Teti III (Pharaonic Survival)

Teti III the Chosen
Teti III the Chosen
	Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign	12 October 2353 - 19 November 2341
Predecessor	Unas I
Successor	Userkara I
Born	April 18, 2382 B.C. ; Hennen Nesut, Egypt
Died	November 19, 2341 B.C. (aged 41)
Spouse	Iput I, Khuit II, Khentkaus IV, Naert
Issue	Pepi I, Tetiankhkem, Sesheshet Watetkhethor, Sesheshet Idut, Sesheshet Nubkhetnebty, Sathor, Seshit, Seshti, Seshseshet Merout, Seshseshet, wife of Remni, Seshseshet, wife of Pepyankh, Seshseshet Teti-ankh, Inti
Full name
	Horus Name: Sehoteptawy; Nebty Name: Biknebusema ; Golden Horus Name: Sehotepnebty; Praenomen: Sehoteptawy; Nomen: Teti
House	Khasekhemwy (0thoenid Branch)
Dynasty	Tetian Dynasty
Father	Pepi Saokpo Sanyuserra-ini
Mother	Sesheshet
Religion	Kemetism

Teti III, less commonly known in Greek as Othoes, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried at Saqqara. He inherited via his marriage to the daughter of Unas, Iput I, and because his father was the grandson of Nyuserra I, through his own father Prince Okpo, Teti was thus the male line great-grandson of Nyuserra Ini, he reigned for 12 years, 1 month and 7 days until his assassination.

Biography[]

Teti had several wives:

Iput, the daughter of Unas I, the last king of the Fifth dynasty. Iput was the mother of Pepi I.
Khuit
Khentkaus IV
Naert

Teti is known to have had several children. He was the father of at least three sons and probably ten daughters. Of the sons, two are well attested, a third one is likely:

Pepi I
Tetiankhkem
Nebkauhor, with the name of Idu, "king's eldest son of his body", buried in the mastaba of Vizier Akhethetep/Hemi, buried in a fallen Vizier's tomb, within the funerary complex of his maternal grandfather

Teti had eleven daughters, by a number of wives, and the fact that they were named after his mother, Sesheshet, allows researchers to trace his family. At least four princesses bearing the name Seshseshet are designated as "king's eldest daughter", meaning that there were at least three different queens. It seems that there was a tenth one, Seshseshet, whose name was Waatetkhéthor, married to Vizier Mereruka, in whose mastaba she has a chapel. She is designated as "king's eldest daughter of his body". She may have been the eldest daughter of Iput.

Seshseshet with the name of Idut, "king's daughter of his body", who died very young at the beginning of her father's reign and was buried in the mastaba of Vizier Ihy.
Seshseshet Nubkhetnebty, "king's daughter of his body", wife of Vizier Kagemni, represented in her husband's mastaba. She was maybe also born of Iput.
Seshseshet, also called Sathor, married to Isi, resident governor at Edfu and also titled vizier. She also would have been born of Iput I.
Seshseshet, with the name of Sheshit, king's eldest daughter of his body and wife of the overseer of the great court Neferseshemptah and is depicted in her husband's mastaba. As she is an eldest daughter of the king, she cannot be born of the same mother as Waatkhetethor and therefore may have been a daughter of Queen Khuit.
Seshseshet also called Sheshti, "king's daughter of his body", married to the keeper of the head ornaments Shepsipuptah, and depicted in her husband's mastaba.
Seshseshet with the beautiful name of Merout, entitled "king's eldest daughter" but without the addition "of his body" and therefore born of a third, maybe a minor queen, and married to Ptahemhat.
Seshseshet, wife of Remni, "sole companion" and overseer of the department of the palace guards
Seshseshet, married to Pepyankh Senior of Meir
Seshseshet, wife of Teti-Ankh, the so-called "Queen of the West Pyramid" in King Pepy I cemetery. She is called "king's eldest daughter of his body" and king's wife of Meryre (the name of Pepy I). Therefore, she is a wife of Pepi and most certainly his half-sister. As she is also an eldest daughter of the king, her mother must be a fourth queen of Teti.
Inti

Early Life and Reign[]

Early Life and Ascension[]

Teti was born into a royal lineage, with his mother being Queen Sesheshet, a significant figure in the royal court. Through his father, he was a direct descendant of Nyuserra Ini, a notable pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty who is remembered for his extensive building projects and religious contributions. Teti's marriage to Iput, the daughter of Pharaoh Unas, further solidified his claim to the throne, establishing strong ties to the previous dynasty.

Teti ascended the throne after the death of Unas who died without a male heir, in a period where Egypt's central authority required reinforcement. His reign is notable for the continuation and expansion of the pyramid-building tradition, as well as his efforts to maintain the stability of the kingdom through a network of loyal officials and powerful viziers.

Reign and Achievements[]

During his reign, Teti III is known to have focused on consolidating power and reinforcing the central authority of the pharaoh. His administration saw the rise of influential officials, many of whom were granted significant autonomy in their regions. This decentralization, however, would later contribute to challenges in maintaining unified control over the kingdom.

Teti's reign is also marked by a continuation of the religious practices initiated by his predecessors. He supported the priesthood of Ra, the sun god, and ensured that the construction of temples and other religious structures continued. His pyramid, located at Saqqara, reflects the traditional architectural style of the time, with complex burial chambers and associated mortuary temples.

Assassination and Succession[]

Teti's reign came to an abrupt and violent end around 2341 BC, when he was assassinated under mysterious circumstances. The motives and details surrounding his assassination remain unclear, but it is believed that his death was the result of a palace conspiracy, possibly involving high-ranking officials and members of the royal family.

Following Teti's assassination, his brother, Userkara, assumed the throne. Rather than seizing power for personal gain, Userkara is depicted in historical records as a protector and regent, taking the throne to safeguard the young Pepi I, Teti's son and rightful heir. Userkara's brief reign was characterized by his efforts to maintain stability and protect the interests of the royal family and mentorship to Pepi I, during this vulnerable period.

Pyramid[]

The funerary complex[]

The pyramid complex of Teti follows a model established during the reign of Djedkara I, the arrangement of which is inherited from the funerary complexes of Abusir.

A valley temple, now lost, was probably destroyed in antiquity due to the place of an Old Kingdom temple dedicated to Anubis constructed there. A better known funerary temple, revealed by James Edward Quibell in 1906, is connected to the valley temple by a causeway. The plan of the temple of Teti is also comparable to that of Unas I, its immediate predecessor. Teti's temple has a somewhat special plan, however, due to a deviation of the floor which traditionally should have been located in the axis of the temple but here is moved south. It then accesses the temple through a hallway of the north–south facade joining the east–west axis of the monument. Followed in this main axis is a second hall. The thickness of the walls suggests a vaulted cover. It was probably the "Room of the Greats", on the walls of which the royal family and influential members of the court were to be represented assisting and accompanying the eternal journey of their sovereign.

This hall opened into an open courtyard surrounded on all four sides by colonnades whose main purpose was the presentation of daily offerings and ritual libations. The only way out is centered to the west and provides access to the innermost part the sanctuary.

Included in the Peribolos, a sacred part of the royal pyramid reserved for priests of the king, was a chapel containing the five Naos, housing five statues of the King appearing in the aspect of the five principal deities of the realm. This part also included a private room containing the false door stela of the King, a veritable object of funeral worship, and a double row of stores on both sides of the axis of the temple. The first row frames the party host and is accessible by a long corridor along the entire width of the building that leads to the south and north within the peribolos of the pyramid. The second set frames the sanctuary and the hall of statues of gods and was only accessible from the latter.

The last element essential to the funerary cult, the satellite-pyramid encircled in its own peribolos, is located southeast of the royal pyramid and therefore was accessible only through a corridor of stores and halls of worship. This small pyramid covers an underground plan consisting of a short ramp leading to a single underground chamber. In the middle of the courtyard of the paribolos, facing east and west, are two landscaped basins in the granite floor. Their use is disputed by Egyptologists, but the location of these basins, following the path of the sun, suggests ritual practices that shed some light on the role of this monument.

The pyramid[]

The orientation of the pyramid is not aligned with the four cardinal points. However, the proportions and plan of the pyramid follow exactly the same pattern as that of the pyramid of Djedkara Isesi. The internal dimensions and slope are the same and it is otherwise very similar.

Access to the burial chambers are located inside the adjoining chapel against the north face of the pyramid. The entrance hallway leads to a long descent of eighteen hundred and twenty-three metres. The entrance was once blocked by a plug of granite now lost. The descending passage was probably clogged along its length by large blocks of limestone that thieves have broken up. The debris still littered the passage at the time of discovery. In the descending corridor is a successive horizontal hallway, a vestibule, another hallway, a bedroom with harrows, a final corridor, and a final granite passage which opens into the funerary apartments of the King.

The room with harrows spans more than six metres and is designed with alternating limestone and granite. The three granite harrows, originally lowered, are now broken into several pieces leaving the way open to visitors.

The horizontal passage leads to rooms consisting of a funeral serdab, an antechamber, and a burial chamber. All three are aligned along an east–west axis. The only peculiarity of the serdab is the size of the block ensuring its coverage, measuring 6.72 metres long with a weight of forty tons. The antechamber and burial chamber are covered with huge vaulted rafters. They are connected by a passage where access was closed by a double door. The walls of these rooms are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions commonly called the Pyramid Texts. The pyramid of Teti is the second royal monument to contain the complex theological corpus to assist and support the rebirth of the king.

The burial chamber contains an unfinished greywacke sarcophagus, a fragment of a lid and a canopic container that is nothing more than a simple hole in the ground. And for the first time, a royal sarcophagus contains inscriptions, here slightly etched on the hollow interior of the vessel.

Although looted since ancient times, remains of the king's grave goods were found during the first excavation of the monument. Consisting mainly of stone materials, these objects have been abandoned by looters, probably considered useless or worthless. Thus, a series of club heads with the names of Teti has reached us and one of the canopic jars containing the viscera of the king. The most troubling item found among the debris of the funeral viaticum is the plaster mold of a death mask. The reproduced molding transmits to us the face of a man with eyes closed, mouth slightly open. The expression is striking and it is purported to be an image of Teti making it the only true royal portrait that has survived from the Old Kingdom. The Egyptian Royal Cubit is estimated at 525 mm. Teti's pyramid measures 78.5 per side at the base and the height is 52.5 m. These are equal to 150 cubits per side at the base and 100 cubits high. The core was a built in steps and accretions made of small, locally quarried stone and debris fill. This was covered with a layer of dressed limestone which has been removed, causing the core to slump