Teti

For the Italian comune, see Teti, Sardinia.

Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, was the first Pharaoh of the Sixth dynasty of Egypt and is buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List, but is believed to have been about 12 years.

Biography

Teti had several wives:

Teti is known to have had several children. He was the father of at least three sons and probably ten daughters.[2] Of the sons, two are well attested, a third one is likely:

Piriform mace head inscribed with the cartouche of Teti, Imhotep Museum.

According to N. Kanawati, Teti had at least 9 daughters, by a number of wives, and the fact that they were named after his mother, Sesheshet, allows to trace his family. At least three princesses bearing the name Seshseshet are designated as "king’s eldest daughter", meaning that there were at least three different queens. It seems that there was a tenth one, born of a fourth queen as she is also designated as "king’s eldest daughter".

Lantern Slide Collection: Views, Objects: Egypt. Chapel, Tomb of Nefer-Seshem-Ptah. Sakkara. 6th Dynasty., n.d. Brooklyn Museum Archives

Another possible daughter is princess Inti.[14]

During Teti's reign, high officials were beginning to build funerary monuments that rivaled that of the Pharaoh. His vizier, Mereruka, built a mastaba tomb at Saqqara which consisted of 33 richly carved rooms, the biggest known tomb for an Egyptian nobleman.[15] This is considered to be a sign that Egypt's wealth was being transferred from the central court to the officials, a slow process that culminated in the end to the Old Kingdom.

Manetho states that Teti was murdered by his palace bodyguards in a harem plot, but he may have been assassinated by the usurper Userkare. He was buried in the royal necropolis at Saqqara. His pyramid complex is associated with the mastabas of officials from his reign. Teti's Highest date is his Year after the 6th Count 3rd Month of Summer day lost (Year 12 if the count was biannual) from Hatnub Graffito No.1.[16] This information is confirmed by the South Saqqara Stone Annal document from Pepi II's reign which gives him a reign of around 12 years.

3rd "subsidiary" pyramid to Teti's tomb

Teti's mother was the Queen Sesheshet, who was instrumental in her son's accession to the throne and a reconciling of two warring factions of the royal family.[17] Sesheshet lived between 2323 BC to 2291 BC. Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced, on November 11, 2008, that she was entombed, in a 4,300-year-old headless 5 metre (16-foot-tall) Saqqara most complete subsidiary pyramid. This is the 118th pyramid discovered thus far in Egypt, the largest portion of its 2 metres wide beautiful casing was built with a superstructure 5 metres high. It originally reached 14 metres, with sides 22 metres long.[18][19]

The ruins of Teti's pyramid (Saqqara)
Pyramid texts from Teti I's pyramid at Saqqara

Once 5 stories tall, it lay beneath 23 feet (7 meters) of sand, a small shrine and mud-brick walls from later periods. The 3rd known "subsidiary" pyramid to Teti's tomb, was originally 46 feet (14 meters) tall and 72 feet (22 meters) square at its base, due to its walls having stood at a 51-degree angle. Buried next to the Saqqara Step Pyramid, its base lies 65 feet underground and is believed to have been 50 feet tall when it was built.[20][21][22]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids,1994
  2. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007.
  3. ↑ N. Kanawati, Conspiracies in the Egyption Palace. Unis to Pepy I. 2003, p. 139
  4. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 14 et 50
  5. 1 2 N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 14, 20 et 50
  6. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20, 32 et 50
  7. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 21-22 et 50
  8. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20, 32 et 35
  9. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20, 32 et 36
  10. ↑ N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20-21
  11. ↑ N. Kanawati, The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara, Volume 9: The Tomb of Remni, 2009
  12. ↑ Ali El-Khouli & Naguib Kanawati, Quseir El-Amarna: The Tombs of Pepy-ankh and Khewen-Wekh, 1989
  13. ↑ C. Berger, A la quête de nouvelles versions des textes des pyramides, in Hommages à Jean Leclant, 1994, p 73-74
  14. ↑ Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004
  15. ↑ Christine Hobson, Exploring the World of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1997. p.85
  16. ↑ Anthony Spalinger, "Dated Texts of the Old Kingdom," SAK 21, (1994), p.303
  17. ↑ "Egypt: 4,300-year-old pyramid discovered". CNN.com. CNN. 2008-11-11. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  18. ↑ ph.news.yahoo.com, 4,300-year-old pyramid discovered in Egypt
  19. ↑ africa.reuters.com, Egypt says has found pyramid built for ancient queen
  20. ↑ sfgate.com, Under tons of sand, a treasure of history
  21. ↑ news.nationalgeographic.com, New Pyramid Found in Egypt: 4,300-Year-Old Queen's Tomb
  22. ↑ euronews.net, Pyramid find to shed light on last pharaoh dynasty

Further reading

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