Scope: This is a period of change and eventual decline. After the fantastic achievements of Dynasty IV, something changed, and Egyptologists are not sure what it was. In addition to building pyramids, pharaohs of Dynasty V seem to have shifted their religious focus to sun worship.
And we will see a new architectural development—the sun temples of Abu Gurob. The kings of the next dynasty (Dynasty VI) continue to build pyramids, but these will be small affairs, nothing like the great ones of Sneferu, Khufu, and Chephren. The last king of the dynasty, Pepi II, may have lived too long, been feeble at the end of his reign, and so plunged Egypt into chaos.
Outline
I. There are many curiosities and misconceptions concerning the famous Sphinx, only 20 feet smaller than the Great Pyramid, built in Dynasty IV.
A. Chephren (2558-2532), or Khafre, carved the Sphinx from a huge rock encountered while building a causeway. It is part man in shape (probably Chephren himself), and part lion.
B. It was built about 4,500 years ago—not in 10,000 BC, as some geologists have argued.
C. Napoleon’s soldiers didn’t shoot away the nose of the Sphinx. We have pre-Napoleonic drawings that show the nose was already missing.
D. Freudian psychology discusses the Sphinx as a woman—but it’s a man wearing a headdress reserved only for royalty. The false beard is missing, parts of which ended up in the British and Egyptian museums. The British Museum, which doesn’t display its fragment, probably doesn’t want to return it to Egypt for fear of creating a precedent.
E. Chephren’s Valley temple is the only large one from the period. It is paved with alabaster. But after Chephren, things would change.
F. His successor, Menkaure (Mycerinus), also built on the Giza Plateau, although his pyramid was smaller.
G. The last pharaoh of Dynasty IV, Shepseskaf, moved away from Giza. He returned to Saqqara and built a mastaba. The great pyramid-building era was over.
II. Dynasty V (2498-2345 BC) was the time of the solar kings.
A. Rejecting tradition, the pharaohs built sun temples at Abu Gurob, south of Saqqara, in addition to their pyramids at nearby Abu Sir. The ben- ben stone, atop a squat obelisk, is central at the temples with an altar in front.
B. The kings changed their names. After Userkaf the pharaohs take Re names: Sahure, Neferirkare, Shepseskare, and so on. ft may be that the priests are exerting a stronger influence.
C. Pyramid texts were begun under Unas (2375-2345 BC), the last king of Dynasty V. He returned to Saqqara and built a small pyramid inscribed with magical spells. The pyramid texts on the interior walls are intended to ensure that the pharaoh will get to the next world. The inscriptions are in columns—individually done, not stenciled.
1. The spells, in three stages, were, first of all, supposed to keep the body undisturbed before “going west.”
2. The second stage was to make sure the voyage to the west was finished safely. Associated with the setting sun, the west was a symbol of death in Egyptian thinking.
3. The third and last stage was to ensure that the pharaoh was accepted into the next world. The spells operated on a magical principle: ‘The word is the deed.’
4. One text, the “cannibal hymn,” describes Unas eating the entrails of his enemy. But the meaning may not be literal. E. A. Wallace Budge, curator of the Egyptian collection at the British Museum in the early part of the twentieth century, argued that the story of Osiris was originally offered as a cautionary tale against cannibalism.
III. Dynasty VI (2345-2181 BC) was the last Old Kingdom dynasty.
A. The kings continued to build small pyramids, like hills, inscribed with texts.
B. Mastabas of the nobility rivaled pharaohs’ pyramids. Apparently, the nobles’ power was increasing at the pharaoh’s expense.
C. There was a total collapse at the end of the Old Kingdom, then a recovery leading to the Middle Kingdom, and another collapse before the New Kingdom. As far as I know, Egypt is the only great civilization to endure two major collapses.
1. Pepi II (2278-2184 BC) was the last pharaoh of the Old Kingdom.
2. He ruled for 94 years, the longest reign in the history of the world.
3. Perhaps he ruled too long and became feeble. This is the inherent danger of a pharaoh-centric government. His gradual descent may have led to the collapse of Egyptian civilization.
Essential Reading:
Aidan Dodson, Monarchy of the Nile, Chapter V.
Supplementary Reading:
Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, pp. 60-68.
Questions to Consider:
1. What changes do we see in religious buildings during this period?
2. What are the possible causes of the decline of the Old Kingdom?