More than the diminishing size of the pyramids (50 m or so) and their funerary temples, it is the sun temples that symbolize the new dynasty, from Userkaf, its founder, to Menkauhor (Verner 2002: 67-86; Nuzzolo 2007). Texts show that all these kings possessed a monument of this sort, although only those of Userkaf and Niuserre have been found, to the north of the zone of the royal complexes at Abusir. Traces of that of Neferefre, hardly begun because of the brevity of his reign, are perhaps to be identified in the unfired-brick structures discovered at the site of the sun temple of Niuserre (Verner 1987); it is, however, doubtful whether the first three sovereigns of the dynasty utilized one and the same monument, i. e. that of Userkaf (Nuzzolo 2007: 233-4, vs. Stadelmann 2000). The architecture, decorative programme, titles of the cult functionaries, papyrus archives from Abusir, and royal annals still present a very coherent picture of these structures and of the importance assumed by the solar cult during this dynasty (Wildung 1984; Quirke 2001: 126-8). Dominated by a huge dressed stone obelisk placed on a truncated conical base, they celebrate Re and his creation in the form of representations of the cycle of the seasons on the walls of the temple, and a great barque made of mud-brick recalled the diurnal and nocturnal voyage of the sun in the temple of Niuserre. It is towards these sun temples that commodities converged, destined, ultimately, for the royal cult; for the consumption of offerings by the monarch followed an initial presentation before Re (Posener-Krieger 1976: 519-26; Verner 2006: 381-9). The annals show traces of the extent of the donations of land for the functioning of the cult, foremost among which are the sanctuaries of Heliopolis, the city of the solar creator (in the form of Re or Atum), which took the lion’s share (Helck 1984; Wilkinson 2000c). At the end of the dynasty various changes presage the end of this solar pre-eminence, which one can detect on royal onomastica (‘‘Menkau-Hor’’ celebrates Horus, ‘‘Unis’’ mentions no god), the abandonment of the construction of sun temples, or even from the insertion into royal tombs from the time of Unis of the Pyramid Texts which, far from being exclusively solar, brought together the solar, stellar, and Osirian postmortem future of the monarch (Barta 1981; Mathieu 1997). It is undoubtedly
Figure 4.2 The solar temple of Niuserre at Abusir after Borchardt.
Symptomatic that the necropolis of Abusir was deserted by the successors of Niuserre to the benefit of Saqqara South (Djedkare) and North (Unis), and the royal cults the ‘‘Abusir’’ kings almost ceased at the accession of Teti.
The ‘‘sun’’ kings of Abusir promoted a new system of relations with the elite, which became a meritocracy (Baines 1999) and broke with the model of relationships applied by the preceding dynasty, which already had changed from the reign of Khafre or Menkaure (Baud 1999: 315-23). First, except for a few members of the royal family, the key elements in society were no longer buried beside the pyramids but at Saqqara. The two sites are neighbours but are separated by a large dry valley. This is not a first; for Snefru at Dahshur, Djedefre at Abu Rawash, or Shepseskaf at Saqqara South had already held their elite at a certain distance (Baud et al. 2003: 39-40). Another sign of distancing, this time in terminology, was a new usage in the nomenclature of royal priesthoods, where the name of the pyramid was progressively substituted for that of the king; this system, possibly starting with Unis (Munro 1993: 87-8), would be extended to the royal female line with the creation of the titles ‘‘Daughter, Wife or Mother ‘of the Royal Complex x’,’’ rather than of the king himself (Baud 1999: 343-5). Next, the royal sons no longer exercised the top administrative functions, which are entrusted to specialists and reformed in a more rational way, first under Neferirkare, as is attested by the reorganization of the officials’ titles (Strudwick 1985: 337-9). Finally, functions related to the royal person took on a crucial importance (Speidel 1990: 91-4; Eyre 1994a: 108; Baud 2000), as in biographical narratives which place His Majesty centre stage (Baines 1997: 136-40). This importance of palace officials is seen, for example, in the exceptional size of their tombs (Barta 2005), in particular those of the ‘‘Director of the ah-palace’’ chamberlains, like Rawer at Giza or Akhethotep at Saqqara (‘‘Louvre mastaba,’’ Ziegler 2007), who carry out the responsibilities which earlier devolved upon the royal sons. The necessary physical proximity to the monarch, which brought with it serious implications because of the king’s divinity and the magical power of the regalia in the chamberlain’s charge, is echoed in the intimate connotations of the ranking title ‘‘Beloved Sole Companion,’’ which replaced that of‘‘Sole Companion of his Father’’ given to the royal sons of the Fourth Dynasty (Baud 1999: 64-5). Magicians who eliminate illness, manicurists (like the two brothers Nyankhkhnum and Khnumhotep ofSaqqara),hairdressers-wigmakers (like Rawer of Giza, Speidel 1990:15-19,152-60; or Ptahshepses of Abusir, Verner 2002: 153-75) constituted this new elite, such that bearing a title of this type became essential for high administrators, for example the famous Ti ofSaqqara North, who was not the simple hairdresser that he has often been claimed to be. These changes are also visible in the crown’s matrimonial policy: from now on it is functionaries attached to the royal person who married the kings’ daughters, like the chamberlain Wepemnofret and the magician-protector Seankh-wiptah, and not senior administrators who managed royal works or other administrative departments (Baud 1999: 368-71). A number of biographies, a genre developed at this time, have the royal palace as their theatre and revolve around the king alone, who is an object of adulation by his court (Baines 1999; Kloth 2002: 239-43). The solar world of the Fifth Dynasty was a universe of courtiers entitled ‘‘Sole Companions’’ in which the monarch, in his Memphite Versailles, kept in closest proximity to himself a large political society fixated on his splendour and dedicated to his person. This monarchy spread itself far beyond the frontiers of Egypt, maintaining its domination over Lower Nubia (to the Second Cataract at Buhen) and a privileged partnership with Byblos, while promoting contact with farther off lands, Kerma in Upper Nubia, Punt on the Red Sea (el-Awady 2006b), and the islands of the Aegean Sea, without the practical details of these contacts always being well established (Vercoutter 1992: 288-314; Moreno Garcia 2004: 245-60).
World History
