Everything about Neferirkare Kakai totally explained
Neferirkare Kakai was the third
Pharaoh of
Egypt during the
Fifth dynasty. His prenomen, Neferirkare, means "Beautiful is the Soul of
Ra." His Horus name was Userkhau, his Golden Horus name Sekhemunebu and his Nebti name Khaiemnebty. Neferirkare was probably the brother of pharaoh
Sahure and the son of pharaoh
Userkaf, the founder of the dynasty.
Reign
Little is known about his reign.
Manetho's Kingslist assigns Neferirkare a reign of 20 Years but verso 5 of the damaged
Palermo Stone preserves
the Year of his 5th Cattle Count (Year 9 on a biannual count). His following years were lost in the missing portion of the document. The Czech Egyptologist
Miroslav Verner maintains, however, that it can't have been as long as 20 years due to the unfinished state of Neferirkare's Abusir pyramid complex.
Since the
annals in the
Palermo stone terminate around Neferirkare’s rule, some scholars have suggested that they might have been compiled during his reign. However, evidence from the other side of the stela implies that the document covered the reigns of later Old Kingdom kings. Hence, it's possible that these Annals were composed during the time of
Nyuserre Ini who had a long reign and was the third successor to Neferirkare, after the the ephemeral
Shepseskare Isi and the short-lived
Neferefre.
A decree, exempting personnel belonging to some temple from doing compulsory labour, shows that taxation was imposed on everybody as a general rule. An important cache of Old Kingdom administrative papyri was discovered from Neferirkare's mortuary temple between
1893 and
1907 which date primarily to the reigns of
Djedkare Isesi and
Unas. One of the documents is an actual letter by king Djedkare to the Temple Priests provisioning Neferirkare's funerary temple.
Mortuary complex
From the large size of his mortuary complex at
Abusir, he was an important king, but since the
Palermo stone fragments after his rule, little is actually known about his reign. The
Pyramid of Neferirkare Kakai (burial place) of the king was initially designed as a 6-step
pyramid 52m high, but later it was extended to the form of a typical pyramid and it reached a height of 72m. The mortuary complex is unfinished, and only part of the lower mortuary temple was completed before, it's supposed, the abandonment of the project.
Personality
Neferirkare's reign was unusual for the significant number of surviving personal details which describe him as a kind and gentle ruler. When Rawer, an old nobleman and royal courtier, accidentally touched the king's mace during a religious ceremony--a sin which could have caused this official's death or banishment from court since the Pharaoh was viewed as a living God in
Old Kingdom mythology--Neferirkare quickly pardoned Rawer and requested that no harm should occur to the latter for the incident. As Rawer gratefully states in an inscription from his
Giza tomb:
» Now the priest Rawer in his priestly robes was following the steps of the king in order to conduct the royal costume, when the sceptre in the king's hand struck the priest Rawer's foot. The king said, "You are safe". So the king said, and then, "It is the king's wish that he be perfectly safe, since I've not struck at him. For he's more worthy before the king than any man."
Similarly, Neferirkare gave the Priest of Ptah
Ptahshepses the unprecedented honor of kissing his feet. Finally, when the Vizier Weshptah suffered a stroke while attending court, the king quickly summoned the palace's chief doctors to treat his dying Vizier. When Weshptah died, Neferirkare was reportedly inconsolable and retired to his personal quarters to mourn the loss of his friend.The king then ordered the purification of Weshptah's body in his presence and ordered an ebony coffin made for the deceased Vizier. Weshptah was buried with special endowments and rituals courtesy of Neferirkare. The records of the king's actions are inscribed in Weshptah's tomb itself and emphasize Neferirkare's humanity towards his subjects.
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