Abstract
The first half of the Sixth Dynasty may be considered a period of conspiracies and many tombs record evident traces of punishment of responsible officials. Their walls expose erased figures and names of sons of tomb owners, while the owners themselves remain unaffected. In turn, in other tombs, these were the figures and names of the owners that were chiseled out. It is also common that only some deliberately chosen ‘vital’ parts of the owners` bodies, such as eyes, ears, nose, wrists and ankles, were mutilated. All this evidence, as well as the fact that the reign of Teti’s successor, Userkare, was very short, support the theory of Manetho, that Teti has perished in effect of a palace conspiracy in which Userkare and some priests of Re might have been involved. N. Kanawati suggested that this attempt of assassination of Teti finished his reign. For his successor Pepi I there are two other conspiracies documented. The first one took place in the royal harem in the tenth year of his reign and after it the king did change his throne name from Nefersahor to Meryre. Weni in his famous autobiography insists that ‘he himself investigated alone’ in this regretful case. The second conspiracy was organized by the vizier Rawer and other officials. In particular the name of the vizier Rawer was removed everywhere in his tomb at Saqqara, as well as from the royal decree to the town of Sneferu at Dahshur, and the cemetery of Teti in Saqqara contains several other tombs with figures and names of owners, which were erased. The essential difference between these conspiracies and that in the reign of Teti is that the latter was successful, while those in the reign of Pepy I were not.
References
B
Bissing F.W. von, Die Mastaba des Gem-ni-kai, Berlin-Duncker 1905–1911
C
Capart J., Une rue de tombeaux à Saqqara I–II, Brussels 1907
D
Davies W.V., El-Khouli A., Lloyd A., Spencer A.J., Saqqara Tombs I. The Mastabas of Mereri and Wernu, London 1984
G
Grimal N., A History of Ancient Egypt (transl. I. Show), Oxford-Cambridge 1996
H
Hassan S., Excavations at Saqqara I–III, Cairo 1975
Helck W., Gedanken zum Mord an König Teti, [in:] B.M. Bryan, D. Lorton (Eds), Essays in Egyptology in honor of H. Goedicke, San Antonio 1994
K
Kanawati N., Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace. Unis to Pepi I, London 2003
Kanawati N., Mereruka and King Teti, The Power Behind the Throne, Cairo 2008
Kanawati N., Abder-Raziq M., The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara III. The Tombs of Neferseshemre and Seankhuiptah, Australian Centre for Egyptology Reports 11, Warminster 1998
Kanawati N., Abder-Raziq M., The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara V. The Tomb of Hesi, Australian Centre for Egyptology Reports 13, Warminster 1999
Kanawati N., Abder-Raziq M., The Tomb of Nikauisesi. The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara VI, Australian Centre for Egyptology Reports 14, Sydney 2000
Kanawati N., Abder-Razziq M., The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara VII. The Tombs of Shepsipuptah, Mereri (Merinebti), Hefi and Others, Australian Centre for Egyptology Reports 17, Warminster 2001
Kanawati N., El-Khouli A., Mcfarlane A., Maksoud N.V., Excavations at Saqqara north-west of Teti’s Pyramid I, Sydney 1984
Kanawati N., Hassan A., The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara I. The Tombs of Nedjet-em-pet, Ka-aper and Others, Australian Centre for Egyptology Reports 8, Sydney 1996
L
Lloyd A., Spencer A.J., El-Khouli A., Saqqara Tombs II, The Mastabs of Meru, Semdent, Kbui and others, London 1990
M
Mariette A., Les mastabas de l’ancien Empire, Paris 1889
Myśliwiec K., Kuraszkiewicz K., Czerwik D., Rzeuska T., Kaczmarek M., Kowalska A., Radomska M., Godziejewski Z., The Tomb of Merefnebef, Saqqara I, Warsaw 2004
