Userkaf: Founder of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty and the Rise of Solar Kingship
Userkaf was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and the founder of the fifth dynasty. His reign lasted between seven and eight years in the early 25 th century BC or the Old Kingdom. He is likely to have been a member of a dynastic lineage of the Fourth Dynasty although it is not clear who his parents were; he might have been the son of Khentkaus I. He had one daughter, at least, and was quite likely to have had a son, Sahure, by his consort Neferhetepes. This pharaoh was succeeded by this son.
Userkaf
His reign heralded the ascendancy of the cult of Ra, who effectively became Egypt’s state god during the Fifth Dynasty. Userkaf may have been a high-priest of Ra before ascending the throne, and built a sun temple, known as the Nekhenre, between Abusir and Abu Gurab. In doing so, he instituted a tradition followed by his successors over a period of 80 years.
The Nekhenre mainly functioned as a mortuary temple for the setting sun. Rites performed in the temple were primarily concerned with Ra’s creator function and his role as father of the king. Taken with the reduction in the size of the royal mortuary complex, this suggests a more concrete separation between the sun god and the king than in the preceding dynasties. After Userkaf’s death, his temple was the subject of four building phases, during which it acquired a large obelisk.
Userkaf built a pyramid in Saqqara close to that of Djoser, a location that forced architects to put the associated mortuary temple in an unusual position, to the south of the pyramid. The latter was much smaller than those built during the Fourth Dynasty but the mortuary complex was lavishly and extensively decorated with fine painted reliefs. In addition to his own pyramid and temple, Userkaf built a smaller pyramid close to his for one of his queens, likely Neferhetepes. Although Userkaf was the object of a funerary cult after his death like the other Fifth Dynasty kings, his was relatively unimportant and was abandoned after the end of the dynasty.
Little is known of his activities beyond the construction of his pyramid and sun temple. The Old Kingdom royal annals record offerings of beer, bread and lands to various gods, some of which may correspond to building projects on Userkaf’s behalf, including the temple of Montu in El-Tod where he is the earliest attested pharaoh. Beyond the borders of Egypt, a military expedition to Canaan or the Eastern Desert may have taken place, and trade contacts with the Aegean seem to have existed at the time.
Userkaf Family
1- Userkaf Parents
The identity of Userkaf’s parents is uncertain, but he undoubtedly had family connections with the rulers of the preceding Fourth Dynasty. Egyptologist Miroslav Verner proposes that he was a son of Menkaure by one of his secondary queens and possibly a full brother to his predecessor and the last king of the Fourth Dynasty, Shepseskaf.
Alternatively, Nicolas Grimal, Peter Clayton and Michael Rice propose that Userkaf was the son of a Neferhetepes, whom Grimal, Giovanna Magi and Rice see as a daughter of Djedefre and Hetepheres II. The identity of Neferhetepes’s husband in this hypothesis is unknown, but Grimal conjectures that he may have been the “priest of Ra, lord of Sakhebu”, mentioned in the Westcar papyrus. Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton propose that Neferhetepes was buried in the pyramid next to that of Userkaf, which is believed to have belonged to a woman of the same name
The location of the pyramid attributed to Neferhetepes, however, strongly suggests that she may instead have been Userkaf’s wife. If so she should be identified with the Neferhetepes who is the mother of Userkaf’s successor and likely son, Sahure. A relief from Sahure’s causeway depicts this king and his queen together with the king’s mother, identified as Neferhetepes, which very likely Userkaf’s wife. Like Grimal, Jaromír Malek sees her as a daughter of Djedefre and Hetepheres II. Following this hypothesis, Mark Lehner also suggests that Userkaf’s mother may have been Khentkaus I, an idea shared by Arielle Kozloff.
Dodson and Hilton argue that Neferhetepes is not given the title of king’s wife in later documents about her mortuary cult, although they note that this absence is inconclusive. They propose that Userkaf’s queen may have been Khentkaus I, a hypothesis shared by Selim Hassan. Clayton, Rosalie and Anthony David concur, further positing that Khentkaus I was Menkaure’s daughter.
Bernhard Grdseloff argues that Userkaf, as a descendant of pharaoh Djedefre marrying a woman from the main royal line—that of Khafre and Menkaure—could have unified two rival factions within the royal family and ended possible dynastic struggles. Alternatively, Userkaf could have been the high priest of Ra before ascending the throne, giving him sufficient influence to marry Shepseskaf’s widow in the person of Khentkaus I.
2- Userkaf Son
King Sahure
Many Egyptologists, including Verner, Zemina, David, and Baker, believe that Sahure was Userkaf’s son rather than his brother as suggested by the Westcar papyrus. The main evidence is a relief showing Sahure and his mother Neferhetepes, this being also the name of the queen who is believed to have owned the pyramid next to Userkaf’s. An additional argument supporting the filiation of Sahure is the location of his pyramid in close proximity to Userkaf’s sun temple. No other child of Userkaf has been identified except a daughter named Khamaat, mentioned in inscriptions uncovered in the mastaba of Ptahshepses.
Userkaf Reign
He ruled for seven to eight years at the start of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. First, an analysis of the nearly contemporaneous Old Kingdom royal annals shows that Userkaf’s reign was recorded on eight compartments corresponding to at least seven full years but not much more. The latest legible year recorded in the annals for Userkaf is that of his third cattle count, to evaluate the amount of taxes to be levied on the population.
His position before ascending to the throne is unknown. Grimal states that he could have been a high-priest of Ra in Heliopolis or Sakhebu, a cult-center of Ra mentioned in the Westcar papyrus. The hypothesis of a connection between the origins of the Fifth Dynasty and Sakhebu was first proposed by the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, who noted that in Egyptian hieroglyphs the name of Sakhebu resembles that of Elephantine, the city that Manetho gives as the cradle of the Fifth Dynasty. According to Petrie, positing that the Westcar papyrus records a tradition that remembered the origins of the Fifth Dynasty could explain Manetho’s records, especially given that there is otherwise no particular connection between Elephantine and Fifth Dynasty pharaohs.
Beyond the constructions of his mortuary complex and sun temple, little is known of Userkaf. Malek says his short reign may indicate that he was elderly upon becoming pharaoh. Verner sees Userkaf’s reign as significant in that it marks the apex of the sun cult, the pharaonic title of “Son of Ra” becoming systematic from his reign onwards.
In Upper Egypt, he either commissioned or enlarged the temple of Montu at Tod, where he is the earliest attested pharaoh. Due to structural alterations, in particular during the early Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Ptolemaic periods, little of Userkaf’s original temple has survived. It was a small mud-brick chapel including a granite pillar, inscribed with the name of the king.
Further domestic activities may be inferred from the annals of the Old Kingdom, written during Neferirkare’s or Nyuserre’s reign. They record that Userkaf gave endowments for the gods of Heliopolis in the second and sixth years of his reign as well as to the gods of Buto in his sixth year, both of which may have been destined for building projects on Userkaf’s behalf. In the same vein, the annals record a donation of land to Horus during Userkaf’s sixth year on the throne, this time explicitly mentioning “building [Horus’] temple”.
Other gods honoured by Userkaf include Ra and Hathor, both of whom received land donations recorded in the annals, as well as Nekhbet, Wadjet, the “gods of the divine palace of Upper Egypt” and the “gods of the estate Djebaty” who received bread, beer and land. Finally, a fragmentary piece of text in the annals suggests that Min might also have benefited from Userkaf’s donations.
Further evidence for religious activities taking place at the time is given by a royal decree found in the mastaba of the administration official Nykaankh buried at Tihna al-Jabal in Middle Egypt. By this decree, Userkaf donates and reforms several royal domains for the maintenance of the cult of Hathor and installs Nykaankh as priest of this cult.
Excavations of the pyramid temple of Amenemhat I at Lisht produced a block decorated with a relief bearing the titulary of Userkaf. The block had been reused as a building material. The relief mentions a journey of the king to the temple of Bastet in a ship called “He who controls the subjects.
While he chose Saqqara to build his pyramid complex, officials at the time, including the vizier Seshathotep Heti, continued to build their tombs in the Giza necropolis.
Trade and military activities of Userkaf
Userkaf’s reign might have witnessed the birth of direct trade between Egypt and its Aegean neighbors as shown by a series of reliefs from his mortuary temple representing ships engaged in what may be a naval expedition. Further evidence for such contacts is a stone vessel bearing the name of his sun temple that was uncovered on the Greek island of Kythira. This vase is the earliest evidence of commercial contacts between Egypt and the Aegean world. Finds in Anatolia, dating to the reigns of Menkauhor Kaiu and Djedkare Isesi, demonstrate that these contacts continued throughout the Fifth Dynasty.
South of Egypt, Userkaf launched a military expedition into Nubia, while the Old Kingdom annals record that he received tribute from a region that is either the Eastern Desert or Canaan in the form of a workforce of one chieftain and 70 foreigners (likely women), as well as 303 “pacified rebels” destined to work on Userkaf’s pyramid. These might have been prisoners from another military expedition to the east of Egypt or rebels exiled from Egypt before Userkaf’s second year on the throne and now willing to reintegrate into Egyptian society.
According to the Egyptologist Hartwig Altenmüller these people might have been punished following dynastic struggles connected with the end of the Fourth Dynasty. Finally, some reliefs from Userkaf’s mortuary temple depict a successful military venture against Asiatic Bedouins, whom Userkaf is shown smiting, as well as a naval expedition.
Statuary of Userkaf
Several fragmentary statues of Userkaf have been uncovered. These include a bust of the goddess Neith in his likeness found in his sun temple at Abusir, now in the Egyptian Museum. This head of Userkaf is 45 cm (18 in) high and carved from greywacke stone.
It 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 Deshret of Lower Egypt. The head was uncovered in 1957 during the joint excavation expedition of the German and Swiss Institutes of Cairo. Another head which might belong to Userkaf, wearing the Hedjet of Upper Egypt and made of painted limestone, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The head of a colossal larger-than-life sphinx statue of Userkaf, now in the Egyptian Museum, was found in the temple courtyard of his mortuary complex at Saqqara by Cecil Mallaby Firth in 1928. This colossal head of pink Aswan granite shows the king wearing the nemes headdress with a cobra on his forehead. It is the largest surviving head dating to the Old Kingdom other than that of the Great Sphinx of Giza and the only colossal royal statue from this period. Many more fragments of statues of the king made of diorite, slate and granite but none of limestone have been found at the same site. Some bore Userkaf’s cartouche and Horus name.
Kozloff notes the youthful features of Userkaf on most of his representations and concludes that if these are good indications of his age, then he might have come to the throne as an adolescent and died in his early twenties.
Sun temple of Userkaf
Sun temple
The first Egyptian king to construct a sun temple was userkaf which was situated near Abu Ghurab. In contrast with the pyramids, sun temples were open-air buildings that were devoted to the ritual but not the burial.
These temples became the places of offering to Ra and strengthened the position of a king as the earthly incarnation of the god. Later rulers of the Fifth Dynasty would continue with the sun temple tradition.
The sun temple that was designed by Userkaf focused on light and openness as well as on orientation to the movement of the sun. There were central altars that made available everyday rituals that relied on sunrise and sunset.
Through architecture, Userkaf expressed a new vision of divine kingship. The king was no longer defined solely by a tomb but by active participation in cosmic order.
Pyramid complex
1- Userkaf pyramid
Pyramid of Userkaf at Saqqara
In contrast to other pharaohs of the fourth dynasty, Userkaf constructed a humble pyramid at the North Saqqara at the north-eastern corner of the wall enclosing the Djoser complex of pyramids. This is a decision, which is likely to be political, which might have to do with the reversion of the centre of government to the city of Memphis, the necropolis of which is Saqqara in the west, and which might have to do with a wish to conduct government on principles and methods more akin to those of Djoser.
In particular, like Djoser’s and unlike the pyramid complexes of Giza, Userkaf’s mortuary complex is not surrounded by a necropolis for his followers. For Goedicke, the wider religious role played by Fourth Dynasty pyramids was now to be played by the sun temple, while the king’s mortuary complex was to serve only the king’s personal funerary needs. Hence, Userkaf’s choice of Saqqara is a manifestation of a return to a “harmonious and altruistic” notion of kingship which Djoser seemed to have symbolized, against that represented by Khufu who had almost personally embodied the sun-god.
The complex of the pyramids of Userkaf was named Wab-Isut Userkaf, that is, pure are the places of Userkaf or the Userkaf pyramid, the most holy place. A base side of 73.3 m (240 ft) is the original height of 49 m (161 ft) of the pyramid. This made it the second smallest king pyramid completed in the Fifth Dynasty after that of the last ruler, Unas. The smaller stature of the pyramid in relation to those of the predecessors of the Fourth Dynasty of Userkaf is due in part to the emergence of the cult of Ra which took away spiritual and economic resources from the burial of the king.
The pyramid was constructed using methods used during the fourth dynasty where the core was constructed using stones and not using rubble as in other pyramids that followed the fourth dynasty and the sixth dynasty. The core was laid so badly out, however, that, when the outer casing of fine limestone was robbed off the pyramid, it fell into a heap of rubble. The chamber of burial was paved with limestone blocks which were large; its roof with limestone beams that were gabled.
2- Pyramid complex of Neferhetepes
Two immense limestone blocks making a kind of hanging roof are revealed with heaps of rubble lying on them. A few 10 m (33 ft) south of the funerary complex of Userkaf is another pyramid complex erected most probably in honour of one of his queens. This pyramid, which was constructed on an east-west axis, is destroyed and today only a small hill composed of rubble can be observed. Though the owner of the pyramid proper remains unknown, Egyptologists such as Cecil Mallaby Firth, Bernard Grdseloff, Audran Labrousse (fr), Jean-Philippe Lauer and Tarek El-Awady believe the owner of the pyramid to have been Neferhetepes, mother of Sahure and in all likelihood the consort of Userkaf.
The pyramid was first approximately 17 m (56 ft) high and with 52 degree slope like Userkaf’s and a base length of 26.25 m (86.1 ft). The main and cult pyramids were constructed with the same technique in the middle of their core, which included three horizontal layers of roughly hewn local limestone blocks and gypsum mortar. This was surrounded by an outer casing of finely cut Tura limestone which has disappeared. The pyramid was greatly exploited as a stone hunting ground to the extent that they opened up even the inner chambers. These rooms are the smaller ones of the main pyramid of Userkaf, without storage rooms.
Mortuary temple
The pyramid had a separate pyramid mortuary temple to the queen on the eastern side of the pyramid. The temple had an open-pillared court at the entrance which was an east-west running area where the body was cleansed and the offering was made. The side of the pyramid was adjoined with a sacrificial chapel, and had three statue niches and a small number of magazine chambers to keep offerings. The halls of the temple were decorated with reliefs of animal processions and travelling vehicles that brought their offerings to the shrine of the queen.
Queen Khentkaus I and Royal Women
Queen Khentkaus I had a great role during this transition. She might have been the linking point among dynasties, strengthening the authority of Userkaf. Royal women remained important in the continuity of dynastic and religious life.
Death and Burial
The reign of Userkaf lasted seven or eight years and ended with his death. According to the traditional funeral rites, he had been interred in his version at Saqqara. His mortuary cult must have been lingering a long time and its perpetuation was sustained by priests and offerings in his memory. Userkaf was followed by Sahure who extended the solar ideology and erected more sun temples. The fact that Userkaf remained influential is confirmed. His reign set the tone for a dynasty defined by religious devotion and evolving royal identity.
Legacy
Userkaf’s legacy lives on in the sun temples, religious texts, and royal ideology of the Fifth Dynasty. He stands as a king who understood the power of belief in sustaining authority. His reign reminds us that ideas can be as enduring as stone.
