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| Cartouche of king Teti |
The
5th and 6th Dynasties are broken by events which remain apart, but the conveyance of power to King Teti, the first pharaoh of the
Sixth Dynasty, does not appear to have took a major upheaval or struggle. Indeed, the titles borne by his great queen, Iput, indicate that she carried the royal line from one dynastic family to the next, and it is probable that she was a daughter of
Unas, the last king of the Fifth Dynasty. Little further evidence remains of Tetis reign, although foreign contacts were apparently continued with Byblos, Syria and Nubia. The country was stable and affluent and the courtiers kept to build fine tombs around the kings pyramid at Saqqara; one particularly impressive tomb belonged to the vizier
Mereruka, who was also the king's son-in-law.
The pyramid was stiff in style; on the inside walls the inscriptions provide a survival of magico-religious texts, which were intended to see the kings safe passage into the next domain and his credence there by the gods. Nearby, he built a pyramid for 2 of his queens, Iput and Khuit. Matching to Manetho, Teti was hit by his escort, although there is no historical corroboration of this argument. He was briefly won by a king named Userkare, and then by Pepy I, his son by Queen Iput.
