The pyramid of Ity was probably the tomb of Pharaoh who reigned during the

8th dynasty The Eighth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty VIII) was a little-known and short-lived dynasty of pharaohs who ruled in quick succession during the early 22nd century BC, likely based in Memphis. The Eighth Dynasty held sway at a time referred to ...

. It has never been discovered and is known only from a cliff-face inscription at

Wadi Hammamat Wadi Hammamat (, ) is a dry river bed in Egypt's Eastern Desert, about halfway between Al-Qusayr and Qena. It was a major mining region and trade route east from the Nile Valley in ancient times, and three thousand years of rock carvings and ...

in the

Eastern Desert The Eastern Desert (known archaically as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara Desert that is located east of the Nile River. It spans of northeastern Africa and is bordered by the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea to the east, a ...

, where there were several quarries in Pharaonic times. The name of the pyramid, ''Baw-Iti'' ("the power of Ity"), may be a direct reference to the name of the

pyramid of Neferefre The pyramid of Neferefre, also known as the pyramid of Raneferef, (in Egyptian language, ancient Egyptian: ''Nṯrỉ bꜣw Nfr-f-Rꜥ'' ("Divine is Neferefre's power")) is a 25th century BC unfinished Egyptian pyramid, pyramid complex built for t ...

, ''Netjeri-baw-Ra-nefer-ef'' ("the power of Neferefre is divine"), from the 5th Dynasty.

The inscription in Wadi Hammamat

The partially damaged inscription records that two ship captains, Ipi and Nikauptah, had been sent on an expedition to the site in order to acquire building material for a pyramid in the first year of Ipi's reign. The inscription's statement of the number of troops on the expedition is damaged and may have been inscribed wrongly, so that it is uncertain what it said: Wolfgang Schenkel reads 200 rowers, 400(?) pioneers (?) and 200 ''rtn'', while

Christoffer Theis Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει ...

reads 200 soldiers and 200 emissaries with 200 men (interpreting this last figure as a correction), using line drawings made by Lepsius and Sethe.Theis: ''Die Pyramiden der Ersten Zwischenzeit.'' p. 330. In addition to Ipi and Nikauptah, the names of two troop leaders, Thiemsaf and Irinakhti, are recorded. Detailed information on the type and amount of stone they sought is not recorded.

Identifications

The English Egyptologist

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was an English people, English Egyptology, Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. ...

tentatively identified Ity with the Sixth dynasty Pharaoh

Userkare Userkare (also Woserkare, meaning "Powerful is the soul of Ra"; died 2332 BC) was the second Pharaoh, king of the Sixth dynasty of Egypt, Sixth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, reigning briefly, 1 to 5 years, in the late 24th or the early 23rd ...

, whose tomb has not yet been identified, but is probably in the area of Saqqara South known today as Tabbet al-Guesh, north-west of the

mortuary complex of Pepi I The pyramid of Pepi I (in ancient Egyptian Men-nefer-Pepi meaning Pepi's splendour is enduring) is the pyramid complex built for the Egyptian pharaoh Pepi I of the Sixth Dynasty in the 24th or 23rd century BC. The complex gave its name to the c ...

. Petrie's identification relied solely on his estimation of the inscription to the Sixth Dynasty and the fact that Userkare was the only king of this period whose full titulary was not known. This identification is nowadays deemed conjectural In the 1930s,

Cecil Mallaby Firth Cecil Mallaby Firth (5 July 1878 – 1931) was a British Egyptologist. Firth was baptised at Ashburton in Devon on 14 August 1878, the son of Henry Mallaby Firth, gent., and Frances (Fanny) Caunter. He became a lawyer, and after briefly wor ...

suggested that the pyramid of Ity might be the

Headless Pyramid The Headless Pyramid, otherwise identified as Lepsius XXIX or Steinpyramide XXIX, is the remain of a Egyptian pyramid, pyramid complex built in Saqqara. The identity of the pyramid owner is unclear, though it is suspected to belong to either pha ...

Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...

. Firth supported this suggestion by reference to some pieces of pink granite and the broken lid of a sarcophagus found there, but could offer no other evidence. The Headless Pyramid has subsequently been identified as the tomb of King

Menkauhor Kaiu Menkauhor Kaiu (also known as Ikauhor and in Ancient Greek, Greek as Mencherês, Μεγχερῆς; died 2414 BC) was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, king of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom period. He was the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynas ...

of the 5th dynasty and Firth's theory is thus obsolete.Theis: ''Die Pyramiden der Ersten Zwischenzeit.'' p. 333.

References

Bibliography

* * C. R. Lepsius: ''Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien.'' Part II: ''Denkmäler des alten Reichs.'' Volume 4. Nicolai, Berlin 1850, Tab. 115f.,
Online version
. * * Wolfgang Schenkel: ''Memphis – Herakleopolis – Theben. Die epigraphischen Zeugnisse der 7.–11. Dynastie Ägyptens.'' (= ''Ägyptologische Abhandlungen (ÄA).'' Vol. 12, ). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 26. *

Kurt Sethe Kurt Heinrich Sethe (30 September 1869 – 6 July 1934) was a German Egyptologist and philologist from Berlin. He was a student of Adolf Erman. Sethe collected numerous texts from Egypt during his visits there and edited the '' Urkunden de ...

: ''Urkunden des Alten Reichs'' (= ''Urkunden des ägyptischen Altertums.'' Part 1). 1. Vol, 2. No. 2., heavily revised edition. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1933, p. 148,
PDF; 10,6 MB
. *

: "Die Pyramiden der Ersten Zwischenzeit. Nach philologischen und archäologischen Quellen." ''Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur.'' Vol. 39, 2010, , pp. 321–339. {{coord missing, Egypt Pyramids of the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Lost buildings and structures

The inscription in Wadi Hammamat

Identifications

See also

References

Bibliography