Little to nothing is thought about Shepseskare, aside from
that he administered amongst Neferirkare and Neferefre. His relationship to
alternate rulers of the fifth Dynasty is not known.
As indicated by the Turin King-list, he administered for a
long time. There don't seem, by all accounts, to be any archives that allude to
dairy cattle tallies.
Some seal impressions dated to his rule have been found at
Abusir, and these are about the main observers of Shepseskare's rule. It is not
known whether he constructed a pyramid or a sun powered sanctuary, in spite of
the fact that the incomplete pyramid situated at Abusir between the pyramid of
Sahure and the sun powered sanctuary of Userkaf, has, by a few, been credited
to him.
Very little is known about king Shepseskare. Almost all
Egyptologists agree on that he ruled for a short period between Neferirkare and
Neferefre, but a few thinks he ruled after these. His kinship (if any) to the
other kings of the 5th Dynasty is not known. The Royal Canon of Turin and
Manetho (who calls him Sesiris) notes him for a reign of seven years, and this
seems to be a plausible figure. His name Shepseskare is also written in the Sakkara list.
His Horus-name within a serek (seen in picture right) is
"Sekhemkhau" meaning "The Power Has Appeared" where the
club stand for power and the rising sun for appearance. This was found in the
mortuary temple of king Neferefre.
Some of very few remains from his time have been found at
Abusir. It's seal impressions dated to his reign and these are almost the only
contemporary findings from his brief time on the throne.
In any case, there is a substantial leftover at Abusir that
most likely is from him however - what is left of a major pyramid. It is
arranged north of the complex of Sahure and was found as late as in the 1980s.
The work on the landmark was barely started before it was halted and comprises
just of earthwork. The region had been leveled and an establishment was made for
the entombment chamber. It's conceivable that the pyramid was planned to be the
greatest of all at Abusir, with a base side measuring a little more than 100
meters, comparative long to ruler Nefererkere's pyramid.
His title (nomen) in his roll as "Son of Re" is
seen within the cartouche left. The duck is a homonym for the word
"son" and the sun disc symbolises his "father" - the solar
god Re.
His name is put together of the components axe, quail,
staff, folded cloth and a mouth and maybe it makes "Netjer-weserw".
Since the kings of dynasty five were completing the
buildings of their predecessors it's possible that Shepseskare in his effort
didn't have much time left for his own monuments. The since of the unfinished
pyramid (if it's his) tells that he had planned to live longer, but obviously
he did not.