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| Cartouche of Neferkare |
There are no contemporary remains from the king
Neferkare. Various rulers have had this name and the sound elements building up the name are very common. Archaeologists know him only from the two king lists from Áaka's tomb at Sakkara and the lettering in the papyrus from Turin known as the "Royal Canon of Turin". In the third list of substance - the
Abydos king list from a wall in the temple of pharaoh Seti I from the 19th dynasty, he does not exist and nor does his immediate replacement. This temple is from 1200 years after the second dynasty and so are the other 2 lists. If the deletion of him and his replacement has to do with a tradition in Abydos (with hostility to the northern Memphis domain during the second dynasty) we don't know.
In both the Saqqara and Turin lists he has the position between Sened and Neferkaseker and in Manteho's list he is in the same place under the Greek-formed name Nepherkheres. At the end of the
Old Kingdom about dynasty 6 his name comes to light during various rulers. This shows that he and other more than or less unfamiliar kings from the same time, was far from forgotten by the generations that follow them. Picture at top right points the
cartouche with Neferkare's name as it appears in the Saqqara list. It contains the signs KA with the put up arms (meaning soul) and Nefer (a sign possibly showing a belly and a windpipe) significant beautiful and the sun (or really solar god) Re.
