8/12/2019 Pepi II

1/4

Pepi II, last ruler of the 6th Dynasty and Egypt'sOld Kingdom

Pepi II, Last ruler of the 6th Dynasty and Egypt's Old Kingdom

by Jimmy Dunn

According to tradition, Pepi II was the last ruler of Egypt's 6th Dynasty , and in fact the lastsignificant ruler of the Old Kingdom prior to the onset of what Egyptologists call the Fist

Intermediate Period !e are told that his reign of possi"ly #$ %some Egyptologist "elie&e 6$years was the longest in ancient Egyptian history (e seems to ha&e come to the throne ata"out the age of si), and would therefore ha&e li&ed until the age of one hundred (owe&er,"ecause of the onset of the First Intermediate Period, the latter part of his reign was pro"a"lyineffectual, perhaps at least somewhat due to his ad&anced age *oth the O)ford (istory of

Ancient Egypt and Peter A +layton, ha&e his reign lasting from -. until /.$ *+

0he pharaoh's "irth name was Pepi, %also Pepy, Phiops or Fiops as was his father's (isthrone name was 1efer2are, which means 3*eautiful is the 4oul of 5e3 (is mother was

An2hnesmerire II %An2hesenpepi , who was the sister of his older "rother, erenre andpro"a"ly acted as Pepi II's regent during his youth 4he may ha&e pro"a"ly "een assisted "yher "rother, D7au, who was a &i8ier 0here is a well 2nown statue of her holding Pepi II as ayoung "oy (owe&er, after Pepi I 's death, she seems to ha&e married erenre (e had anum"er of wi&es 0hese included 1eith, the daughter of Pepi I and An2enesmerire I and Ipwet%Iput II , the daughter of his "rother erenre 0here is some confusion here, "ecause we aretold that he also married An2enesmerire III, who was another daughter of erenre, possi"ly"y his mother An2henesmerire II A final wife that we 2now of was 9d7e"ten %or !ed7e"ten(e pro"a"ly had at least one son named for his "rother, erenre!e 2now that Pepi II continued foreign relations in a &ery similar manner to "oth hispredecessors of the :th and 6th Dynasties and e&en de&eloped new lin2s with southern

Africa (e maintained diplomatic and commercial relations with *y"los in ancient

http://www.touregypt.net/hdyn6.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hdyn6.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hfirstin.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hfirstin.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pepi1.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/merenre.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/merenre.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pepi1.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pepi1.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pepi1.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hdyn5.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hfirstin.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hfirstin.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pepi1.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/merenre.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/pepi1.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hdyn5.htmhttp://www.touregypt.net/hdyn6.htm

8/12/2019 Pepi II

2/4

8/12/2019 Pepi II

3/4

%al ite lid of a vessel$4ome would ha&e us "elie&e that the First Intermediate Period, a time of decline in Egyptianpower, was "ought on "y low inundation of the 1ile and crop failure 0his is mostly "ecausethey "elie&e Pepi II's mortuary comple) was "uilt and decorated in a much poorer manner then his predecessors It his possi"le that this may ha&e "een a contri"uting factor (owe&er,during Pepi II's reign, we find increasing e&idence of the power and wealth of high officials in

Egypt, with decentrali8ation of control away from the capital, emphis 0hese no"les "uilthuge, ela"orate tom"s at +ause, A2hmin , A"ydos , Edfu and Elephantine , and it is clear thattheir wealth enhanced their status to the detriment of the 2ing's *ecause the positions of these officials was now hereditary, they now owned considera"le land which was passed fromfather to son 0herefore, their allegiance and loyalty to the throne "ecame &ery casual as their wealth ga&e them independence from the 2ing Administration of the country "ecame difficultand so it was Pepi II who di&ided the position of &i8ier so that now there was a &i8ier of 9pper Egypt and another of Bower Egypt >et the power of these local rulers continued to flourish asthe 2ing grew e&er older, and pro"a"ly less of an a"le ruler

Foreign relations, particularly concerning 1u"ia, were also a drain on Pepi II' treasury In fact,in the latter part of Pepi II's rule, some foreign relations were actually "ro2en off (ence, wesee that towards the end of his reign, the go&ernment of Egypt simply unra&eled

& relief fragment from KoptosBong reigns ha&e pro&en to create succession pro"lems As powerful as 5amesses II was,his successors li2ewise had pro"lems "ecause of their ad&anced age when they themsel&esascended to the throne (ence, we find that Pepi II may ha&e "een succeeded "y a son,erenre II, "ut perhaps for only one year According to anetho, he was married to a Cueen1itocris, who succeeded her hus"and to "ecome the last ruler of the 6th Dynasty (owe&er,&ery little archaeological e&idence of erenre II or 1itocris e)ists erenre II's mother wouldha&e pro"a"ly "een 1eith After Pepi II, the mar&elous "uilding pro7ects ceased almostentirely until the reign of entuhotep II of the //th Dynasty

A temple at A"ydos may ha&e "een a 2a?chapel "uilt "y Pepi II (is pyramid andmortuary comple) are located in 4outh 4a

8/12/2019 Pepi II

4/4

Pepi II is further attested to "y a +alcite statuette of the young 2ing and his mother, now in the*roo2lyn useum of Art, a decree of the 2ing found at the mortuary temple of en2awre, adecree found at A"ydos, and three decrees at Koptos %+optos One inscription, now in +airo,records his 4ed festi&al and another inscription is has "een found in Iput II's mortuary temple0he 2ing was further mentioned in the "iography of D7au %now in +airo in his tom"in A"ydos and is mentioned in the tom" of I"i at Deir el? a"rawi

4maller items attesting to Pepi II include faience pla