Qakare Ibi was an ancient Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

during the early

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spuriou ...

(2181–2055 BC) and the 14th ruler of the Eighth Dynasty.

Jürgen von Beckerath Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920, Hanover – 26 June 2016, Schlehdorf) was a German Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '' Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), '' Journal o ...

: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen'', Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz : P. von Zabern, 1999,
available online
see pp. 68-69 As such Qakare Ibi's seat of power was

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

and he probably did not hold power over all of Egypt. Qakare Ibi is one of the best attested pharaohs of the Eighth Dynasty due to the discovery of his small

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...

in South

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memph ...

Attestations

Qakare Ibi is attested on the 53rd entry of the Abydos King List, a king list which was redacted some 900 years after the First Intermediate Period during the reign of

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II. The ...

.Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, , 2008, p. 302Jürgen von Beckerath: ''The Date of the End of the Old Kingdom of Egypt'', JNES 21 (1962) According to

Kim Ryholt Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research centeCanon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Litera ...

's latest reconstruction of the

Turin canon The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list ...

, another king list compiled in the Ramesside era, Qakare Ibi is also attested there on column 5, line 10 ( Gardiner 4.11,

von Beckerath The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the '' Almanach ...

4.10). The Turin canon further indicates that he reigned for "2 years, 1 month and 1 day". The only other attestion for Qakare Ibi is his pyramid in South Saqqara.

Pyramid complex

Qakare Ibi was buried in a small pyramid at Saqqara-South. It was discovered by

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopie ...

in the 19th century who listed it as the number XL in his pioneering list of pyramids. The pyramid was excavated from 1929 until 1931 by Gustave Jéquier. Ibi's pyramid is the last built in Saqqara, located to the northeast of

Shepseskaf Shepseskaf (meaning "His Ka is noble") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, the sixth and probably last ruler of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He reigned most probably for four but possibly up to seven years in the late 26t ...

's tomb and near the causeway of the

Pyramid of Pepi II The pyramid of Pepi II was the tomb of Pharaoh Pepi II, located in southern Saqqara, to the northwest of the Mastabat al-Fir’aun. It was the final full pyramid complex to be built in Ancient Egypt. Long used as a quarry, the pyramid was excava ...

."Saqqara, City of the Dead: The Pyramid of Ibi" ''The Ancient Egypt Site''
It is very similar in plan, dimensions and decorations to the pyramids of the queens of

Pepi II Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful ...

, the last great pharaoh of the Old Kingdom. Consequently, it was proposed that the pyramid was originally that of Ankhnespepi IV (''ˁnḫ-n=s ppj'', "Pepi lives for her") a wife of Pepi II, and was only later appropriated by Ibi.Rainer Stadelmann:'' The Egyptian pyramids. From brick to the wonders of the world.'' 3rd edition of Saverne, Mainz, 1997, , pp. 203-204. Adjacent to the pyramid is a small chapel where the funerary cult took place. No trace of a causeway nor of a valley temple has been found to this day, and it is likely that there never was any. Qakare-Ibi-Pyramid

The pyramid

Ibi's pyramid is not oriented to any cardinal point, being rather on a northwest–southeast axis. The edifice would have been around large and high with a slope of 53°7′ at the time of its construction. The core of the pyramid was built with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

blocks of local origin, most of which are now gone, probably reused in later constructions. As a result, the monument appears today as a high heap of mud and limestone chips in the sands of Saqqara. On some of the remaining blocks, inscriptions in red ink were found mentioning a ''chief of the Libyans'', the meaning of which is unclear. It seems that even though the foundations for the outer casing of the pyramid were laid, the casing itself was never mounted.

Internal structures

On the north side of the edifice, Jéquier found an long limestone-clad corridor leading down with an inclination of 25° to a large granite portcullis. Gustave Jéquier, ''La pyramide d'Aba'', 1935 Behind this portcullis lay the king's burial chamber. Both the corridor and the walls of the burial chamber were inscribed with the last known instance of the

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterran ...

. The texts seem to have been directly inscribed for Ibi rather than appropriated by him. Jéquier judged the quality of the inscriptions as "very average". Furthermore, the placement of the spells appears relatively indiscriminate. The burial chamber's ceiling was flat and decorated with stars. It was probably made of a single long block of Tura limestone now missing. Today a large block of concrete protects the chamber. On the west side of the burial chamber is a false door and a huge granite block on which once stood the

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Gre ...

of the king. On the east side there is a

serdab A serdab ( fa, سرداب, d=Sardāb), literally meaning "cold water", which became a loanword in Arabic for 'cellar' is an ancient Egyptian tomb structure that served as a chamber for the Ka statue of a deceased individual. Used during the Old Ki ...

for the statue of the Ka of the deceased.

Chapel

Adjacent to the east side of the pyramid is a small mudbrick chapel which served as temple for the cult of the dead king. The entrance of the chapel is located on its north side. Inside the temple, immediately against the pyramid wall is an offering hall where Jequier found a stone washbasin as well as stele or a false door of which only the foundations remain. An

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

tray and obsidian mortar tools were also discovered there. The south part of the chapel is occupied by magazine rooms.

References

Bibliography

* Mark Lehner.'' The secret of the pyramids of Egypt,'' Orbis, Munich 1999, , p. 164 * Christopher Theis:'' The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. After philological and archaeological sources'' (='' studies of ancient Egyptian culture.'' Vol 39, 2010). pp. 321–339. * Miroslav Verner.'' The Pyramids'' Universe Books, New 1998, , pp. 415–416. {{DEFAULTSORT:Qakare Ibi 22nd-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Pyramids of the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Saqqara