Shepseskare Isi

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Shepseskare Isi in hieroglyphs

serekh or Horus name

praenomen or throne name

nomen or birth name

[edit] A Mysterious king

Shepseskare Isi, also spelt Shepseskare, (in Greek known as Sisiris), was Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty, and is thought to have reigned from around 2426 BC – 2419 BC. He is the most ephemeral ruler of this Dynasty and some Egyptologists such as Miroslav Verner have strongly argued that his reign lasted a few months at the most based upon the evidence of an unfinished royal pyramid at Abusir, whose base was barely completed before it was abandoned. The size of the unfinished Pyramid tells us also that Shepseskare 's reign was unexpectedly cut short. However, both the Turin King List and Manetho suggest that he ruled Egypt for seven years.

The only artifacts of his reign are several clay sealings from Abusir, where the king may have been buried, and two cylinder seals, according to Verner(p.396). Verner advocates the hypothesis that Shepseskare succeeded, rather than preceded, Neferefre based upon the archaeological contexts of the recent (1982) discovery of several new clay seals bearing this king's name within the mortuary temple of Neferefre at Abusir. He views Shepseskare as being a son of Sahure who seized power after the premature death of Neferefre in the latter's Year 2. Verner especially notes that the progress of Shepseskare's intended pyramid

"was interrupted [and] corresponds to the work of several weeks, perhaps no more than one or two months. In fact, the place was merely levelled and the excavation of the pit for the construction of the underground funerary apartment had only commenced. Moreover, the owner of the building obviously wanted to demonstrate by his choice of place(half-way between Sahure's pyramid and the sun temple of Userkaf) his relationship to either Sahure or Userkaf. Theoretically, only 2 kings of the 5th Dynasty whose pyramids had not yet been identified can be taken into consideration – Shepseskara or Menkauhor. However, according to a number of contemporaneous documents, Menkauhor ... probably completed [his] pyramid elsewhere, in North Saqqara or Dahshur. Shepseskara, therefore, seems to be the likelier owner of the unfinished platform for a pyramid in North Abusir. Anyway, the builder of the platform(ie: Shepseskare) must have reigned for a very short time."(p.399)

In Verner's view, Shepseskare attempt to seize power was an effort to continue the family linre of Sahure on the throne. It was eventually thwarted by Niuserre, Neferefre's younger brother and the younger son of Neferirkare and Khentkaus II. Verner stresses that Queen Khentkaus II's pivotal role in Niuserre's eventual accession to the throne might explain her high esteem in Egyptian folklore and "the additional enlargement and upgrading of her mortuary temple" by Nyuserre.(pp.399-400)

An unfinished pyramid, discovered in the 1980s, and situated just north of Sahure's pyramid at Abusir, is assumed to being that of Shepseskare.