Egypt: History - Pharaonic Dynasty V (Fifth Dynasty)

Fifth Dynasty

Whatever the origin of the Fifth Dynasty, there can be no doubt as to its changed and highly individual character. According to the tale, Reddjede's eldest son was foretold to become high- riest of the sun-god Re', the great city !nown to the "ree!s a #elio olis and now merely a northern suburb of $airo. %here is neither confirmation nor li!elihood that &ser!af, the first !ing of the dynasty, ever e'ercised that office, but certain it is that under him the #elio olitan riesthood began to wield an un recedented influence. %he (alermo )tone has little to record e'ce t gifts of land and offerings to the sun-god Re', to his daughter #athor, and to the roblematic beings called bw'*wnw 'the )ouls of +n'. *t is im ortant to reali,e, however, that this intensified solar cult was not e'clusive li!e that of A!henaten over a thousand years later, since among other deities the goddesses of & er and -ower .gy t were also beneficiaries. %he dominant osition of the sun-god is reflected in a fresh develo ment that now befell the royal titulary. #itherto the name of Re' had a eared only in the cartouches of Ra'djedef, $he hren, and /ycerinus. *n Dynasty 0, Re' became a fairly regular element, as will be seen from the enumeration of its nine !ings in their well authenticated se1uence2 &ser!af, )ahrue', 3eferir!are' 45a!ai6, )he ses!are' 4*ni6, Ra'neferef, 3iuserre' 4*,i6, /en!auhor, Djed!are' 4*,e,i6, and Wenis 4&nis6. %he names here added in brac!ets were alternative ersonal names, li!ewise enclosed in a cartouche and ultimately to become the !ing's 3omen, while the name with 'Re' became the (renomen. What is still more im ortant, the e ithet ,R' )on of Re', first found 1uite e'ce tionally with two of the three Dynasty *0 (haraohs above mentioned, now began to be a fre1uent concomitant either inside or outside the cartouche, in the end obtaining a fi'ed osition between the (renomen and the 3omen. %he final attern of a royal titulary has been illustrated and e' lained above. Far more stri!ing, however, is the evidence from a new ty e of monument which, so far as is !nown, was the original invention of Dynasty 0 and was discontinued after its eighth reign. 3o doubt these new enthusiasts for the solar cult felt une1ual to honoring their chosen god with the magnificence that the Dynasty *0 rulers had bestowed u on the glorification of themselves, for they removed the scene of their building activities some miles to the south of "i,a, where invidious com arison would be less racticable. A site at Abu "urab which had long borne the name of the (yramid of Righa roved, when cleared by the Deutsche +rientgesellschaft under the able direction of the architect -. 7orchardt 489:9-8:;86, to have concealed a great sun-tem le lausibly su osed to have been co ied from the tem le of Re'-Atum at #elio olis. %he general lay-out resembled that of a normal yramid com le', with an entrance building near the valley, a causeway leading to a higher level, and at the to the counter art of yramid and funerary main tem le. %he essential difference lay in the substitution for these latter of a rather s1uat obelis! erched on a s1uare base li!e a truncated yramid. %he obelis! recalled a very ancient stone at #elio olis !nown as bonbon, etymologically erha s 'the radiant one', which undoubtedly symboli,ed a ray or the rays of the sun. )i' of the nine !ings of Dynasty 0 are !nown to have built sun-tem les of the !ind, each with its own name li!e <(leasure of Re', '#ori,on of Re', 'Field of Re'. +f these tem les only two have been actually located, that of &ser!af, a arently a oor affair e'cavated by 7orchardt's former u il #. Ric!e, and that of 3iuserre', thoroughly investigated by 7orchardt himself. #ere the sun-god was worshi ed under the o en s!y, as befitted his nature. At the foot of the obelis! and its base is a great raised terrace with a large alabaster altar in its midst. 3orth of the altar is an e'tensive area where o'en were slaughtered, and north of this again a row of maga,ines. %he latform u on which the obelis! stood was a roached by a long covered assage s!irting the terrace on the south and adorned with e'1uisitely scul tured and ainted scenes, some re resenting the seasons with the flora and fauna created by the sun-god, while others de icted the )ed-festival, which was a eriodic renewal of the !ingshi when the gods of the two halves of the country assembled to do honor to the

(haraoh. %he ceremonies when the riests emerged from the relative dar!ness of the corridor into the brilliant sunshine s read abroad by their god must have been sensational. )erious roblems are, however, raised by this strange category of monuments. %hat each !ing should have as ired to a magnificent se ulcher of his own is com rehensible, even if the modern mind cannot refrain from wondering at the over-ostentation dis layed by the yramids. 7ut it is er le'ing to find each successive ruler adding a se arate sun-tem le of similar dimensions in order to mar! his filial relationshi to the deity. %he strain u on his resources must have been enormous, the more so since there is good evidence that the redecessors' foundations were not abandoned at their demise. *t is not sur rising that the cumulative res onsibility roved too much for *,e,i, in whose time such enter rises came to an end. /uch careful thought has of late been devoted to this and other 1uestions connected with the sun-tem les, but only with limited success through the lac! of ositive evidence. 7orchardt's e' loration of 3iuserre's sun-tem le was followed by his systematic unearthing of the Dynasty 0 yramids clustered together at Abusir about a mile farther to the south= but before discussing these it will be well to say something about the yramids of three !ings of the dynasty who elected to occu y sites still farther south at )a11ara, close to the )te (yramid. &ser!af's burial- lace, unusual in several res ects, was found com letely ruined and used as both 1uarry and cemetery in )aite times. *t had been furnished with s lendid low reliefs, the most stri!ing fragment being art of a fowling scene that may erha s have served as a model for similar re resentations in later tombs. 7ut the great ri,e was the head of a colossal red granite statue of the !ing now in the $airo /useum= it is thought that the statue, if seated, will have e'ceeded 8> feet in height. the two e'cavators of the yramid of Djed!are'*,e,i, both rematurely defunct, unfortunately left no account of their wor!. %his may well be the neighborhood from which in 89:? came a large number of a yrus fragments still un ublished and distributed among several museums. %hey are all dated in *,o,i's reign, but relate to the funerary ro erty and administration of the earlier !ing 3eferir!are' 5a!ai. Among the subjects are the daily ayments made to the head riests or ' ro hets' and to the tenants of the sun-tem le. +ther things treated are the transfer of revenue to 5a!ai's yramid estate, and the offerings made to his statues and to that of the @ueen-mother 5hant!awes. )o rare are such documents at this eriod that these are of the utmost value, but intensive study will be re1uired to deci her their difficult handwriting and to determine their e'act contents. %he yramid of the last !ing Wenis, smaller than that of any of his redecessors, has been more fruitful in results of interest, the causeway, A?; yards long, being embellished with reliefs of the finest 1uality. %he subjects are very varied and unusual, illustrating, for e'am le, the trans ort by shi from Aswan of the granite date- alm columns and architraves used in the construction of the funerary tem le. %here are also scenes of wor!men engaged in various crafts, and strangest and least e' licable of all, the emaciated figures of eo le evidently dying of hunger. %he internal arrangements of the yramid are li!ewise unusual, their main im ortance to .gy tologists lying in the fact that the walls of the vestibule and burial-chamber are covered with the oldest religious te'ts that have survived from Ancient .gy t, written in vertical columns of hierogly hs. %hese te'ts, containing s ells roviding for the welfare of the !ing in the hereafter, are !nown as the (yramid %e'ts, since they are found not only here but also in the yramids of four !ings of Dynasty 0* and elsewhere. %o revert now to the yramids e'cavated at Abusir by 7orchardt, they are those of )ahure', 3eferir!are', and 3iuserre'. +f these, the yramid of 3eferir!are' was left unfinished and the lower half of its causeway was ada ted by 3iuserre' to his own ur oses. *n the absence of a full ublication of the yramid of Wenis, it is that of )ahure' in which the characteristics of the funerary monuments of Dynasty 0 can be best reali,ed. *n si,e greatly inferior to those of $heo s and $he hren, in beauty they are at least their e1uals. /assiveness and rugged sim licity here give lace to elegance and artistic erfection= a develo ment analogous to that in our own country from 3orman architecture to "othic. *n Dynasty 0, lain rectangular illars are su erseded by columns re resenting a yrus stems bound together or with ca itals delicately carved to imitate the leaves of the date- alm. %he wealth of scul tured relief adorning all arts of the com le' is ama,ing, in s ite of the disa earance of a large ortion through the de redations of later generations hungry for the fine limestone that could be used for their own buildings. %he brilliance of the general a earance can be imagined from the fact that often the floors were of olished basalt, while the glittering white limestone scul tures rested on dados of red granite. A startling innovation in )ahure's yramid com le'

was a co er drain- i e that ran the whole length of the causeway, a distance of no less than ??; yards. %he subjects of the reliefs are varied, and if we ossessed them in their entirety they would have illustrated the activities and as irations of the !ing and his subjects more vividly than any ossible written narrative. Among the less realistic re resentations there survives one showing the (haraoh being welcomed by the god 5hnum and nursed at the breast of the vulture-goddess of 3e!hen 4#ieracon olis6, and there are also seen fictitious offering-bearers ersonifying every as ects of nature such as the sea and corn, or abstract notions such as joy. )trongly contrasted with such urely conce tual themes is a magnificent scene of hunting in the desert and the remains of another de icting the baiting of #i o otamuses in the river, though even here the subject may already have become conventional. *t is im ossible to be sure that )ahure' himself was endowed with these s orting roclivities. Reference has been made earlier to the cam aign against the -ibyans which resulted in so sensational a ca ture of booty and the submission of the foreign rinces and their families. .ven more attractive ictorially is a great scene of shi s returning from )yria with sailors and Asiatic abroad, their arms u lifted in homage to the (haraoh. %he occasion may well have been an e' edition to the -ebanon to fetch the highly ri,ed wood of its forests. %he e'cavations at 7yblos by /ontet and Dunand have yielded stone vessels bearing the names of many +ld 5ingdom !ings, robably not e'cluding that of )ahure'. *t would be too much to describe 7yblos as an .gy tian colony, but at least the .gy tian envoys were always welcome there and this coast-town had a tem le of the goddess #athor identified with the native )emitic Astarte. %his icture of shi s reminds us that the sole references in the fragments of the (alermo )tone to any secular underta!ings of the Dynasty 0 (haraohs are two which record voyages to )inai in 1uest of its tur1uoise and to (wene, the source of incense and various s ices. A art from the -ibyan cam aign above mentioned and the Asiatic war in which Wenis was the commander-in-chief, all foreign ventures of the +ld 5ingdom a ear to have been utilitarian in aim--journeys to rocure to the sovereign the materials wherewith to sate his assion for building, to enhance the lu'ury of his $ourt, and to meet the re1uirements of the deities whom he worshi ed. %he resent tendency is to assign to Dynasty *0 a duration of no more than 8B; years and to Dynasty 0 no more than 8C;. %hese figures are small in view of the great wor!s accom lished, but a arently will have to be still further reduced, for there seems no reason to doubt the veracity of a courtier who claimed to have been honored by si' !ings from Ra'djedef to )ahure', or of a royal rince who enjoyed similar fervor, but starting only with Ra'djedef's successor $he hren. /eanwhile, a stri!ing change had come over the sources from which our !nowledge of the eriod is drawn. %he mute and uncommunicative character of the early mastabas had given lace to an eagerness un aralleled in any other ancient land to de ict and illustrate almost every as ect of daily life. *t is not to be imagined, of course, that either the scul tors or their masters had osterity in mind. A art from the urge to create beauty inherent in all artistic creation, here the incentive was the belief that such ictures could enable the tomb-owner to enjoy after death all the good things that had been his lot u on earth. %he develo ment must now be described in somewhat greater detail. *n the early Dynasty *0 the funerary rites had been erformed in small bric! cha els leaned u against the north side of the /astabas, the sole testimony concerning the identity and as irations of the tomb-owner being a stone stela showing him seated before an offeringtable with hierogly hic legends naming the !inds of food and drin! of which he ho ed to arta!e, the 1ualities of linen intended for his clothing and bedding, and the vessels and furniture needed for his household. 7ut there are some e'ce tions to this reticence. At /edium there are tombs as early as )nofru with frescoes illustrating occu ations on a great nobleman's estate, boat-ma!ing, fishing, snaring birds, lowing, slaughtering o'en, and so forth. From about the same time are inscri tions recording the fortunes of a great Delta magnate named /etjen, who informs us how, besides inheriting from his father, he bought much land, built himself a fine house with a large walled garden, and was a ointed to many res onsible osts. +ther hierogly hic narratives from the ne't generations deal with different subjects. %hey remunerate the use of 'soul-servants' for continued funerary service after the tomb-owner's death, a will for the distribution of his lands made by a son of $he hren and the grateful ac!nowledgment of the (haraoh's interest in the building of a tomb. )uch te'ts can barely be described as historical, but they cast sidelights u on the civili,ation of those times. %he oint here em hasi,ed, however, is that they are e'ceedingly

rare. With the a roach of Dynasty 0 such records, both ictorial and written, greatly increase in number, evidence it would seem of a growing reali,ation that for all the (haraoh's claims to be a divinity, he was in fact only a man not so far e'alted above the heads of his nobles. %he many gifts and concessions which had to be made in order to sustain the ower of the ruler were already laying the foundations of a feudal state. *nterior chambers began to be built within the body of the /astabas, assimilating them to the mansions of the wealthy= the famous tomb of %jey, for e'am le, ossessed two great columned halls, a fine corridor, a large store-chamber, and an im ressive ortico. A far greater variety of ursuits was now dis layed in the reliefs, hardly any as ect of ordinary life being unre resented. +n the walls of the tombs one can accom any the tomb-owner on his way to ins ect ba!ers, brewers, vintners, coo!s, scul tors, car enters, goldsmiths. We can sit with him to enjoy music and dancing, or join him in a game of draughts. -ittle humorous details sometimes insinuate themselves into these ictures, such as a mon!ey ruffling the feathers of a crane or biting the leg of an attendant. And hierogly hic legends e!e out each e isode with the snatches of conversation assing between the eo le engaged, in flat contradiction of the o ular reconce tion which credits the Ancient .gy tians with no thoughts beyond death and mummification. %he .gy tologist !nows that never was there a race more fond of life, more light-hearted, or more gay. A lovable trait is the evident e1uality of the se'es. 7oth in the reliefs and in the statues the wife is seen clas ing her husband round the waist, and the little daughter is re resented with the same tenderness as the little son.