Merenre Nemtyemsaf I

Merenre (also Meri -en- Re) is the throne name of the fourth Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ) of the 6th Dynasty (Old Kingdom), who reigned about 2250-2245 BC.

Origin and family

Merenre was I. I ( also called Anchenesmerire I. ) a son of Pharaoh Pepi I and his wife Anchenespepi. Half-brothers were his throne successor Pepi II, Tetianch and Hornetjerichet. His only known wife is Anchenespepi II ( Anchenesmerire II ), his mother's sister and widow of his father Pepi I. The only known child is a daughter named Merenres Anchenespepi III. , Who later became the wife of his half brother Pepi II

Rule

His reign has been only six or seven, but at most 15 years.

Less (see Pepi I. ) is under Merenre "Governor of the South". Under his leadership, are created to make the rapids navigable by the first cataract of the Nile five channels. A relief in the rocks of Aswan Merenre shows how he personally receives the homage of the chiefs of the Nubian tribes.

It is believed that Harkhuf was the successor of Weni and occurs as the new "Governor of the South" in appearance. This takes three expeditions to the land of Jam in Sudan. His rock grave (No. 34n ), which you can also visit, is located in Qubbet el- Hawa at Aswan.

Merenre has also carry out expeditions to Punt (Somalia).

His successor and half-brother was Pepi II

Buildings

In Saqqara -South Merenre the pyramid was built, one in 1881 for the first time examined. This also includes pyramid texts. A complete exposure is still not done.

The possible mummy of Merenre

The brothers Emil and Heinrich Brugsch found in January 1881 in the sarcophagus chamber of the pyramid Merenre a 1.66 m wide mummy of a clearly deceased young man who still wore the lock of youth. But it does not lay in the sarcophagus, but next to it. She was not in good condition, as they had already been damaged by grave robbers, who had the mummy bandages partially demolished. Emil Heinrich Brugsch and decided at short notice to carry the mummy to Cairo to show them the moribund Auguste Mariette. On the transport but the mummy suffered more serious damage. As a rail damage prevented, that the mummy was taken by train to Cairo, which Brugsch wore it the remaining distance on foot. After the wooden sarcophagus was too heavy, they took out the mummy, which broke in two. The Mummy finally gelange the Egyptian Museum, then still in Bulak, and later to its current location in Cairo. Since 2006 she has exhibited in Inhotep Museum at Saqqara. Skeletal remains of clavicle, cervical vertebrae and a rib were taken by Emil Brugsch the Egyptian Museum in Berlin for gift ( Inv. No. 8059 ). However, you went during aging in the Second World War lost without ever took place an inquiry.

Also remaining in Egypt mummy parts have not been thoroughly investigated. The identity of the dead is therefore not clear. While Emil and Heinrich Brugsch and Gaston Maspero still expected it to it is the remains of King Merenre, beginning of the 20th century, Grafton Elliot Smith expressed doubts thereto. Due to the Bandagierungstechnik he walked out of a Nachbestattung from the 18th Dynasty. In the current research of the Fund are valued differently. While about Renate Germer joins the judgment Smiths, it was regarded by Dennis Forbes as a mummy for 1997 in the Merenre. Other researchers such as Mark Lehner and Rainer Stadelmann just keep a close examination of the mummy to be appropriate in order to clarify the question of identity.

Statuary

The hitherto only known about plastic image that is sure Merenre can be assigned, is a small Sphinx ( Egyptian) of unknown origin, now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is located ( Inv. No. 1984.405 ). The piece consists of slate and measures only 5.7 cm × 1.8 cm × 3.2 cm. The king wears a false beard and a Nemes kerchief with a uraeus on his forehead. Instead of lion paws, the front legs terminate in human hands, where Merenre holds two globular pots darbietend on. On the underside of the base plate of the Sphinx is the name Merenres stated.

Doubtful, however, is the assignment of a statue that was discovered in the late 19th century by James Edward Quibell in Hierakonpolis. The standing figure is made of beaten copper and has a height of 65 cm. It was located inside a larger copper statue that is assigned by an inscription Pepi I.. Since the smaller statue has no inscription, there are different views, whom it represents. One hypothesis assumes that it represents Merenre, who was appointed at the celebrations of the sed festival Pepi I. to the throne. According to another hypothesis is a tapered appearance of Pepi I.

Merenre in memory of Ancient Egypt

During the New Kingdom in the 18th Dynasty under Thutmose III. the so-called King List of Karnak mounted in Karnak temple, in which the name is called by Merenre. Unlike other ancient Egyptian king lists, these are not a complete list of all rulers, but a selection list that lists only those kings, for during the reign of Thutmose III. Sacrifices were offered.