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Neferefre (2419—2416)



Raneferef was the fifth lord of Dynasty V. He governed the nation from 2419 till 2416 BC. Shockingly, students of history couldn't locate any essential documentation from his rule.

Cartouche of Neferefre
Neferefre was the primary child of Neferirkare and Khentkaus II to go to the royal position. He was gone before by the fleeting lord Shepseskare.The Turin King-rundown is excessively fragmentary, making it impossible to give us the length of Neferefre's rule. The most astounding recorded year reference is the time of the promotion of this lord, making it improbable that he had a long rule. He assembled a sun based sanctuary named Hetep-Re, which has not yet been distinguished, and, at Abusir, begun with the working of his own pyramid complex. The complex was left incomplete.

Raneferef was the fifth king of Dynasty V. He ruled the country from 2419 till 2416 BC. Unfortunately, historians could not find any important documentation from his reign.

Until the 1980s practically nothing more than his name was known to science, but then excavations was begun at an anonymous ruin of a pyramid in the southernmost part of the royal necropolis at Abusir. The monument turned out to be built by king Neferefre (Horus-name: Nefer-khawand in picture right). At the east side an elaborated mortuary temple was dug out. It was constructed of mud bricks and obviously made in haste shortly after the death of the king. Here archaeologists found parts of the temple archive on papyrus, stone vessels, mud seals, and faience inlays. Small statuettes of the king also came to light in the temple ruins and one showing the ruler seated on a throne without his names headdress. He is shown to be very young man, hardly more than twenty years of age and with fleshy cheeks giving a childish impression to his face.
 Other statuettes (made in a crude more non-portraying form) were also found as well as glazed ceramics making the king's name.

After the temple the excavators turned to the pyramid itself and the central construction with the burial chamber. It had been robbed already at the collapse of the Old Kingdom but not totally empty of finds. A lot of interesting objects were found and fragments of pharaoh's red granite sarcophagus came to light plus pieces of mummy wrappings and bones, and parts of canopy jars. This was proof of that the king once had been buried here under a big gabled roof. Huge portcullises of granite had once blocked the corridor leading to the centre.

The mummy material was inspected and most likely was from a young fellow in his mid twenties, which fits well to what have been known about the ruler. Just the initial step of a pyramid was finished and it was secured by rocks and mud mortar at first glance before the dead ruler was introduced in the funerary flats. He would have rested in his sarcophagus for around 300 years before bedlam softened out up Egypt and numerous regal tombs were stripped for their merchandise. His name inside a cartouche is found in picture above left and his incomplete pyramid likewise had the name in symbolic representations:

It implies:

"The Pyramid which is Devine of the Ba-spirits", and the spirits are symbolized by three storks.