The first
king of the sixth dynasty was Teti (c.2345 – 2333). It is thought that he and
all subsequent d6 kings came from Memphis, something borne out by the location of their
pyramids – Saqqara, which overlooked the town. In order to legitimise his rule, Teti
married one of the daughters of King Unas, and adopted the Horus name Seheteptawy (which
might illustrate a brief period of instability after the death of Unas, as it translates
as "He Who Pacifies The Two Lands"). To cement further his hold, he married his
daughter Seshseshet to the vizier Mereruka.According to
the chroniclers, Teti was murdered by his bodyguard, which might explain some references
to the brief rule of the usurper Userkare after Teti.
Teti’s pyramid is towards the north edge of the Saqqara plateau, and is now a rubble
mound.
Teti’s son was Pepi I (c.2332 – 2283). There are
inscriptions recording the increasing influence and wealth of nobles outside the royal
court during his reign. There is also mention of a plot to kill him organised by one of
his queens, Weret-Imres, which was thwarted before it could be put into effect. The
punishment the queen received is not recorded, but it’s difficult to believe that it
could have been anything other than capital. Also shown in these inscriptions are a number
of trading expeditions, most of which were aimed at quarrying stone for building.
The Temple of Hierakonpolis yielded a life-size copper statue of
Pepi I (the earliest surviving life-size copper statue anywhere). Like his father, he was buried at Saqqara.
Two of Pepi I’s sons subsequently became pharaoh. One was
the short-lived Merenre (c.2283 – 2278), and the other was the extremely
long-lived Pepi II (c.2278 – 2184), whose reign of 94 years (assuming that the
scribes who wrote the king lists didn’t confuse 9 and 6, which are hieroglyphically
very similar) is the longest in Egyptian history. As with so many long reigns, it proved
disastrous for the country, with a decline in the central power in Egypt. Nomarchs (local
governors) became increasingly powerful and, by the end of the reign, were essentially
autonomous rulers, who only paid lip-service to pharaoh. Pepi II also bestowed great
wealth upon his nobles, thereby increasing their power to the detriment of his own. Once
again, he found his burial place in Saqqara.
Some sources mention that 2 pharaohs ruled after Pepi II, Merenre
II and Queen Nitocris, but there is no archaeological evidence for either of them. We
therefore assume that the sixth dynasty ended with the death of Pepi II in c.2184.
