Userkaf in Wikipedia
Userkaf was the founder of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt and
the first pharaoh to start the tradition of building sun
temples at Abusir.[2]. Userkaf's name means "his Ka (or
soul) is powerful."[3] He ruled from 2494-2487 BC[1] and
constructed the Pyramid of Userkaf complex at Saqqara.
Userkaf's mother was thought by some to have been queen
Neferhetepes. Recent discoveries at Sahure's causeway in
Abusir show however that Neferhetepes was the mother of
Sahure and hence a wife of Userkaf.[4]. It is possible that
queen Khentkaues I was Userkaf's mother.[5] His father is
unknown, although Userkaf was a grandson of Djedefra, the
immediate successor of Khufu.[6]
A bust of Userkaf is displayed in the Egyptian Museum. The
head was found in the first (of five) sun temples at Abu
Ghurob built by the rulers of the fifth dynasty. The head of
Userkaf is 45 cm high and carved from greywacke stone. The
sculpture is considered particularly important as it is
among the very few sculptures in the round from the Old
Kingdom that show the monarch wearing the Deshret (Red
Crown) of Lower Egypt. The head was uncovered in 1957 during
the joint excavation expedition of the German and Swiss
Institutes of Cairo.
It is believed that he was father of two pharaohs: Sahure
and Neferirkare Kakai. Another less common view, in
concordance with a story of the Westcar Papyrus, is that the
first three rulers of the fifth dynasty were all brothers-
the sons of queen Khentkaus I.
He is given a reign of 7 years by both the Turin Royal Canon
and Manetho's Epitome.
Contemporary adaptions
Egyptian Nobel Prize for Literature-winner Naguib Mahfouz
published a short story in 1938 about Userkaf entitled Afw
al-malik Usirkaf: uqsusa misriya. This short story was
translated by Raymond Stock as King Userkaf's Forgiveness in
the collection of short stories Voices From the Other World
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