Userkaf was the founder of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt

Fifth dynasty of Egypt

The fifth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. Dynasty V dates approximately from 2494 to 2345 BC.-Rulers:...

 and the first pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 to start the tradition of building sun temples at Abusir

Abusir

Abusir is the name given to an Egyptian archaeological locality – specifically, an extensive necropolis of the Old Kingdom period, together with later additions – in the vicinity of the modern capital Cairo...

. His name means "his Ka

Egyptian soul

The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body...

(or soul) is powerful". He ruled from 2494-2487 BC and constructed the Pyramid of Userkaf

Pyramid of Userkaf

The Pyramid complex of Userkaf is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara. Constructed in dressed stone, with a core of rubble, the pyramid now resembles a conical hill just to the north of the Step Pyramid of Djoser Netjerikhet.-References:...

 complex at Saqqara

Saqqara

Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...

.

Family

Userkaf's wife was Queen Neferhetepes

Neferhetepes (Userkaf)

Neferhetepes was the wife of the Ancient Egyptian king Userkaf, who was the first king of the Fifth Dynasty. She was also the mother of king Sahure who was the successor of Userkaf. Furthermore she was most likely mother of Meretnebty, who was the wife of Sahure...

, mother of Sahure

Sahure

- Etymology :Sahure's birth name means "He who is Close to Re". His Horus name was Nebkhau.- Biography :Sahure was a son of queen Neferhetepes, as shown in scenes from the causeway of Sahure's pyramid complex in Abusir. His father was Userkaf. Sahure's consort was queen Neferetnebty. Reliefs show...

. It is possible that queen Khentkaus I

Khentkaus I

Khentkaus I was a Queen of Ancient Egypt during the 4th dynasty. She may have been a daughter of Pharaoh Menkaure, wife of Shepseskaf and mother of Userkaf, but this is by no means certain. Her Mastaba at Giza - tomb LG100 - is located very close to Menkaure's pyramid complex...

 was Userkaf's mother. His father is unknown. It is believed that he was father of two pharaohs: Sahure

Sahure

- Etymology :Sahure's birth name means "He who is Close to Re". His Horus name was Nebkhau.- Biography :Sahure was a son of queen Neferhetepes, as shown in scenes from the causeway of Sahure's pyramid complex in Abusir. His father was Userkaf. Sahure's consort was queen Neferetnebty. Reliefs show...

 and Neferirkare Kakai

Neferirkare Kakai

Neferirkare Kakai was the third Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. His praenomen, Neferirkare, means "Beautiful is the Soul of Ra". His Horus name was Userkhau, his Golden Horus name Sekhemunebu and his Nebti name Khaiemnebty.- Family :...

. It seems he was Neferirkare's grandfather. Another less common view, in concordance with a story of the Westcar Papyrus

Westcar Papyrus

The Westcar Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. Each of these tales are being told at the royal court of the King Cheops by his sons...

, is that the first three rulers of the fifth dynasty were all brothers—the sons of woman named Raddjedet.

Bust

A bust of Userkaf is displayed in the Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Museum

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms....

. The head was found in the first (of five) sun temples at Abu Ghurob

Abu Gorab

Abu Gurab is a sun temple built by the people of ancient Egypt. It was excavated by Egyptologists between 1898 and 1901 by Ludwig Borchardt on behalf of the Berlin Museum and is located near the city of Memphis...

 built by the rulers of the fifth dynasty. The head of Userkaf is 45 cm high and carved from greywacke

Greywacke

Greywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found...

 stone. The sculpture is considered particularly important as it is among the very few sculptures in the round from the Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...

 that show the monarch wearing the Deshret

Deshret

Deshret, from ancient Egyptian, was the formal name for the Red Crown of and for the desert Red Land on either side of Kemet, the fertile Nile river basin. The end has a curly wire on it, that represents the proboscis of a honey bee. Deshret or DSRT also represents the insect known as the honeybee...

 (Red Crown) of Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....

. The head was uncovered in 1957 during the joint excavation expedition of the German and Swiss Institutes of Cairo.

Reign

Userkaf is given a reign of 7 years by both the Turin Royal Canon

Turin King List

The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is a hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio at Turin...

 and Manetho

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic era, approximately during the 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca...

's Epitome.

Contemporary adaptions

Egyptian Nobel Prize for Literature

Nobel Prize in Literature

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

-winner Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie...

 published a short story in 1938 about Userkaf entitled Afw al-malik Usirkaf: uqsusa misriya. This short story was translated by Raymond Stock

Raymond Stock

Raymond Stock is an American academic, writer and translator. He has a BA in Mass Media/Foreign Affairs from Grand Valley State University , and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor...

as King Userkaf's Forgiveness in the collection of short stories Voices From the Other World.

Further reading

• 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.
• Verbrugghe, Gerald and Wickersham, John. Berossos and Manetho, University of Michigan Press 2001 (ISBN 0-472-08687-1)

External links

• Userkaf by J. Dunn