41 Facts About Sahure

Sahure reigned for about 13 years in the early 25th century BC during the Old Kingdom Period.

Sahure was probably the son of his predecessor Userkaf with Queen NeferhetepesII, and was in turn succeeded by his son Neferirkare Kakai.

Sahure launched several naval expeditions to modern-day Lebanon to procure cedar trees, slaves and exotic items.

Sahure is shown celebrating the success of this venture in a relief from his mortuary temple which shows him tending a myrrh tree in the garden of his palace named "Sahure's splendor soars up to heaven".

Sahure sent further expeditions to the turquoise and copper mines in Sinai.

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Sahure ordered military campaigns against Libyan chieftains in the Western Desert, bringing back livestock to Egypt.

Sahure had a pyramid built for himself in Abusir, thereby abandoning the royal necropolises of Saqqara and Giza, where his predecessors had built their monuments.

The Pyramid of Sahure is much smaller than the pyramids of the preceding Fourth Dynasty but the decoration and architecture of his mortuary temple is more elaborate.

Sahure is known to have constructed a sun temple called "The Field of Ra", and although it is yet to be located it is presumably in Abusir.

Sahure was the object of a funerary cult, the food offerings for which were initially provided by agricultural estates set up during his reign.

Subsequently, during the Middle Kingdom period, Sahure was venerated as a royal ancestor figure but his cult no longer had dedicated priests.

The cult of "Sekhmet of Sahure" had priests and attracted visitors from all over Egypt to Sahure's temple.

Sahure was the wife of pharaoh Userkaf, as indicated by the location of her pyramid immediately adjacent to that of Userkaf, and bore the title of "king's mother".

Sahure is known to have been succeeded by Neferirkare Kakai, who until 2005 was believed to be his brother.

Relative chronology of Sahure's reign is well established by historical records, contemporary artifacts and archeological evidence, which agree that he succeeded Userkaf and was in turn succeeded by Neferirkare Kakai.

Manetho's reconstruction of the early Fifth Dynasty is in agreement with those given on two more historical sources, the Abydos king list where Sahure's cartouche is on the 27th entry, and the Saqqara Tablet where Sahure's name is given on the 33rd entry.

The absolute dates of Sahure's reign are uncertain but most scholars date it to the first half of the 25th century BC, see note 1 for details.

Therefore, it is possible that Sahure too was copying an even earlier representation of this scene.

Sahure's reign is the earliest during which the ceremony of the "driving of the calves" is known to have taken place.

Sahure reorganized the cult of his mother, NepherhetepesII, whose mortuary complex had been built by Userkaf in Saqqara.

Sahure added an entrance portico with four columns to her temple, so that the entrance was not facing Userkaf's pyramid any more.

Archeological evidence suggests that Sahure's building activities were mostly concentrated in Abusir and its immediate vicinity, where he constructed his pyramid and where his sun temple is probably located.

South of Egypt, a stele bearing Sahure's name was discovered in the diorite quarries located in the desert north-west of Abu Simbel in Lower Nubia.

Sahure's cartouche has been found in graffiti in Tumas and on seal impressions from Buhen at the second cataract of the Nile in Lower Nubia.

Nonetheless, Sahure remains the earliest known ruler to have depicted, and thus possibly made use of, sea power for transporting troops over the Mediterranean sea, to Syria.

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Sahure had the false door made of fine Tura limestone, carved and painted blue in his audience-hall, and made personal daily inspections of the work.

Sahure pursued Userkaf's policy of appointing non-royal people to high offices.

Those already in post were allowed to keep their status and so in the early part of Sahure's reign vizier Sekhemkare was a "King's son" while his successor, Werbauba, seems to have been non-royal.

Sahure built or started to build a temple dedicated to the sun god Ra, the second such temple of the Fifth Dynasty.

Sahure chose to construct his pyramid complex in Abusir, thereby abandoning both Saqqara and Giza, which had been the royal necropolises up to that time.

Fragments of a basalt sarcophagus, likely Sahure's, were found here in the burial chamber when it was first entered by John Shae Perring in the mid 19th century.

Subsequent generations of artists and craftsmen tried to emulate Sahure's reliefs, using them as templates for the tombs of later kings and queens of the Old Kingdom period.

Sahure chose to follow the innovative layout of Sahure's complex .

Sahure was the object of a funerary cult from the time of his death and which continued until the end of the Old Kingdom, some 300 years later.

The enormous quantities of offerings pouring into the mortuary and sun temples of Sahure benefitted other cults as well, such as that of Hathor, which had priests officiating on the temple premises.

Sahure is shown enthroned, wearing a pleated skirt and a round curly wig.

Sahure's legacy had endured sufficiently by the Middle Kingdom period that he is mentioned in a story of the Westcar Papyrus, probably written during the 12th Dynasty although the earliest extent copy dates to the Seventeenth Dynasty.

For example, Sahure is present on the Karnak king list, a list of kings inscribed on the walls of the Akhmenu, the Karnak temple of ThutmoseIII.

Inscriptions on the stone cladding of the pyramid of Sahure show that it was the object of such works at this time.

Shortly after, under the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of the Late Period, a statue of Sahure was among a group of statues of Old Kingdom kings hidden in a cachette of the Karnak temple, testifying to some form of cultic interest up to that time.

Dismantlement of Sahure's pyramid started in earnest in the Roman period, as shown by the abundant production of mill-stones, presence of lime production facilities and worker shelters in the vicinity.