Pepi I

Pepi was the son of Teti and Queen Iput. He came to the throne after the short and mysterious reign of Userkare, probably still young. At first his throne name was Nefersahor, but later he changed it to Meryre, "beloved of Ra", and earlier inscriptions were recut with the new name. Some scholars connect the change with the troubles of his early reign. He went on to rule for almost fifty years and to celebrate a jubilee festival around his thirtieth year.

The official Weni tells in his autobiography, carved in his tomb at Abydos, that he was ordered to hear in secret a case against a queen of the royal harem, whose name or title is given as Weret-yamtes. Only he and one other judge were present, and he proudly notes that the pharaoh trusted him more than any other official. Weni does not say what the queen had done, but it is generally thought to have been a conspiracy against the pharaoh. It is the oldest known report of a plot in an Egyptian royal harem.

Pepi had at least six wives. Two of the most important were sisters, both called Ankhesenpepi or Ankhesenmeryre, daughters of Khui, a powerful noble of Abydos. The elder became the mother of Merenre I, the younger the mother of Pepi II. Whether Pepi II was the son of Pepi I or of Merenre I, whom she married after Pepi's death, is disputed. Their mother Nebet received the title of vizier, one of the very few women in Egyptian history to hold it, and their brother Djau later became vizier too. French excavations around Pepi's pyramid have uncovered the pyramids of several of his queens.

Weni also led the army of Pepi I against the "sand-dwellers", the peoples of Sinai and southern Canaan. He describes an army of many thousands, raised from all over Egypt and from Nubian tribes, and five campaigns. The army destroyed fortified places, cut down fig trees and vines and burned houses. Once Weni brought his troops by ship and landed them behind the enemy. It is one of the earliest detailed accounts of a military campaign in history. Egyptian trade with Byblos and with Ebla in Syria also flourished in this reign.

In 1897 and 1898 British archaeologists found in the temple of Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt two statues made of hammered copper plates over a wooden core. The larger one, almost life-size, shows Pepi I, and the smaller one perhaps his son Merenre. They are the oldest large metal statues known from Egypt and are now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Pepi built chapels for his ka in many towns, among them Hierakonpolis, Abydos, Bubastis, Dendera and Elephantine, and his decrees freed pyramid towns and temples from forced labour and taxes.

Pepi built his pyramid at South Saqqara. It was about 52 metres high and is now a low mound, because later builders took away its stone. Inside, its walls carry the most extensive Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, with about 650 spells. The pyramid and its town were called Men-nefer-Pepi, "the perfection of Pepi endures". In time the short form Men-nefer came to mean the whole nearby capital, and the Greeks turned it into Memphis. So the name of the old capital of Egypt comes from the tomb of this pharaoh.

Pepi I ruled for almost half a century. He overcame a plot at his court, bound the powerful families of the provinces to the throne through marriage and office, and made Egypt felt from Canaan to Nubia. Yet the growing power of the provincial nobles, which he used, would in the long run weaken the pharaohs who came after him.