The Pyramid Complex of Pepy I

King Pepy I was the first king of the 6th Dynasty have built his pyramid complex in Saqqara-South. His two immediate precursors, Unas and Teti, had chosen the neighborhood of the Step Pyramid complex of Djoser in Saqqara-North as their last resting place. Pepy chose the high desert to the northwest of the pyramid of Djedkare, of the fifth Dynasty. His pyramid is the northwestern royal monument of Saqqara-South.

The name of this pyramid complex , mn-nfr, "the beautiful memorial" would later be used for the city that lay to the east, and would be established in Greek as Memphis. Structure The Pyramid Complex of Pepy I comprises all the elements that by the sixth Dynasty had already went standard: a pyramid with to the east of it, a mortuary temple and a satellite pyramid and cold to the east a causeway that lead towards a valley temple. In the late 1980's, an enormous hill of debris and rubble placed to the south of the main pyramid was saw by a French team of archaeologists. They found four or maybe even five little pyramids with adjourning mortuary temples that once belonged Pepy I's queens. The queen for whom the southeastern most of these pyramids was built was addressed Nebwenet. She taken the titles 'wanted wife of the king'. The queen of the second pyramid bore the name Inenek/Inti and the third queen, whose figure is not (yet) known bore the titles 'eldest daughter of the king'. A stela written with the name of Meritites, 'daughter of the pharaoh and wife of the king' has led to the find of a 4th pyramid and close a fifth queen's pyramid has been learned.

The Mortuary Temple of Pepy I

Like his pyramid, Pepy I's badly broken mortuary too, was established checking to a standardised ground-plan. After the entrance in the east, a transverse corridor led to clips to the north and south and to a long entrance hall or lobby in the west. The entering hall opened onto a columned open court, to the west of which the alone temple was set. The inner temple has a transverse hall, followed by the five statue niches. To the south of these niches, a room access led to a chamber that gave entree to an antechamber with one unique column in the west. The antechamber leads to the bema by a turn to the west. To the north and south of the five statue niches, the antechamber and the sanctuary were located several magazines. Assorted limestone statues of certain and beheaded enemies, were discovered in this temple. They symbolise the enemies of Egypt -and thus of the king- rendered feeble by their decapitation and may mayhap once have lined the causeway. Similar statues have been found about the complexes of Djedkare, Teti and Pepy II. The causeway itself, alike the valley temple, has never been improved.

Kneeling Statue of Pepy I

Kneeling Statue of Pepy I

The kneeling Statue of Pepy I is a pretty statue, measuring 15.2 by 4.6 by 9 cm, pictures Pepi I offering wine in typical assaulted bowls, presumably to Hathor, whose name is mentioned in the inscription. It is made of schist, with eyes of alabaster and obsidian, inlaid in a copper encasing. A hole in the king's forehead indicates that the statue originally wore a uraeus, maybe made of a more valuable material. The king is represented kneeling, his torso slimly bent forward out of regard for the goddess. His face is depicted with a particular animation and face, wahereas the torso is more colored. An long cartouche, naming the king as the son of Hathor, is engrossed before his knees. The source of the statue, which is on march in the Brooklyn Museum, is unknown. The fact that Hathor is named in the lettering as well as Pepi's known involvement with this goddess's temple at Dendara both make it likely that this statue once supported in the temple of Hathor at Dendara. Indeed, assorted reliefs found throughout the Greek-Roman Period temple of Dendara show statues of Pepi I. More than 2000 years after his prevail, statues of Pepi I adoring Hathor would hence still be piece of her temple's inventory.