Teti

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Egyptian Pharaoh of 6th dynasty

title: "Teti" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["24th-century-bc-pharaohs", "23rd-century-bc-pharaohs", "teti", "24th-century-bc-murdered-monarchs", "pharaohs-of-the-sixth-dynasty-of-egypt", "ancient-murdered-monarchs", "24th-century-bc-births", "24th-century-bc-deaths"] description: "Egyptian Pharaoh of 6th dynasty" topic_path: "geography/egypt" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teti" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Egyptian Pharaoh of 6th dynasty ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox pharaoh"]

FieldValue
ImageStatue of Teti Quibell Saqqara 1.jpg
ImageSize125
CaptionStatue of King Teti found near his pyramid at Saqqara; held at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo (JE 39103)
NameTeti
HorusHieros-Htp:t*p-tA:tA
HorusHr Sehetep Tawy
Horus, he who satisfies/pacifies the two lands
NebtyHieros-Htp:t*p
NebtySehetep Nebty
He who satisfies/pacifies the two ladies
GoldenHieroF36
GoldenHr nebu sema
The golden Horus who unites
PrenomenHierot:t-i
PrenomenTeti
Of true greatness
NomenHierot:t-i
NomenTeti
Of true greatness
ReignAround 12 years, c. 2345 - c. 2333 BC
PredecessorUnas
SuccessorUserkare
SpouseIput I, Khuit, Khentkaus IV, and Naert
Children{{plainlist
Dynasty6th Dynasty
BurialPyramid of Teti, Giza, Egypt
MotherSesheshet
::

|Image=Statue of Teti Quibell Saqqara 1.jpg |ImageSize=125 |Caption=Statue of King Teti found near his pyramid at Saqqara; held at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo (JE 39103) |Name=Teti |HorusHiero=s-Htp:tp-tA:tA |Horus= Hr Sehetep Tawy Horus, he who satisfies/pacifies the two lands |NebtyHiero=s-Htp:tp |Nebty= Sehetep Nebty He who satisfies/pacifies the two ladies |GoldenHiero=F36 |Golden= Hr nebu sema The golden Horus who unites |PrenomenHiero= t:t-i |Prenomen= Teti Of true greatness |NomenHiero= t:t-i |Nomen= Teti Of true greatness |Reign=Around 12 years, c. 2345 - c. 2333 BC |Predecessor= Unas |Successor=Userkare |Spouse=Iput I, Khuit, Khentkaus IV, and Naert |Children={{plainlist|

Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, sometimes also Tata, Atat, or Athath in outdated sources (died 2333 BC), was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List but is believed to have been around 12 years.

Reign

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Teti.jpg" caption="Lantern Slide Collection: Views, Objects: Egypt. Chapel, Tomb of Nefer-Seshem-Ptah. Sakkara. 6th Dynasty., n.d. Brooklyn Museum Archives."] ::

Teti's Horus name Sehoteptawy, "He who pacifies the Two Lands", probably indicates that he must have led military pacification operations near the start of his reign. During Teti's reign, high officials were beginning to build funerary monuments that rivaled those of the pharaoh. His vizier, Mereruka, built a mastaba tomb at Saqqara which consisted of 33 richly carved rooms, the biggest known tomb for an Egyptian nobleman. This is considered to be a sign that Egypt's wealth was being transferred from the central court to the officials, a slow process that culminated in the end to the Old Kingdom.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Sistrum_Inscribed_with_the_Names_of_King_Teti_MET_DT259185.jpg" caption="[[Sistrum]] inscribed with the name of Teti"] ::

Length of Reign

Teti's highest date is his "Year after the 6th Count 3rd Month of Summer day lost" (Year 12 if the count was biannual) from Hatnub Graffito No.1. This information is confirmed by the South Saqqara Stone Annal document from Pepi II's reign, which gives him a reign of around 12 years.

Family

Teti had several wives:

Teti is known to have had several children. He was the father of at least three sons and probably ten daughters. Of the sons, two are well attested, and a third one is likely.

According to N. Kanawati, Teti had at least nine daughters by a number of wives, and the fact that they were named after his mother, Sesheshet, allows researchers to trace his family. At least three princesses bearing the name Seshseshet are designated as "king's eldest daughter", meaning that there were at least three different queens. It seems that there was a tenth one, born of a fourth queen, as she is also designated as "king's eldest daughter".

Children with Iput

  • Pepi I (died c. 2283 BC)
  • Nebkauhor: With the name of Idu, "king's eldest son of his body", buried in the mastaba of Vizier Akhethetep/Hemi, buried in a fallen Vizier's tomb, within the funerary complex of his maternal grandfather
  • Seshseshet Waatetkhethor: Married Vizier Mereruka, in whose mastaba she has a chapel. She is designated as "king's eldest daughter of his body". She may have been the eldest daughter of Iput.
  • Seshseshet Idut: (died c. 2345 BC) "king's daughter of his body", who died very young at the beginning of her father's reign and was buried in the mastaba of Vizier Ihy.
  • Seshseshet Nubkhetnebty: "king's daughter of his body", wife of Vizier Kagemni, represented in her husband's mastaba.
  • Seshseshet Sathor: Married to Isi, resident governor at Edfu and also titled vizier.

Children with Khuit

Possible children with Khuit

  • Seshseshet, with the name of Sheshit: King's eldest daughter of his body and wife of the overseer of the great court Neferseshemptah and is depicted in her husband's mastaba. As she is the eldest daughter of the king, she cannot be born of the same mother as Waatkhetethor and therefore may have been a daughter of Queen Khuit.

Children with unknown spouse(s)

  • Seshseshet, also called Sheshti: "King's daughter of his body", married to the keeper of the head ornaments Shepsipuptah, and depicted in her husband's mastaba.
  • Seshseshet with the beautiful name of Merout: Entitled "king's eldest daughter" but without the addition "of his body" and therefore born of a third, maybe a minor queen, and married to Ptahemhat.
  • Seshseshet: Wife of Remni, "sole companion" and overseer of the department of the palace guards
  • Seshseshet: Married to Pepyankh Senior of Meir
  • The so-called "Queen of the West Pyramid" in King Pepi I cemetery. She is called "king's eldest daughter of his body" and king's wife of Meryre (the name of Pepi I). Therefore, she is a wife of Pepi and most certainly his half-sister. As she is also an eldest daughter of the king, her mother was likely a fourth queen of Teti.

Another possible daughter is princess Inti.

Death

The Egyptian priest and chronicler Manetho states that Teti was murdered by his palace bodyguards in a harem plot, and he appears to have been briefly succeeded by a short-lived usurper, Userkare.

Pyramid of Teti

Main article: Pyramid of Teti

Teti was buried in the royal necropolis at Saqqara. His pyramid complex is associated with the mastabas of officials from his reign.

Third "subsidiary" pyramid to Teti's tomb

Teti's mother was the Queen Sesheshet, who was instrumental in her son's accession to the throne and a reconciling of two warring factions of the royal family. Sesheshet lived between 2323 BC to 2291 BC. Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced on 11 November 2008 that she was entombed in a 4,300-year-old 5 m tall pyramid at Saqqara. This is the 118th pyramid discovered thus far in Egypt; the largest portion of its 2-metre-wide casing was built with a superstructure 5 metres high. It originally reached 14 metres, with sides 22 metres long.

Once 5 stories tall, it lay beneath 7 m of sand, a small shrine and mud-brick walls from later periods. The third known "subsidiary" pyramid to Teti's tomb was originally 46 ft tall and 72 ft square at its base, due to its walls having stood at a 51-degree angle. Buried next to the Saqqara Step Pyramid, its base lies 65 ft underground and is believed to have been 50 ft tall when it was built.

File:Limestone wall block fragment showing the cartouche of king Teti and funerary pyramid texts. 6th Dynasty. From the Pyramid of Teti, Saqqara, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|Limestone wall block fragment showing the cartouche of king Teti and funerary pyramid texts. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London File:PiramideTeti.jpg|The ruins of Teti's pyramid (Saqqara) Image:Hieroglyph Text from Teti I pyramid.jpg|Pyramid texts from Teti I's pyramid at Saqqara

Funerary temple of Queen Neith

Main article: Pyramid of Teti

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Userkaf_Teti_Sekhemket.png" caption="issn=0255-0962}}" alt="Relief showing three kings looking right, with hieroglyphs around their heads"] ::

In January 2021, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of more than 50 wooden sarcophagi in 52 burial shafts dating back to the New Kingdom period, as well as a 13 ft-long papyrus containing texts from the Book of the Dead.

Archaeologists led by Zahi Hawass at Saqqara also found the funerary temple of queen Neith and warehouses made of bricks. Previously unknown to researchers, she was a wife of Teti.

References

Bibliography

  • Naguib Kanawati, Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I, Routledge (2002), .

References

  1. Christine Hobson, ''Exploring the World of the Pharaohs'', Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1997. p. 85.
  2. Anthony Spalinger, "Dated Texts of the Old Kingdom," ''[[Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur. SAK]]'' 21, (1994), p. 303. {{JSTOR. 25152700.
  3. [[Miroslav Verner]], The Pyramids, 1994.
  4. N. Kanawati, ''Mereruka and King Teti''. The Power behind the Throne, 2007.
  5. Kanawati, N., Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 14 et 50.
  6. Kanawati, N., Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 14, 20 et 50.
  7. N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20, 32 et 50.
  8. N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 21-22 et 50.
  9. Kanawati, N., Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace. Unis to Pepy I. 2003, p. 139.
  10. N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20, 32 et 35.
  11. N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20, 32 et 36.
  12. N. Kanawati, Mereruka and King Teti. The Power behind the Throne, 2007, p. 20-21.
  13. N. Kanawati, The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara, Volume 9: The Tomb of Remni, 2009.
  14. Ali El-Khouli & Naguib Kanawati, Quseir El-Amarna: The Tombs of Pepy-ankh and Khewen-Wekh, 1989.
  15. C. Berger, A la quête de nouvelles versions des textes des pyramides, in Hommages à Jean Leclant, 1994, p 73-74.
  16. Dodson and Hilton, ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt'', 2004.
  17. (11 November 2008). "Egypt: 4,300-year-old pyramid discovered".
  18. Bossone, Andrew. (11 November 2008). "New Pyramid Found in Egypt: 4,300-Year-Old Queen's Tomb". [[National Geographic News]].
  19. (11 November 2008). "Egypt says has found pyramid built for ancient queen". [[Reuters]].
  20. Gauthier, Henri. (1906). "Note et remarques historiques III: Un nouveau nom royal". Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.
  21. "Queen's temple, 50 coffins, Book of Dead: Ancient Egypt trove 'remakes history'".
  22. (17 January 2021). "Egypt makes 'major discoveries' at Saqqara archaeological site". [[Malay Mail]].
  23. Davis-Marks, Isis, ''[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-unearth-50-more-sarcophagi-saqqara-necropolis-180976794/ Archaeologists Unearth Egyptian Queen's Tomb, 13-Foot 'Book of the Dead' Scroll]'', Smithsonian, 21 January 2021.

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24th-century-bc-pharaohs23rd-century-bc-pharaohsteti24th-century-bc-murdered-monarchspharaohs-of-the-sixth-dynasty-of-egyptancient-murdered-monarchs24th-century-bc-births24th-century-bc-deaths