Ptahshepses was an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian official at the end of the Fourth and the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty. His main title was that of a ''great one of the leaders of craftsmen'', that in later periods is the main designation of the

High Priest of Ptah The High Priest of Ptah was sometimes referred to as "the Greatest of the Directors of Craftsmanship" ('' wr-ḫrp-ḥmwt''). This title refers to Ptah as the patron god of the craftsmen.Dodson and Hilton, ''The Complete Royal Families of Anci ...

. Ptahshepses is mainly known from a

false door A false door, or recessed niche, is an artistic representation of a door which does not function like a real door. They can be carved in a wall or painted on it. They are a common architectural element in the tombs of ancient Egypt, but appeared p ...

that is today in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

(Inv. no. EA 682), but coming from his tomb. A smaller fragment of the door is kept in the Oriental Institute Museum (Inv. no. 11084) in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

He is also known from statues and had a

mastaba A mastaba ( , or ), also mastabah or mastabat) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks or limestone. These edifices marked the burial sites ...

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 ...

(mastaba C 1). His false door bears a biographical inscription that reports the main events in his life. Starting on the far right of the door, column 1 records that Ptahshepses was born under king

Menkaure Menkaure or Menkaura (; 2550 BC - 2503 BC) was a king of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. He is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( by Herodotus), in turn Latinized as Mycerinus, and Menkheres ( by Manetho). ...

and educated at the palace. Excluding the center of the door, it is assumed that each of the 8 columns records events under successive kings. So while only Menkaure and

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 26th ...

's cartouches are visible, it is thought that under

Userkaf Userkaf (known in Ancient Greek as , ; died 2491 BC) was a pharaoh, king of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty. He reigned for around seven years in the early 25th century BC, during the Old Kingdom of Egy ...

, Ptahshepses married the eldest king's daughter Khamaat. In like manner, he would have lived at least until the reign of

Niuserre Nyuserre Ini (also Niuserre Ini or Neuserre Ini; in Greek known as Rathurês, ''Ῥαθούρης''; died 2422 BC) was an Ancient Egyptian king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monar ...

. On the lintel of the false door appears the underworld god

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

in the offering formula. Osiris is otherwise not well attested in the Fifth Dynasty and there is a scholarly debate going on, about the first mentioning of Osiris in Ancient Egyptian sources. Depending on the life time of Ptahshepses, his inscriptions might be the earliest evidence for this deity. However, it is also possible that Ptahshepses died after Niuserre. In 2022–23, the rediscovered the tomb of Ptahshepses, 160 years after initial excavation by

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Earl ...

References

Memphis high priests of Ptah People of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt People of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub