a horizontal corridor leading to the antechamber, which was located beneath the apex of the pyramid. The corridor went past three portcullises on the way. In the burial chamber fragments were found of a basalt sarcophagus but no human remains. It was located to the west of this chamber, and to the east a tripartite magazine was located.

The Valley temple and Causeway are now located beneath the modern village of Saqqara. Two massive pylons led the way into the temple from the causeway. Inside a long entrance corridor led to a court pavaed with alabaster and with columns all the way around. There were also magazines at the sides of the court. Then comes a long, narrow transverse hall behind which the inner parts of the temple lies. There is a room with niches for five cult statues and a square vestibule. Next is the the offering chapel which is also surrounded by magazines.

There was a satellite pyramid, and also a small pyramid complex at the northeastern corner of the enclosure. This small pyramind is often called the queen’s pyramid, though some think otherwize. Maybe the architecture and other structures of this complex point at this complex having had a special, religious function though it cannot be proved at this time.

Pepi II beside his cartouche, from his pyramid.

Pepi II
South of the pyramids of Merenre and Djedkare-Isesi is the Pyramid of Neferkare Pepi II, 6th Dynasty. He is known for his long reign, he accended the throne when he was only 6 years old and was acknowledged as a ruler already at this time. It is from this period that the story of the pygmy originates. It tells of how Harkuf, a noble and a caravan leader, made several expeditions into the lands south of the 1st cataract to collect elephant tusks, ebony and other precious things. Once he also brought back a pygmy, which caused they young Pepi to issue orders that Harkuf was to the court at once. This was the most precious of al things he had brought back.

The reign of Pepi II was counted to 94 years if the scribe who noted it didn´t confuse the numbers 64 and 94, which is very similar in hieratic script. This long reign is thought by some to be responsible for the decline of the state of Egypt. Pepi II married several times, as most of the kings did. Some of the wifes were his half-sister and cousin Neith, and his niece Ipwet, daughter of his brother Merenre. Around his mortuary complex wre three smaller pyramids for the queens, each w3ith its own pyramid, chapel, mortuary temple and even satellite pyramids.

The whole mortyary complex, including the pyramid, valley temple and causeway, was surrounded by a thick enclosure wall. The ancient name of the pyramid complex is 'Pepi is Established and Living'. It was built in five steps which were filled in and covered with a smooth casing. At the northern side of the pyramid, was a chapel with the entrance into the pyramid, a sloping corridor covered in granite. Here was found a knife or spatula of gold and fragments of alabaster and diorite vessels. The corridor first lead to an outer room, then continued without sloping to the inner rooms. These were an antechambre, the burial chamber and storerooms. Both the antechamber and the burial chamber had saddled roofs of heavy limestone beams. In both rooms were the Pyramid Texts decorated the walls while the ceiling was covered with stars. At the farthest end of the bural chamber, the sarcophagus made of black granite had the king´s titles and a false door. The whole complex, including Valley Temple and Causeway was surrounded by an unusually thick enclosure wall.

The Valley Temple and the Causeway. The causeway was long and winding, and the Valley Temple had a wide facade towards the quai with stairs at the sides leading down to the quay and ramps. There was a doorway with red granite around it, leading into a small room with eight rectangular columns holding up the roof. The depictions on the walls showed the king being received by the gods. Behind are two identical halls, with magazines on both sides. These halls, or rooms led out to the causeway which led up to the mortuary temple between two thick pylons. There was an entrance hall leading into a court with colums made of quartzite all around. Also here were magazines and storerooms at the sides.

The depictions on the walls of the court are almost a copy of the ones at Sahure´s mortuary complex, dyn 5. There is also a long, transverse hall which is decorated with images of the Heb Sed Jubilee (The king´s 30th year of reign). Behind this hall were a chamber wtih five niches for the cult statues, a vestibule and the offering chapel. Also here were storerooms.

Shepseskaf
Shepseskaf´s tomb is called 'Mastaba el-Faraun', which is Arabic for 'Pharaoh´s Bench'. He was the last king of the 4th Dynasty, son of Menkaure and an unknown queen. He reigned for only four years. This was the period when the power and wealth of the 4th Dynasty began to vane. It is not really known why Shepseskaf built in southern Saqqara instead of at Giza. Perhaps there was no good place for another pyramid there, or economics might have been strained. It is also thought that perhaps he wanted to diminish the power of the priesthood of Re, for which the pyramid form was a sun symbol. Shepseskaf didn´t use Re in his name either. But who knows for sure.

When he had his mastaba and mortuary temple, he chose to leave tradition of four generations and did not build a pyramid but a very big mastaba, like a 'bench' in soutern Saqqara, even just south of the pyramid of Pepi II. It measures 99.6 m long and 74.4m wide. On the eastern side of the mastaba was a small mortuary temple, also differently built than its predecessors. There was an offering hall, a false door and several magazines. However, there was an inner and outer courtyard which takes up most of the space of the temple.

The mastaba was built of giant blocks of limestone and covered with finer, white limestone casing. There was a ground layer in pink granite. Prince Khaemwaset left restoration texts on the outside which are partly still existing. The entrance lies on the northern side. A sloping corridor leads 20 m in to an antechamber, burial chamber and magazines. Both these chambers were built in rpink granite and the ceilings were vaulted. The only thing found in the burial chamber was fragments of a dark basalt sarcophagus. The antechamber has a passage leading south to six niches and magazines.

There were two mudbrick walls surrounding the mastaba, with the small mortuary temple, which seems to have been built in two phases, on the eastern side. The first phase had a paved court, a T-shaped offering room with a false door and several rooms which might have been for storage. In the courtyard there was an altar. The later part included a larger courtyard to the east, with niches for statues.

There is also a valley temple which is not yet excavated, and a causeway, made of whitepainted mudbrick, leading to it from the mortuary temple.

Ibi
Ibi was an 8th Dynasty King. Not much is known about him, he reigned in a time when Egypt was divided after the decline following the reign of Pepi II. The First Intermediate Period can be said to begin with Dyn.7. Kings from this period are elusive and seem to have been many, an indication of unstability. It is in this time the legend of a queen named Nitocris is ascribed. Supopsedly she should have reigned but there is no evidence of her at all. Maybe she was just a scribal error and not a real person. There is also the idea that her name could be a misunderstanding of the nomen Netjerikare who is called Neitiqreti Siptah in the Turin list.

Ibi is the only king from this period to have built a pyramid. The remains of it lies near the causew3ay of Pepi II. The construction was similar to the pyramids of Pepi II. Not much of it remains today. There were small limestone blocks surrounding the inner rooms. There was found several inscriptions in red paint of 'Prince of Libya' for which no answer has been found. The entrance is from the nort-west and leads by a sloping corridor to the burial chamber, which walls were inscribed with the Pyramid Texts. This is the most recent Pyramid Texts which have been found sofar, and they were a good help in identifying this king.

There was also a small mortuary temple built of mudbrick with an open courtyard and storerooms around it. The offering room had a rectangular basin for libations in the floor.

This is the last of the tombs and pyramids south of the Djoser Complex. Next, we move north of it where there are still many monuments.