Userkaf
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| Userkaf in hieroglyphs | ||||||||||||||
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| Era: Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) | ||||||||||||||
Userkaf was the founder of the Fifth dynasty. His name means "his ka is potent." He ruled from 2465-2458 BC.
A bust of Userkaf is displayed in the Egyptian Museum. The head was the first (of five) sun temples at Abu Ghurob built by the rulers of the Fifth dynasty. The head of Userkaf is 45 cm high and carved from greywacke stone. The sculpture is considered particularly important as it is among the very few sculptures in the round from the Old Kingdom that show the monarch wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. The head was uncovered in 1957 during the joint excavation expedition of the German and Swiss Institutes of Cairo.
The interior of Userkaf's pyramid complex at Saqqara was first explored by John Shae Perring in 1839, though a robber's tunnel previously discovered by Orazio Marucchi in 1831. Perring thought the pyramid belonged to Djedkare. The pyramid was first correctly identified by Egyptologist Cecil Firth in 1928. The pyramid introduced several new changes from the previous dynasty. In comparison with the tombs of the Fourth dynasty, his pyramid was rather small measuring under 50 meters high with sides only 73 and 30 meters long. Still, small or not, unlike his predecessor on the throne, Shepseskaf, who chose to be buried in a simple mastaba, Userkaf was buried in a pyramid. Userkaf's increased focus, however, was put less on the pyramid itself than on the mortuary temple, which were more richly decorated than in the previous Fourth dynasty. It is also significant that Userkaf's temple was placed on the southern side of his pyramid, since Userkaf was a strong follower of the cult of the sun, and the southern (rather than the more traditional eastern) location receives sunlight throughout the day. In the temple courtyard, a colossal statue of the king was raised. Userkaf chose to be buried near to Djoser's step pyramid, in the northeast corner of the funerary complex.
It is believed that he was father of two pharaohs: Sahure and Neferirkare Kakai, who both succeeded him to the throne. Another less common view, in concordance with a story of the Westcar Papyrus, is that first three rulers of the Fifth dynasty were all brothers, the sons of queen Khentkaus I. He is given a reign of 7 Years by both the Turin King List and Manetho.
Egyptian Nobel Prize for Literature-winner Naguib Mahfouz published a short story in 1938 about Userkaf entitled Afw al-malik Usirkaf: uqsusa misriya. This short story was translated by Raymond Stock as King Userkaf's Forgiveness in the collection of short stories Voices From the Other World in 2003.
References
- Hawass, Zahi, "The Head of Userkaf" in "The Splendour of the Old Kingdom" in The Treasures of the Egyptian Museum, Francesco Tiradritti (editor), The American University in Cairo Press, 1999, p. 72-73.
- Magi, Giovanna. Saqqara: The Pyramid, The Mastabas and the Archaeological Site, Casa Editrice Bonechi, 2006
- Mahfouz, Naguib. "King Userkaf's Forgiveness" in Voices from the Other World (translated by Robert Stock), Random House, 2003.