The abandonment of the cults of the ‘‘kings of Abusir’’ did not involve a renunciation of solar ideology, which remained important under the Sixth Dynasty (Quirke 2001: 84-5), as indicated, amongst others things, by references to royal donations to the Heliopolitan gods in royal annals, the erection of obelisks (the solar symbols par excellence) in the same city by Teti (a recovered example), Pepi I (fragments in a temple subsequently removed to Bubastis, Morenz 1999), and probably Pepi II (a pair cited in the biography of Sabni of Elephantine). Moreover, an important necropolis of high priests of the Heliopolitan creator-god was begun at the southeast angle of the future Ramesside temenos wall, and reused fragments of mastabas have been found in the sacred area (Raue 1999: 483-4, nos. 3-5 and W); small obelisks appear there, as at Saqqara, showing the importance of the solar cult in the conceptions of the hereafter for private individuals as well as their superiors.
The most marked element of the Sixth Dynasty is the new royal interest in the provinces the exploitation of which is rationalized (Moreno Garcia 1999: 204-66). Temples in the nome capitals (Kemp 2006: 112-35) which, until now, escaped the requirements of Memphite decorum, were endowed with a royal statue (Dendera), inscribed doors (Bubastis), naoi (Elephantine, possibly housing a statue of the king rather than a god: Bussmann 2007) and protected by immunity decrees which exempted the temple from taxes and its personnel from royal corvees (Abydos, Coptos). This policy, which had its beginnings in the Fifth Dynasty, was reinforced in the Sixth by the construction of royal chapels, ‘‘ka sanctuaries’’ (hut-ka) in the sacred enclosure of the local divinity examples of which have been found at Bubastis and Abydos, and other examples are known from epigraphic sources at el-Kab, Akhmim, Meir, and elsewhere. At the same time, provincial administration was reformed with the creation of the post of‘‘Overseer of Upper Egypt’’ under Djedkare, a doubling (or even tripling) of the vizierate which acquired a titulary specifically referring to control of the South, and an increased personnel for the administration of the nomes (Kanawati 1981).
The high-ranking functionaries installed in the residence no longer chose to be buried in the capital but in their place of residence. The necropoleis of Upper and Middle Egypt, therefore, saw a marked increase in popularity (e. g. at Qubbet el-Hawa (Elephantine), Edfu, Abydos, Deir el-Gabrawi, Akhmim or Meir) in mastabas or hypogea whose dimensions and decoration are every bit as good as those of their Memphite contemporaries. This phenomenon was probably replicated in the Delta, as the necropolis of Mendes shows.
We may assume that this interest in the provinces was not only economic but political - perhaps the monarchy was reacting to the court intrigues and palace conspiracies which seem to punctuate the period (Moreno Garcia 2004: 169-82). This phenomenon might have appeared at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, as suggested by the curious reuse of blocks of a monument of Djedkare in the pyramid of Unis; a dismantled monument of the royal mother Zeshzeshet, mother of Teti, has also been integrated into the construction of the pyramid of Pepi I. Under Teti, who, according to Manetho, was assassinated by his bodyguard, and under Pepi I, we know that a significant number of officials buried in the necropoleis of Unis and Teti at Saqqara had their names, and sometimes their images, erased or mutilated, or their tomb reallocated (Kanawati 2003). The biography of Weni even mentions, under Pepi I, an exceptional judicial procedure implicating a queen and the dismissal of officials. ‘‘Harim’’ conspiracies were certainly common coin at this period, a phenomenon exacerbated by the plurality of queens under Pepi I (Inenek, Nubunet, Ankhnespepi I and II...: Leclant & Labrousse 2001; Labrousse 2005; Labrousse & Leclant 2006) and Pepi II (Neit, Iput II, Wadjebten) who feature in pyramid complexes grouped around the royal pyramid in addition to more mundane tombs of lesser queens: competitors for the throne must have been numerous, but this situation was certainly not new, although previously it was brought under control or brought to a halt. Regencies, like that of Ankhsenpepi II (Roth 2001: 312-14), which blow their trumpet in several inscriptions to the detriment of her son-king Pepi II, did not ameliorate this situation and were a focus of intrigue during the royal minority.
The period, then, had its troubles at the palace, against which the introduction of a body of provincial officials loyal to the king might be a counter-weight. The king associated himself with viziers and other high administrators originating from the nomes such as Mehu from Mendes, Izi from Edfu, or the line of Bawis of Akhmim (Moreno Garcia 2006b, 2006c). The links woven with Abydos are remarkable in this respect: Pepi I married the two sisters Ankhnespepi, daughters of the Abydene Khui, whose wife would even be favoured with the title of ‘‘vizier’’ like two of her sons, Djau and Idi. Another Abydene, already mentioned, Weni, who may well have been related to the same family, had a remarkable career in Memphis, where, on the basis of his position in the king’s bodyguard, he led important military campaigns to the Near East (Eyre 1994c); son of a vizier, he himself became a vizier and Overseer of Upper Egypt, and, as a sign of his success, he had a large mastaba of an unusual square plan built for himself on top of a hill which was visible from all parts of the surrounding area (Richards 2004).
World History
