| Menkauhor I the Strong | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 19 June 2435 - 3 July 2427 |
| Predecessor | Nyuserra I |
| Successor | Djedkara I |
| Born | March 8, 2473 B.C. Mennefer, Egypt |
| Died | July 3, 2427 B.C. (aged 46) |
| Spouse | Khuit I, Meresankh IV |
| Issue | Raemka, Khaemtjenent, Djedkara I |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Menkhau Nebty Name: Menkhau Golden Horus Name: Biknebuhedj Praenomen: Menkauhor Nomen: Isesi | |
| House | Khasekhemwy |
| Dynasty | Userkafian Dynasty |
| Father | Neferefra I |
| Mother | Khentkaus III |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Menkauhor Kaiu (also known as Ikauhor and in Greek as Mencherês, Μεγχερῆς) was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Old Kingdom period. He was the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynasty at the end of the 25th century BC.
Menkauhor ruled for possibly eight or nine years, following his uncle king Nyuserre Ini, and was succeeded in turn by his son Djedkare Isesi. Although Menkauhor is well attested by historical sources, few artefacts from his reign have survived. Neferefra was his father and Khentkaus III his mother.
Beyond the construction of monuments, the only known activity dated to Menkauhor's reign is an expedition to the copper and turquoise mines in Sinai. Menkauhor ordered the construction of a sun temple, called the "Akhet-Ra", meaning "The Horizon of Ra". The last to be built, this sun temple, known from inscriptions found in the tombs of its priests, is yet to be located. Menkauhor was buried in a small pyramid in Mekhattawy, which the Ancient Egyptians named Netjer-Isut Menkauhor, "The Divine Places of Menkauhor". Known today as the Headless Pyramid, the ruin had been lost under shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2008.
The figure of Menkauhor was at the centre of a long lasting funerary cult until the end of the Old Kingdom period, with at least seven agricultural domains producing goods for the necessary offerings. The cult of a deified Menkauhor, then known by the titles "Strong Lord of the Two Lands, Menkauhor the Justified" reappeared during the New Kingdom period (c. 1550 – c. 1077 BC), and lasted until at least the Nineteenth Dynasty (c. 1292 – c. 1077 BC), some 1200 years after his death.
Family[]
Name[]
The name of Menkauhor is a departure from those of other kings of the Fifth Dynasty. Menkauhor, whose name means "Eternal are the Kas of Horus", is the first pharaoh in 80 years whose name does not refer to the sun god Ra. The name of Menkauhor instead finds its peers among the princes of the Fifth Dynasty with, for example, prince Khentykauhor "The forces of Horus are at the fore", a son of Nyuserre Ini, and prince Neserkauhor, a son of Djedkare Isesi.
Filiation[]
Menkauhor was the second son of Neferefra and Khentkaus III, thus the brother of Shepseskara and the nephew of Nyuserra I, he was bypassed in favour of his uncle after the early death of his brother, though Menkauhor was intended to be his sucessor from the start of his reign
Consorts[]
Menkauhor was married to two women Queen Khuit I, mother of Djedkara I and Queen Meresankh IV mother of Raemka and Kaemtjenent
Descendants[]
Known descendants of Menkauhor include his successor Djedkare Isesi, and two further sons, princes: Raemka and Kaemtjenent.
Reign[]
Activities[]
Owing to the scarcity of artefacts and inscriptions relating to Menkauhor's reign, few of his activities are known. Menkauhor sent an expedition to Sinai to exploit the mines of turquoise and copper in the Khetuenmefkat. The expedition is evidenced by a damaged rock inscription showing Menkauhor's titulary which is one of the few attestations dating to his lifetime. The mines of Sinai had been exploited since the Third Dynasty (2686 BC–2613 BC), and both Menkauhor's predecessor Nyuserre Ini and successor Djedkare Isesi sent expeditions to the Khetuenmefkat.
Construction activities[]
Menkauhor Kaiu is known to have ordered the construction of two major monuments during his reign: a sun temple for the veneration of Ra and a pyramid for his burial, known today as the "Headless Pyramid".
Sun temple[]
Following a tradition which started with Userkaf, the founder of the Fifth Dynasty, Menkauhor built a temple to the sun god Ra. He was the last pharaoh to do so. His successors, Djedkare Isesi and Unas, abandoned this practice as the cult of Ra declined at the expense of that of Osiris. Given the paucity of documents relating to Menkauhor's sun temple, it probably functioned for only a short time or was never completed.
Menkauhor's sun temple was called Akhet-Ra, which is variously translated as "The Horizon of Ra" or "The Place where Ra Issues Forth". The temple has yet to be located and could be lying under the sands of Mekhattawy or Perusiri. Its existence is known thanks to inscriptions found in the tombs of Fifth and Sixth Dynasties officials who served as priests of Ra in the temple. These include Hemu, buried in Akhet Nesu, and Neferiretptah and Raemankh, who were both buried in Mekhattawy-north. In addition to his service in the Akhet-Ra, Neferiretptah was a priest in Menkauhor's pyramid and held the office of "royal ornament", making him responsible for the precious items in the palace of the king.
Besides these inscriptions, a single seal bearing the name of the Akhet-Ra is known from the tomb of princess Khamerernebti, located near the mortuary temple of Niuserre in Perusiri. The seal was placed on a large vessel indicating that provisions for the tombs of members of the royal family were dispatched from Menkauhor's temple to Niuserre's pyramid complex.
Pyramid[]
Menkauhor Kaiu built a pyramid in North-Mekhattawy, thereby abandoning the royal necropolis of Perusiri, where kings of the Fifth Dynasty had been buried since the reign of Sahure, some 80 years earlier. The reason for this choice may be that the Perusiri plateau had become overcrowded by the beginning of Menkauhor's reign.
Originally named Netjer-isut-Menkauhor by the Ancient Egyptians, meaning "The divine places of Menkauhor", the pyramid is known today as Lepsius XXIX after the number given to it by the archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius who discovered the pyramid in 1843. Owing to the ruined state of the structure, it is known in Arabic as the "Headless Pyramid", a name that has been retained. The pyramid was lost under shifting sands in the early 20th century and its attribution to Menkauhor was consequently debated. Instead, it was proposed that the Headless Pyramid was that of Merikara, a structure dating to the First Intermediate Period and which has yet to be found. In 2008, the structure identified by Lepsius was rediscovered by a team of archaeologists under the direction of Haty Kabas, and excavations at the site quickly established a Fifth Dynasty date as indicated by the construction techniques used in its making. Although the excavations failed to yield the name of the king who built the pyramid, Menkauhor was the last pharaoh of the dynasty whose pyramid remained undiscovered. Thus, proceeding by elimination, archeologists and egyptologists have formally recognized the Headless Pyramid as that of Menkauhor.
The pyramid is estimated to have been around 50–60 m (160–200 ft) at the base, so that the edifice would have stood 40–50 m (130–160 ft) high at the time of its construction, making it one of the smallest royal pyramids of the Old Kingdom. There is evidence that Menkauhor had the time to complete his pyramid, whose small dimensions are thus consistent with his short eight to nine years of reign.
On the north side lies the entrance to the underground chamber system, which was sealed by two granite portcullises indicating that a burial took place. A broken sarcophagus lid of blue-grey basalt was found in the burial chamber by Cecil Mallaby Firth during his brief excavations of the pyramid in 1930.
Funerary cult[]
Old Kingdom[]
After his death Menkauhor enjoyed a funerary cult centered on his pyramid complex. The cult lasted at least until the second half of the Sixth Dynasty, nearly 150 years later. Provisions for this cult were produced in dedicated agricultural domains that were established during Menkauhor's lifetime. Products of these domains were delivered to Menkauhor's sun and mortuary temples and distributed to the priests of the cult, who could use them for their sustenance or their own funerary cults. Personified representations of Menkauhor's agricultural domains are depicted bringing offerings on the walls of the Perdjets of these priests. Most of the depictions are located in Mekhattawy North, near the pyramid complex of Djoser. This area comprises the tombs of Neferiretptah, Raemankh, Duare, Iti, Sekhemnefer, Snofrunefer, Akhethotep, Ptahhotep and Qednes, all priests of the funerary cult of Menkauhor. Further tombs of priests of this cult are found to the north, in Perusiri South, with the Perdjet of Isesiseneb and Rahotep and in Akhet Nesu.
The complete names of at least seven domains of Menkauhor are known: "Ikauhor is perfect in favor" and "the favor of Ikauhor", both mentioned in the tombs of Ptahhotep and Akhethotep; "Ikauhor is perfect of life", from the tomb of Ptahhotep II; "Horus Qemaa causes Ikauhor to live"; "Ikauhor is strong"; "Seshat loves Ikauhor" and "Matyt loves Ikauhor" from the tombs of viziers Senedjemib Inti, Senedjemib Mehi and Hemu in Akhet Nesu. In addition the Ḥwt domain of the king, which comprises the land holdings of the mortuary temple of Menkauhor, was named "Menkauhor is perfect of appearances".
New Kingdom[]
The cult of Menkauhor enjoyed a revival during the New Kingdom period (1550–1077 BC). At this point Menkauhor had been deified as a local god of the Mekhattawy necropolis acting as a divine intercessor, and qualified of "Strong Lord of the Two Lands, Menkauhor the Justified". This cult is evidenced by reliefs showing Menkauhor in the tombs of the "Chief of the artisans and jewelers" Ameneminet and of the physician Thuthu in Mekhattawy-North, both of whom lived at the time of the late Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1292 BC), during the reigns of Tutankhamun I, Ay II and Horemheb I.
An inscribed block dating to the later Ramesside period (1292–1077 BC) and now in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, was uncovered by Lepsius in a house in Perusiri and shows Menkauhor enthroned beside four other deified kings of the Old Kingdom: the name of the first, partially lost, but probably Sneferu I is then followed by Djedefra I, Menkaura O, Menkauhor and finally Pepi II. The owner of the tomb stands before the kings, in worship. Another relief dating to the same period shows a similar scene. It was inscribed on the lintel of the tomb chapel of Mahy buried in Mekhattawy North. Four deified kings of the Old Kingdom are shown, all of whom built their pyramids at Mekhattawy: Djoser I, Teti III, Userkaf and Menkauhor.
The persistence of the cult of Menkauhor during the late Eighteenth to Nineteenth Dynasty possibly results from the location of his pyramid, which stood on the way to the necropolis of the Apis bulls, which later became the Serapeum.