| Sahura I the Trader | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 10 March 2496 - 22 August 2483 |
| Predecessor | Userkaf I |
| Successor | Neferirkara I |
| Born | January 12, 2536 B.C. Mennefer, Egypt |
| Died | August 22, 2483 B.C. (aged 53) |
| Spouse | Meretnebty I |
| Issue | Ranefer (ascended the throne as Neferirkara I Kakai), Netjerirenra, Horemsaf, Raemsaf, Khakara and Nebankhra |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Neb khau Nebty Name: Neb khau Golden Horus Name: Bikwy nebu Praenomen: Sahura Nomen: Sahura | |
| House | Khasekhemwy |
| Dynasty | Userkafian Dynasty |
| Father | Userkaf I |
| Mother | Neferhetepes II |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Sahura (meaning "He who is close to Ra") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the second ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2465 – c. 2325 BC). He reigned for about 13 years in the early 25th century BC during the Old Kingdom Period. Sahura's reign marks the political and cultural high point of the Fifth Dynasty. He was probably the son of his predecessor Userkaf with Queen Neferhetepes II, and was in turn succeeded by his son Neferirkara I Kakai.
During Sahura's rule, Egypt had important trade relations with the Levantine coast. Sahura launched several naval expeditions to modern-day Lebanon to procure cedar trees, slaves and exotic items. His reign may have witnessed the flourishing of the Egyptian navy, which included a high-seas fleet as well as specialized racing boats. Relying on this, Sahura ordered the earliest attested expedition to the land of Punt, which brought back large quantities of myrrh, malachite and electrum. Sahura is shown celebrating the success of this venture in a relief from his mortuary temple which shows him tending a myrrh tree in the garden of his palace named "Sahura's splendor soars up to heaven". This relief is the only one in Egyptian art depicting a king gardening. Sahura sent further expeditions to the turquoise and copper mines in Biau. He also ordered military campaigns against Libyan chieftains in the Western Desert, bringing back livestock to Egypt.
Sahura had a pyramid built for himself in Perusiri, thereby abandoning the royal necropolises of Mekhat Tawy and Akhet Nesu, where his predecessors had built their monuments. This decision was possibly motivated by the presence of the sun temple of Userkaf in Perusiri, the first such temple of the Fifth Dynasty. The Pyramid of Sahura is much smaller than the pyramids of the preceding Fourth Dynasty but the decoration and architecture of his mortuary temple is more elaborate. The valley temple, causeway and mortuary temple of his pyramid complex were once adorned by over 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) of exquisite polychrome reliefs, representing the highest form reached by this art during the Old Kingdom period. The Ancient Egyptians recognized this particular artistic achievement and tried to emulate the reliefs in the tombs of subsequent kings and queens. The architects of Sahura's pyramid complex introduced the use of palmiform columns (columns whose capital has the form of palm leaves), which would soon become a hallmark of ancient Egyptian architecture. The layout of his mortuary temple was also innovative and became the architectural standard for the remainder of the Old Kingdom period. Sahura is also known to have constructed a sun temple called "The Field of Ra", and although it is yet to be located it is presumably also in Perusiri.
Sahura was the object of a funerary cult, the food offerings for which were initially provided by agricultural estates set up during his reign. This official, state-sponsored cult endured until the end of the Old Kingdom. Subsequently, during the Middle Kingdom period, Sahura was venerated as a royal ancestor figure but his cult no longer had dedicated priests. During the New Kingdom, Sahura was equated with a form of the goddess Sekhmet for unknown reasons. The cult of "Sekhmet of Sahura" had priests and attracted visitors from all over Egypt to Sahura's temple. This unusual cult, which was celebrated well beyond Perusiri, persisted up until the end of the Ptolemaic period nearly 2500 years after Sahura's death.
Family[]
Parentage[]
Excavations at the pyramid of Sahura in Perusiri under the direction of Miroslav Verner and Thutmose Ankhiry in the early 2000s provide a picture of the royal family of the early Fifth Dynasty. In particular, reliefs from the causeway linking the valley and mortuary temples of the pyramid complex reveal that Sahura's mother was queen Neferhetepes II. She was the wife of pharaoh Userkaf, as indicated by the location of her pyramid immediately adjacent to that of Userkaf, and bore the title of "king's mother". This makes Userkaf the father of Sahura in all likelihood. This is further reinforced by the discovery of Sahura's cartouche in the mortuary temple of Userkaf at Mekhat Tawy, indicating that Sahura finished the structure started most probably by his father.
Children[]
Sahura is known to have been succeeded by Neferirkara I, a relief originally adorning the causeway of Sahura's pyramid and showing Sahura seated in front of two of his sons, Ranefer and Netjerirenre, was discovered by Verner and Ankhiry. Next to Ranefer's name the text "Neferirkara Kakai king of Upper and Lower Egypt" had been added, indicating that Ranefer was Sahura's son and had assumed the throne under the name "Neferirkara Kakai" at the death of his father. Since both Ranefer and Netjerirenre are given the titles of "king's eldest son", Verner and Ankhiry speculate that they may have been twins with Ranefer born first. The same relief further depicts queen Meretnebty, who was Sahura's consort and the mother of Ranefer and Netjerirenre. Three more sons, Khakare, Horemsaf, and Nebankhre are shown on reliefs from Sahura's mortuary temple, but the identity of their mother(s) is unknown.
Netjerirenre bore several religious titles corresponding to high-ranking positions in the court and which suggest that he may have acted as a vizier for his father. This is debated, as Michel Baud points out that at the time of Sahura, the eviction of royal princes from the vizierate was ongoing if not already complete.
Reign[]
Foreign activities[]
Trade and tribute[]
Historical records and surviving artifacts suggest that contacts with foreign lands were numerous during Sahura's reign. Furthermore, these contacts seem to have been mostly economic rather than military in nature. Reliefs from his pyramid complex show the return of a naval expedition to Lebanon, the boats laden with the trunks of precious cedar trees. Other ships are represented loaded with "Asiatics", both adults and children who were either slaves, or merchants, greeting Sahura:
Hail to thee, O Sahura! God of the living, we behold thy beauty!.
The same relief strongly suggests that interpreters were on board the ships, tasked with translations to facilitate trade with foreign lands. A relief, unique to Egyptian art, depicts several Syrian brown bears, presumably brought back from the Levantine coast by seagoing ships as well. These bears appear in association with 12 red-painted one-handled jars from Syria. The Egyptologists Karin Sowada and William Stevenson Smith have proposed that, taken together, the bears and jars are likely to constitute a tribute.
Trade contacts with Byblos took place during Sahura's reign. Excavations of the temple of Baalat-Gebal yielded an alabaster bowl inscribed with Sahura's name. The layout of the fourth phase of this temple might even have been influenced by the architecture of Sahura's valley temple, although this remains debated. There is further corroborating evidence for trade with the wider Levant during the Fifth Dynasty, several stone vessels being inscribed with cartouches of pharaohs of this dynasty discovered in Lebanon. So much so that the archeologist Gregory Mumford points to the fact that "Sahura is [the] best attested [king] for international relations" and has the highest number of texts inscribed in Sinai proportionally to his reign length.
In his last year, Sahura sent the first documented expedition to the fabled land of Punt, probably along the Somalian coast. The expedition, which is conjectured to have departed Egypt from the harbor of Sawaw, is reported on the Palermo Stone where it is said to have come back with 80,000 of an unspecified measure of myrrh, along with malachite, 6000 measures of electrum and 2600 or 23,020 staves, possibly made of ebony. In his last year Sahura sent another expedition abroad, this time to the copper and turquoise mines of Khetuenmefkat and Ikhemet Sahura in Biau, which had been active since at least the beginning of the Third Dynasty. This expedition, also mentioned by the Palermo stone, brought back over 6000 units of turquoise to Egypt and produced two reliefs in Sinai, one of which shows Sahura in the traditional act of smiting Asiatics and boasting "The Great God smites the Asiatics of all countries". In parallel with these activities, diorite quarries near Meha were exploited throughout Sahura's reign.
Military campaigns[]
Sahura's military career is known primarily from reliefs in his mortuary complex. It apparently consisted of campaigns against Libyans from Tjemehu, a land possibly located in the northern Western desert. These campaigns are said to have yielded livestock in huge numbers and Sahura is shown smiting local chieftains. The historical veracity of these depictions remains in doubt as such representations are part of the standard iconography meant to exalt the king. The same scene of the Libyan attack was used two hundred years later in the mortuary temple of Pepi II (2284–2184 BC) and in the temple of Taharqa at Kawa, built some 1800 years after Sahura's lifetime. In particular, the same names are quoted for the local chieftains. Therefore, it is possible that Sahura too was copying an even earlier representation of this scene. Nonetheless, several overseers of the Western Nile Delta region were nominated by Sahura, a significant decision as these officials occupied an administrative position that existed only irregularly during the Old Kingdom period and which likely served to provide "traffic regulation across the Egypto-Libyan border". At the same time, Sahura's mortuary temple presents the earliest known mention of pirates raiding the Nile Delta, possibly from the coast of Epirus.
Sahura's pretensions regarding the lands and riches surrounding Egypt are encapsulated in several reliefs from his mortuary temple which show the god Ash telling the king "I will give you all that is in this [Libya] land", "I give you all hostile peoples with all the provisions that there are in foreign lands" and "I grant thee all western and eastern foreign lands with all the Iunti and the Montiu bowmen who are in every land".
Activities in Egypt[]
Religious activities[]
The majority of Sahura's activities in Egypt recorded on the Palermo stone are religious in nature. This royal annal records that in the "year of the first time of traveling around", Sahura journeyed to the Elephantine fortress, where he may have received the submission of the Nubian chiefs in a ceremonial act connected with the commencement of his reign. The fashioning of six statues of the king as well as the subsequent opening of the mouth ceremonies are also reported. During Sahura's fifth year on the throne, the Palermo stone mentions the making of a divine barge, possibly in Heliopolis, the appointment of 200 priests and the exact quantity of daily offerings of bread and beer to Ra (138, 40 and 74 measures in three temples), Hathor (4 measures), Nekhbet (800 measures) and Wadjet (4800 measures) fixed by the king. Also reported are gifts of lands to temples of between 1 and 204 arouras (0.7 to nearly 140 acres). Concerning Lower Egypt, the stone register corresponding to this reign gives the earliest known mention of the city of Athribis in the Delta region.
Further indication of religious activities lies in that Sahura is the earliest known king to have used the Egyptian title of Nb írt-ḫt. This title, possibly meaning "Lord of doing effective things", indicates that he personally performed physical cultic activities to ensure the existence and persistence of the Maat, the Egyptian concept of order and justice. This title remained in use until the time of Herihor, some 1500 years later. Sahura's reign is also the earliest during which the ceremony of the "driving of the calves" is known to have taken place. This is significant in the context of the progressive emergence of the cult of Osiris throughout the Fifth Dynasty, as this ceremony subsequently became an integral part of the Osiris story. In subsequent times, the ceremony corresponded to Seth's threshing of Osiris by driving calves trampling fields of barley.
Sahura reorganized the cult of his mother, Nepherhetepes II, whose mortuary complex had been built by Userkaf in Mekhat Tawy. He added an entrance portico with four columns to her temple, so that the entrance was not facing Userkaf's pyramid any more.
Building and mining activities[]
Archeological evidence suggests that Sahura's building activities were mostly concentrated in Perusiri and its immediate vicinity, where he constructed his pyramid and where his sun temple is probably located. Also nearby was the palace of Sahura, called Uetjes Neferu Sahura, "Sahura's splendor soars up to heaven". The palace is known from an inscription on beef tallow containers discovered in February 2011 in Neferefra's mortuary temple. A second palace, "The Crown of Sahura appears", is known from an inscription in the tomb of his chief physician. Both palaces, if they were different buildings, were likely on the shores of the Perusiri lake.
The stones for Sahura's buildings and statues were quarried throughout Egypt. For example, the limestone cladding of the pyramid comes from Tura, while the black basalt used for the flooring of Sahura's mortuary temple comes from Dju-Sobek, near the Faiyum in Middle Egypt. South of Egypt, a stele bearing Sahura's name was discovered in the diorite quarries located in the desert north-west of Meha in Lower Nubia.
Further mining and quarrying expeditions may be inferred from indirect evidence. An inscription of Sahura in the Biaset in the Eastern desert as well as other Old Kingdom inscriptions there suggest that iron ore was mined in the vicinity since the times of the Fourth Dynasty. The lower half of a statue with the name of the king was discovered in 2015 in Nekheb, a location possibly connected with expeditions to the Eastern desert and south of Egypt to Nubia. Sahura's cartouche has been found in graffiti in Tumas and on seal impressions from Buhen at the second cataract of the Nile in Lower Nubia.
[]
Sahura's reign may have been a time of development for the Egyptian navy. His expeditions to Punt and Byblos demonstrate the existence of a high seas navy and reliefs from his mortuary complex are described by Shelley Wachsmann as the "first definite depictions of seagoing ships in Egypt", some of which must have been 100-cubits long (c. 50 m, 170 ft). Because of this, Sahura has been credited by past scholars with establishing the Egyptian navy. It is recognized today that this is an overstatement: fragmentary reliefs from Userkaf's temple depict numerous boats, while a high seas navy must have existed as early as the Third Dynasty. The oldest known sea harbor, Sebaenkhufu on the Red Sea was operating under Khufu. Finally, there is the distinct possibility that some of the reliefs are copied from earlier examples. Nonetheless, Sahura remains the earliest known ruler to have depicted, and thus possibly made use of, sea power for transporting troops over the Mediterranean sea, to Syria.
The extensive nautical scenes from Sahura's mortuary complex are sufficiently detailed to show that specialized racing boats for the military and perhaps for ceremonial training were built at the time. They also give the earliest depiction of specific rope uses aboard ships, such as that of a hogging-truss. They permit precise estimates regarding shipbuilding, for example indicating that the mid-ship freeboard for seagoing vessels was of 1 m (3.3 ft), and that the masts employed at the time were bipodal, resembling an inverted Y. Further rare depictions include the king standing in the stern of a sailing boat with a highly decorated sail, and one of only two reliefs from ancient Egypt showing men aboard a ship paddling in a wave pattern, possibly during a race.
Court life[]
Officials[]
Several high officials serving Sahura during his lifetime are known from their tombs as well as from the decoration of the mortuary temple of the king. Niankhsekhmet, chief physician of Sahura and first known rhinologist in history, reports that he asked the king that a false door be made for his [Niankhsekhmet's] tomb, to which the king agreed. Sahura had the false door made of fine Tura limestone, carved and painted blue in his audience-hall, and made personal daily inspections of the work. The king wished a long life to his physician, telling him:
As my nostrils enjoy health, as the gods love me, may you depart into the cemetery at an advanced old age as one revered.
A similar though much less detailed anecdote is reported by Khufuankh, who was overseer of the palace and singer of the king. Other officials include Hetepka, who was keeper of the diadem and overseer of the hairdressers of the king, Pehenewkai, priest of the cult of Userkaf during the reigns of Sahura and Neferirkara Kakai, then vizier for the latter; Persen, a mortuary priest in the funerary cult of Sahura's mother Nepherhetepes; and Washptah, a priest of Sahura, then vizier of Neferirkara Kakai. The high-official Ptahshepses, probably born during the reign of Menkaura I, was high priest of Ptah and royal manicure under Sahura, later promoted to vizier by Nyuserra Ini.
Two viziers of Sahura are known: Sekhemkare, royal prince, son of Khafra and vizier under Userkaf and Sahura; and Werbauba, vizier during Sahura's reign, attested in the mortuary temple of the king.
Evolution of the high offices[]
Sahura pursued Userkaf's policy of appointing non-royal people to high offices. This is best exemplified by the office of vizier, which was exclusively held by princes of royal blood with the title of "King's son" since the mid-Fourth Dynasty and up until the early Fifth Dynasty. Toward the end of this period princes were progressively excluded from the highest office, an evolution undoubtedly correlated with changes in the nature of kingship. This process, possibly initiated by Menkaura I because of dynastic disputes, seems to have been completed by Sahura's time as from then onwards no royal prince was promoted to vizier. Those already in post were allowed to keep their status and so in the early part of Sahura's reign vizier Sekhemkare was a "King's son" while his successor, Werbauba, seems to have been non-royal. In response to this change, the state administration began its expansion as it included more and more non-royal people.
Concurrently with these developments, architectural and artistic innovations relating to tombs of private individuals can be dated to Sahura's reign. These including torus molding and cornices for false doors, first found in Persen's tomb. This feature would subsequently become common and here demonstrates the particularly high esteem in which Persen must have been held by the king. Another innovation is the depiction of small unusual offerings such as that of seven sacred oils on false doors, first found in Niankhsekhmet's tomb. The canonical list of offerings was also developed during or shortly before Sahura's time in the tombs of the royal family, and spread to those of non-royal high-officials – the earliest of whom was Seshemnefer I – under Sahura.
Sun temples[]
Sekhetre[]
Sahura built or started to build a temple dedicated to the sun god Ra, the second such temple of the Fifth Dynasty. Yet to be located, it is known to have existed thanks to an inscription on the Palermo stone where it is called Sekhetre (also spelt Sekhet Re), meaning "The Field of Ra" as well as mentions of it in 24 tombs of administration officials. A few limestone blocks bearing reliefs which once adorned the temple have been found embedded in the walls of the mortuary complex of Nyuserra Ini, Sahura's fourth successor. This suggests either that these blocks were leftovers from the construction of the temple, or as Wener Kaiser has posited, that Nyuserra dismantled Sahura's temple, using it as a quarry for construction materials because it was largely unfinished. Indeed, the rather meager evidence for the Sekhetre leads Miroslav Verner to propose that it never fully functioned as a sun temple.
New analyses of the verso of the Palermo stone performed in 2018 by the Czech Institute of Archeology enabled the reading of further inscriptions mentioning precisely the architecture of the temple as well as lists of donations it received, establishing firmly that it was a distinct entity from the earlier sun temple of Userkaf, the Nekhenre but leaving its ultimate fate uncertain. Further precision as to the architecture of the temple may be inferred from the absence of the obelisk determinative in some hieroglyphic variants of the name Sekhetre and its presence in others. For Anthony Spalinger this possibly indicates that Sahura's sun temple was effectively built and acquired such an obelisk at some point after its construction, perhaps after Sahura's reign.
Nekhenre[]
Userkaf was the first king to build a sun temple in Perusiri. Known to the ancient Egyptians as the Nekhenre, or "Fortress of Re", it was unfinished at his death. Construction works continued in at least four building phases, the first of which may have taken place under Sahura, and then under his successors Neferirkara Kakai and Nyuserra Ini.
Pyramid complex[]
Pyramid of Sahura
Sahura built a pyramid complex for his tomb and funerary cult, named Khaba Sahura, which is variously translated as "The Rising of the Ba Spirit of Sahura", "The Ba of Sahura appears", "Sahura's pyramid where the royal soul rises in splendor", or "In glory comes forth the soul of Sahura". The builders and artisans who worked on Sahura's mortuary complex lived in an enclosed pyramid town located next to the causeway leading up to Sahura's pyramid and mortuary temple. The town later flourished under Nyuserra and seems to have still been in the existence during the First Intermediate Period.
In terms of the size, volume, and the cheap construction techniques employed, Sahura's pyramid exemplifies the decline of pyramid building. At the same time, the quality and variety of the stones employed in other parts of the complex increased, and the mortuary temple is considered to be the most sophisticated one built up to that time. With its many architectural innovations, such as the use of palmiform columns, the overall layout of Sahura's complex would serve as the template for all mortuary complexes constructed from Sahura's reign until the end of the Sixth Dynasty, some 300 years later. The highly varied colored reliefs decorating the walls of the entire funerary complex display a quality of workmanship and a richness of conception that reach their highest level of the entire Old Kingdom period.
Location[]
Sahura chose to construct his pyramid complex in Perusiri, thereby abandoning both Mekhat Tawy and Akhet Nesu, which had been the royal necropolises up to that time. A possible motivation for Sahura's decision was the presence of the sun temple of Userkaf, something which supports the hypothesis that Sahura was Userkaf's son. Following Sahura's choice, Perusiri became the main necropolis of the early Fifth Dynasty, as pharaohs Neferirkara Kakai, Neferefra, Nyuserra Ini and possibly Shepseskara built their pyramids there. In their wake, many smaller tombs belonging to members of the royal family were built in Perusiri, with the notable exceptions of those of the highest-ranking members, many of whom chose to be buried in Akhet Nesu or Mekhat Tawyh.
Mortuary temple[]
Sahura's mortuary temple was extensively decorated with an estimated 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) of fine reliefs. This extensive decoration seems to have been completed within Sahura's lifetime. The walls of the entire 235 m (771 ft)-long causeway were also covered with polychrome bas-reliefs. Miroslav Bárta describes the reliefs as "the largest collection known from the third millennium BCE".
Many surviving fragments of the reliefs which decorated the walls of the mortuary complex are of very high quality and much more elaborate than those from preceding mortuary temples. Several of the depictions are unique in Egyptian art. These include a relief showing Sahura tending a myrrh tree (Commiphora myrrha) in his palace in front of his family; a relief depicting Syrian brown bears and another showing the bringing of the pyramidion to the main pyramid and the ceremonies following the completion of the complex. The high craftmanship of the reliefs is here manifested by the finely rounded edges of all figures, so that they simultaneously blend in with the background and stand out clearly. Reliefs are sufficiently detailed to permit the identification of the animals shown, such as hedgehogs and jerboas, and even show personified plants such as corn represented as a man with corn-ears instead of hair.
The many reliefs of the mortuary, causeway and valley temples also depict, among other things, Sahura hunting wild bulls and hippopotamuses, Sahura being suckled by Nekhbet, the earliest depictions of a king fishing and fowling, a counting of foreigners by or in front of the goddess Seshat, which Egyptologist Mark Lehner believes was "meant to ward off any evil or disorder", the god Sopdu "Lord of the Foreign Countries" leading bound Asiatic captives, and the return of an Egyptian fleet from Asia, perhaps Byblos. Some of the low relief-cuttings in red granite are still in place at the site. Among the seminal innovations of Sahura's temple are the earliest relief depictions of figures in adoration, either standing or squatting with both arms raised, their hands open and their palms facing down.
The mortuary temple featured the first palmiform columns of any Egyptian temple, massive granite architraves inscribed with Sahura's titulary overlaid with copper, lion-headed waterspouts, black basalt flooring and granite dados.
Pyramid[]
The pyramid of Sahura reached 47 m (154 ft) at the time of its construction, much smaller than the pyramids of the preceding Fourth Dynasty. Its inner core is made of roughly hewn stones organized in steps and held together in many sections with a thick mortar of mud. This construction technique, much cheaper and faster to execute than the stone-based techniques hitherto employed, fared much worse over time. Owing to this, Sahura's pyramid is now largely ruined and amounts to little more than a pile of rubble showing the crude filling of debris and mortar constituting the core, which became exposed after the casing stones were stolen in antiquity.
While the core was under construction, a corridor was left open leading into the shaft where the grave chamber was built separately and later covered by leftover stone blocks and debris. This construction strategy is clearly visible in later unfinished pyramids, in particular the Pyramid of Neferefra. This technique also reflects the older style from the Third Dynasty seemingly coming back into fashion after being temporarily abandoned by the builders of the five great pyramids at Dahshur and Akhet Nesu during the Fourth Dynasty.
The entrance at the north side is a short descending corridor lined with red granite followed by a passageway ending at the burial chamber with its gabled roof comprising large limestone beams of several tons each. Today all of these beams are fractured, which weakens the pyramid structure. Fragments of a basalt sarcophagus, likely Sahura's, were found here in the burial chamber when it was first entered by John Shae Perring in the mid 19th century.
The mortuary complex immediately around the pyramid also includes a second smaller cult pyramid which must have stood nearly 12 m (39 ft) high, originally built for the Ka of the king.
Legacy[]
Artistic and architectural legacy[]
The painted reliefs covering the walls of Sahura's mortuary temple were recognized as an artistic achievement of the highest degree by the Ancient Egyptians. A New Kingdom inscription found in Perusiri for example poetically compares the temple to the heaven lit by full moon.
Subsequent generations of artists and craftsmen tried to emulate Sahura's reliefs, using them as templates for the tombs of later kings and queens of the Old Kingdom period. The layout of Sahura's high temple was also novel and it became the standard template for all subsequent pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom. Some of its architectural elements, such as its palmiform columns, became hallmarks of Egyptian architecture.
This trend continued to hold in later times. For example, in the Middle Kingdom, Senusret I had reliefs for his temple directly copied from those of Sahura. He also chose to follow the innovative layout of Sahura's complex once again. At the time, Senusret I's decision was in stark contrast with the burial customs of the 11th Dynasty pharaohs, who were buried in saff tombs. These consisted of an open courtyard fronting a row of entrances into subterranean corridors and chambers dug in the hillsides of El-Tarif and Deir el-Bahari, near Thebes.
Cults[]
Old Kingdom[]
Sahura was the object of a funerary cult from the time of his death and which continued until the end of the Old Kingdom, some 300 years later. At least 22 agricultural estates were established to produce the goods necessary for providing the offerings to be made for this cult. Decorated reliefs from the upper part of the causeway represent the procession of over 150 personified funerary domains created by and for Sahura, demonstrating the existence of a sophisticated economic system associated with the king's funerary cult. The enormous quantities of offerings pouring into the mortuary and sun temples of Sahura benefitted other cults as well, such as that of Hathor, which had priests officiating on the temple premises.
Several priests serving the mortuary cult or in Sahura's sun temple during the later Fifth and Sixth Dynasties are known thanks to inscriptions and artifacts from their tombs in Mekhat Tawy and Perusiri. These include Tjy, overseer of the sun temples of Sahura, Neferirkara, Neferefra and Nyuserra; Neferkai priest of Sahura's funerary cult; Khabauptah priest of Sahura, Neferirkara, Neferefra, and Niuserre, Atjema, priest of the sun temple of Sahura during the Sixth Dynasty; Khuyemsnewy, who served as priest of the mortuary cult of Sahura during the reigns of Neferirkara and Nyuserra; Nikare, priest of the cult of Sahura and overseer of the scribes of the granary during the Fifth Dynasty. Further priests are known, such as Senewankh, serving in the cults of Userkaf and Sahura and buried in a Perdjet in Mekhat Tawy; Sedaug, a priest of the cult of Sahura, priest of Ra in the sun-temple of Userkaf and holder of the title of royal acquaintance; Tepemankh, priest of the cults of kings of the Fourth to early Fifth Dynasty including Userkaf and Sahura, buried in a Perdjet at Perusiri.
Middle Kingdom[]
No priest serving in the funerary cult of Sahura is known from the Middle Kingdom period. Evidence from this period rather come from works undertaken in the Karnak temple by 12th Dynasty pharaoh Senusret I (fl. 20th century BC), who dedicated statues of Old Kingdom kings including one of Sahura. The statue and the accompanying group of portraits of deceased kings indicates the existence of a generic cult of royal ancestor figures, a "limited version of the cult of the divine" as Jaromir Málek writes. The statue of Sahura, now in the Egyptian Museum in Sesostria (catalog number CG 42004), is made of black granite and is 50 cm (20 in) tall. Sahura is shown enthroned, wearing a pleated skirt and a round curly wig. Both sides of the throne bear inscriptions identifying the work as a portrait of Sahura made on the orders of Senusret I.
Sahura's legacy had endured sufficiently by the Middle Kingdom period that he is mentioned in a story of the Westcar Papyrus, probably written during the 12th Dynasty although the earliest extent copy dates to the Seventeenth Dynasty. The papyrus tells the mythical story of the origins of the Fifth Dynasty, presenting kings Userkaf, Sahura and Neferirkara Kakai as three brothers, sons of Ra and a woman named Rededjet destined to supplant Khufu's line.
New Kingdom: emergence of Sekhmet of Sahura[]
As a deceased king, Sahura continued to receive religious offerings during the New Kingdom as part of the standard cult of the royal ancestors. For example, Sahura is present on the Karnak king list, a list of kings inscribed on the walls of the Akhmenu, the Karnak temple of Thutmose III. Unlike other ancient Egyptian king lists, the kings there are not listed in chronological order. Rather, the purpose of the list was purely religious, its aim being to name the deceased kings to be honored in the Karnak temple.
In the second part of the Eighteenth Dynasty and during the Nineteenth Dynasty numerous visitors left inscriptions, stelae and statues in the temple. These activities were related to a cult then taking place in the mortuary temple of Sahura since the time of Thutmose III. This cult was devoted to the deified king in a form associated with the goddess Sekhmet named "Sekhmet of Sahura". For example, the scribe Ptahemuia and fellow scribes visited Sahura's temple in the 30th year of Ramses II's reign (c. 1249 BC) to ask Sekhmet to grant them a long life of 110 years. The reason for the appearance of this cult during the New Kingdom is unknown. In any case, the cult of Sekhmet of Sahura was not a purely local phenomenon as traces of it were found in the Upper Egyptian village of Set-maat, where it was celebrated during two festivals taking place every year, on the 16th day of the first month of Peret and on the 11th day of the fourth month of that season.
During the same period, prince Khaemwaset, a son of Ramses II, undertook works throughout Egypt on pyramids and temples which had fallen into ruin, possibly to appropriate stones for his father's construction projects while ensuring a minimal restoration for cultic purposes. Inscriptions on the stone cladding of the pyramid of Sahura show that it was the object of such works at this time. This renewed attention had negative consequences as the first wave of dismantlement of the Perusiri monuments, particularly for the acquisition of valuable Tura limestone, arrived with it. Sahura's mortuary temple may have been spared at this time due to the presence of the cult of Sekhmet. The cult's influence likely waned after the end of Ramses II's reign, becoming a site of local worship only.
Third intermediate, late and Ptolemaic periods[]
During the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (744–656 BC) at the end of the Third Intermediate Period, some of Sahura's temple reliefs were copied by Taharqa, including images of the king crushing his enemies as a sphinx. Shortly after, under the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664–525 BC) of the Late Period, a statue of Sahura was among a group of statues of Old Kingdom kings hidden in a cachette of the Karnak temple, testifying to some form of cultic interest up to that time. In parallel, a new period of dismantlement of the pyramids of Perusiri took place, yet Sahura's was once again spared. This might be because of the cult of Sekhmet of Sahura the temple hosted well into the Ptolemaic period (332–30 BC), albeit with a very reduced influence. Several graffiti dating from the reigns of Ahmose III (570–526 BC), Darius II (423–404 BC) and up until the Ptolemaic period attest to continued cultic activities on the site. For example, a certain Horib was "Priest of Sekhmet of the temple of Sekhmet of Sahura" under the Ptolemaic dynasty.
The dismantlement of Sahura's pyramid started in earnest in the Roman period, as shown by the abundant production of mill-stones, presence of lime production facilities and worker shelters in the vicinity.
In Contemporary Culture[]
Sahura’s name and that of his father were used in the 1983 Sesame Street special Don't Eat the Pictures. A cursed child from ancient Egypt introduces himself as “Prince Sahura of Egypt, son of the god Userkof, king of kings, lord of the two lands, conquered of the east and west, and fabulous fisherman.”