The Old Kingdom

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The Old Kingdom

• c.2686-2160 BC

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3rd Dynasty 2686-2613 BC Nebka Djoser Sekhemkh
et Khaba Huni 4th Dynasty 2613-2494 BC
Sneferu Khufu Djedefra Khafra Menkaura Shepseskaf
5th Dynasty 2494-2345 BC Userkaf Sahura Nefer
irkara Raneferef Nyuserra Menkauhor Djedkara Unas
6th Dynasty 2345-2181 BC Teti Userkara Pepy
I Merenra Pepy II Nitiqret
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The Old Kingdom ends with
7th and 8th Dynasties 2181-2160 BC Several
ephemeral rulers called Neferkara.
The term kingdom signifies political unity and
strong, centralized government as opposed to
intermediate period which is characterized by
rivalries among local rulers and civil war.
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The Old Kingdom saw the first zenith of the
Egyptian culture. The god-like pharaoh ruled at
the pinnacle of a highly hierarchical society,
his vizier of royal blood, and state officials
often from the royal family. During much of the
Old Kingdom Egypt was a centrally planned and
tightly organized and administered country.
The king acted as an undisputed mediator between
the gods and people. Contact with the gods was
achieved through ritual. The king was also a
guarantor of the continuing orderly running of
the world. His role continued after his death
and this explains why it was in everybodys
interest to ensure the safe journey and arrival
of the king to the underworld.
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The sun-god Re dominated the religion, and
afterlife was viewed as ascending to the sky and
sailing with Re in his solar boat. The Old
Kingdom witnessed the building of the first
pyramids at Saqqara (Dynasties 3, 5-6), Abusir
(Dynasty 5) and the great pyramid complexes of
Giza of Khufu, Khafra and Menkaura (Dynasty 4)
and also the creation of the first fully
developed hieroglyphic (religious and wisdom)
texts.
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New monumental architectural innovations and
their effects on the country provided the
criterion to the dynastic division, to switch
from the 2nd Dynasty to the 3rd Dynasty.
The 3rd Dynasty
The most important ruler of the 3rd Dynasty was
Djoser who seems to have made Memphis the
capital and Saqqara its necropolis. His choice
for the vizier Imhotep (I have come in peace) a
genius in architecture. By continually enlarging
and stacking up mastaba type tombs on the top of
one another, and after six variants of the plan
he created the worlds first monumental stone
building, the so-called Step Pyramid of Djoser.
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Mastaba Tombs
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Cross-section of a typical mastaba
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The Djoser Step Pyramid Complex
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• An entire complex (of mostly fake buildings)
  was built around the pyramid and it was
  surrounded with a functional (for security)
  temenos wall (temenos in Greek means sacred
  precint). The temenos wall is wavy and it is
  thought to represent the primordial water. The
  Great Courtyard includes cairns (markers) that
  meant to indicate the actual course that the
  deceased king should run in his heb-sed race
  (usually along with Apis, the sacred bull, a
  manifestation of Ptah while alive and Osiris when
  dead) during the sed-festival in the Afterlife.

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Djoser
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The Step Pyramid
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Cross-section of the step pyramid
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Purpose

• There are a number of interpretations for the
  shape of the Step Pyramid. One is that its
  mound-like shape represents the primeval mound of
  creation, another is that the pyramid represents
  a monumental staircase to the sky for the
  deceased king to ascend to heaven. The latter
  view is supported by the following spell from a
  pyramid text
• ... A stairway to the sky is set up for me
  that I may ascend on it to the sky, and I ascend
  on the smoke of the great censing.

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Heb-sed

• During the reign of the (living) king a
  sed-festival was a sort of re-coronation ceremony
  to be held (originally) every 30 years while the
  king was a ruler. The heb-sed race was actually
  run by the king to prove his vitality. The
  purpose of the festival was to reassert the
  kings position as a ruler and to renew his royal
  power.

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The heb-sed court of the Step Pyramid
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Djoser running his heb-sed race
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Colonnade near the entrance, the columns are
carved to resemble bundles of reeds
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Papyrus-form columns
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A frieze of cobras on the top of the South Tomb
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Raising the Djed-Pillar

• Many monuments (including the step pyramid
  complex) depict the pharaoh running his heb-sed
  race. The scene usually includes the so-called
  djed-pillar (reed column), which in the New
  Kingdom was interpreted as Osiris backbone, a
  symbol of stability. The Raising of the Djed
  Pillar Ceremony frequently depicted on the walls
  at the festival courts reenacts the resurrection
  of Osiris to life.

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Imhotep

• The royal vizier, Imhotep, the creator genius
  of the step pyramid was deified in the Ptolemaic
  Period (332-30 BC). He was identified by the
  Egyptian Thoth and the Greek god of healing,
  Asclepios. In the step pyramid we also have the
  first appearance of life-size statues, one of the
  king himself was found in the serdab (Arabic for
  cellar, a statue room) of the step pyramid.

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The 4th Dynasty

• Once again the dynastic division of Manetho is
  due to monumental architectural changes. The
  affluence of Egypt in the 4th Dynasty (and the
  5th) exceeded the prosperity in the 3rd Dynasty.
  The obvious evidence for this is the Great
  Pyramid Complexes of the 4th Dynasty rulers
  Khufu (Cheops in Greek), Khafre (Chephren), and
  Menkaure (Mycernius).

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Khufu
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Khafre
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The Sphinx
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Khufu and Sneferu

• Khufus full name is Khnum-Kufu, Khnum
  protects him, khu means protect. The association
  of Khufu with the Elephantine creator god Khnum
  is unknown.
• The foundation of the culture of pyramid
  building was laid down by Khufus father,
  Sneferu, the first king of the 4th Dynasty who
  built the first genuine pyramid with smooth
  sides. (As his name suggests, snfr means make
  beautiful Sneferu was thought to be a benign
  ruler.) He built three large pyramids at Meidum
  and Dashur.

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The Meidum pyramid is either unfinished or was
later used as a stone quarry. It is attributed
to him mainly because the ancient name of
Meidum is Djed Snefru translated as Snefru
endures.
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The Bent Pyramid
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The Red Pyramid
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• A pyramid complex consists of the pyramid
  surrounded by a temenos wall, one or more
  subsidiary pyramids (for queens, royal mothers
  and sometimes high officials), a mortuary or
  pyramid temple (to ensure the kings
  immortality), a causeway (for the funeral
  procession) connecting the mortuary temple with
  another, and the so-called valley temple (for
  the funeral rituals) where the latter was at the
  edge of a canal leading to the Nile. The pyramid
  complex was kept up by priests who were believed
  to report periodically to the central bureaucracy
  headed by the vizier. The complex owned land or
  had the right to the harvest and the entire staff
  was sustained by a local area economy.

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From the step-pyramid to the smooth-sided pyramid

• The passage from the step pyramid (magical
  staircase) to a smooth sided pyramid was probably
  due to benben, a smooth conical shaped stone, a
  sacred cult object of Re in Heliopolis. According
  to a spell in the Pyramid Texts
• I have laid down for myself this sunshine of
  yours as a stairway ramp under my feet on which
  I will ascend to that mother of mine ..
• This suggests that the deceased king would
  ascend to heaven by traveling with the suns rays
  along the shining surface of the pyramid used as
  a ramp.
• Note that the consonants in the word benben
  (wbn) mean shine or rise. Thus the benben stone
  can be interpreted as the symbol of renewal (of
  life) and sunrise.

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• Queen Hetepheres, Snefrus wife and Khufus
  mother, became famous as her tomb in the Kfufus
  Pyramid complex remained almost intact. The
  pieces of furniture discovered in her tomb
  provide a glimpse of the splendor of the 4th
  Dynasty royal family.
• The Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and
  Menkaure are all located in Giza, the most
  important necropolis of the 4th Dynasty. The
  Pyramid Complex of Khufu also contains five boat
  pits. Two of the pits actually contained
  solar-boats and one has been excavated and
  reassembled in the Solar Boat Museum. The purpose
  of the solar boats was to enable the deceased
  king to join the sun-god Re on his voyages
  through the sky.

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Boat pits
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• The 5th Dynasty
• Already at the end of the 4th Dynasty there
  have been signs of a gradual decline of the
  kings power and authority. This has been
  reinforced by the kings emphasis on the sun-god
  Re. The dynastic division is probably due to a
  major change in state religion.
• Early in the Old Kingdom Heliopolis (Biblical
  On) was recognized as the religious capital. In
  the 4th Dynasty Re became a national deity
  (instead of the pharaoh himself). Re was
  recognized as the ultimate giver of life and the
  moving force in nature.

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Sun Temples

• The 5th Dynasty the kings built large sun
  temples, sanctuaries of the son-god Re, next to
  their pyramids. The outlay of a sun temple was
  very similar to the pyramid complex except that
  the pyramid was replaced by a symbol of Re, a
  pillar on a podium and later an obelisk, an
  Egyptian invention. (Form the Middle Kingdom on
  the tip of the obelisk was gilded to reflect the
  sunshine early morning.)

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The benben stone and the obelisk.
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• The most important sun temples are of the
  Kings Userkaf (first king of the 5th Dynasty) and
  Nyuserra, and they are found at Abusir and Abu
  Gurab. The Abusir Papyri (King Neferirkaras
  mortuary cult) describes the daily ritual duties
  of the priests and their role in the festivals.
  
• The increased land donations to the sun
  temples slowly decreased the kings control and
  increased the priests power and their
  independence in Heliopolis.

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Syncretism

• Re became so supreme in the Egyptian pantheon
  that even Horus whose incarnation was the pharaoh
  himself, became united with Re by what we call
  syncretism, and the combined god, Re-Horakhty Re,
  the Horus of the Akhet emerged.

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Decline

• The initial increase of the kings power lead
  to the swelling of the bureaucracy and the king
  was no longer able to oversee the minute details
  of the countrys administration. This lead to a
  further reduction of this kings control over
  national matters. The decline was very slow and
  invisible to the common people.
• In the administration there was a gradual
  withdrawal of members of the royal family from
  important positions.

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Pyramid Texts

• The growth of local power centers are proved
  by the appearance of pyramid texts in private
  burials. Unlike in the 4th Dynasty when the
  nobles clustered their mastabas around the kings
  pyramid, the 5th Dynasty nobles choose to have
  their burial sites where they were located during
  their lives.

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King Unas pyramid text

• At Saqqara, right next to Djosers step
  pyramid, there is a smaller pyramid complex of
  King Unas, the last pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty.
  The most important feature of this pyramid
  complex is that the walls of the antechamber and
  the burial chamber are both covered with Pyramid
  Texts written in richly decorated hieroglyps.
  This is the oldest corpus and the most reliable
  source of religious literature in fact, the
  religious beliefs expressed here may predate the
  Old Kingdom.

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• The text deals with the deceased kings going
  up to the sky (with assistance from Shu, the
  celestial ferryman, and the wings of the ibis-god
  Thoth) to be welcomed by the sky-goddess Nut, and
  it expresses the kings desire to join his father
  Re-Atum on his daily journey across the sky in
  his solar boat.
• King Unas Pyramid Texts are also considered
  the oldest corpus of wisdom literature.
• The collection of spells and advice meant to
  give power the deceased king to conquer hostile
  forces of the Underworld who try to prevent him
  to join Atum-Re in the sky.

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The 6th Dynasty

• Recent excavations (as reported in the
  National Geographic, Death on the Nile, October
  2002 issue) shed considerable light on the
  successions and palace intrigues during the 6th
  Dynasty. It starts with King Teti whose exact
  relationship to King Unas is not known, except
  that he married Iput, Unas daughter. She was
  believed to be Tetis chief wife until recently
  they discovered that Tetis other wife Khuit had
  a pyramid that predates Iputs. The most probable
  genealogy and the twists and turns of events are
  as follows

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• Unas -gt Iput (daughter)
• Teti Iput (wife) -gt Pepi I (son), Idut
  (daughter)
• Khuit (wife) -gt Tetiankh-Kem
  (son)
• Teti came to the throne by force, with
  opposition from Ihy, the vizier of Unas. Princess
  Idut died and got buried in Ihys tomb Ihys
  name is chiselled out as a punsihment for the
  opposition. Tetis two wives continually plotted
  against each other.
• Teti and Tetiankh-Kem (age 25) murdered.
• Userkare
• Possible plotter and usurper of Teti. His
  existence is disputed by some scholars. Only two
  kings lists mention him. Ruled until Queen Iput
  managed to get her son Pepi I to the throne.
  Hezi, the vizier of Teti was also involved in
  the plot, a possible ringleader.

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• Pepi I Ankhesenpepi II (wife) -gt Pepi II (son)
• sister of Ankhesenpepi II
  (wife) -gt Merenre (son)
• Pepi I revenges his fathers murderers. The
  plotters names such as Hezis were chiselled
  out from their tombs and other officials were
  buried there.
• Merenre Ankhesenpepi II (wife)
• Merenre ruled only a few years. After he died
  Ankhesenpepi II ruled as a regent until her son
  Pepi II came to the throne.
• Ankhesenpepi II has a pyramid next to the one
  of Pepi I but facing
• Merenres, she was the first queen buried
  with pyramid texts.
• Pepi II (94 years of reign by Manetho)
• The successor of Pepi II probably died in a
  few years but his queen, Nitiqret ruled for
  another 2-3 years.

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Difficulties

• The palace intrigues show that the king no
  longer enjoyed a god-like status in the late Old
  Kingdom. The decrease of royal dominance was
  partially due to and simultaneous with the
  emergence of powerful local elite in the regional
  centers. In trying to curb the nomarchs power in
  the south the office of overseer of Upper Egypt
  was created during the 6th Dynasty. There were
  military difficulties too. The difficulties at
  the borders of Egypt are illustrated by the Stela
  of the Soldier Qedes from Gebelein that made an
  explicit mention of Nubian mercenary fighters in
  the area of Gebelin.

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Nile flood levels

• The flood level of the Nile has been steadily
  declining during the Old Kingdom. This led to the
  reduction of agricultural production and
  eventually famine set in. As a consequence of the
  prolonged famine, people began to doubt whether
  the pharaoh was able to maintain the world order,
  the Maat. Several steles commemorate the
  difficulties.

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The Stele of the Treasurer Ihy of Imyotru

• I was a great pillar in the Theban nome, a
  man of standing in the Southland. I nourished
  Imyotru in years of misery. Though for hundred
  men were in straits through it, I did not seize a
  mans daughter, nor did I seize his field. ..
  I gave Upper Egyptian barley to Iuni, to Hefat,
  after Imyotru had been supplied.

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The Stele of the Steward Seneni of Coptos

• I measured up Upper Egyptian barley as
  sustenance for this whole town in the gateway of
  the Count and Chief Priest Djenfi, in the painful
  years of distress.

The First Intermediate Period was about to set in.