KING TETI
KING TETI During Teti’s reign, high officials began building larger Mastabas for themselves.
His vizier and son-in-law, Mereruka, built a mastaba tomb at Saqqara, consisting of 33 chambers, making it the largest known tomb for an Egyptian nobleman.
This indicates that Egypt’s wealth shifted from central power to officials, a slow process that eventually led to the fall of the Old Kingdom.
Manetho claims that Teti’s palace guards murdered him in a harem plot, but he may have been killed by the usurper Userkare.
He was interred in the royal necropolis at Saqqara.
Surrounding his pyramid complex are the mastabas of officials from his government. King Teti’s reign is believed to have lasted for 12 years.
His great Queen was Princess Idut, daughter of King Unas, his predecessor and last king of the 5th dynasty, Teti founded a new Dynasty the 6th.
Pyramid of Teti
The pyramid of Teti was named ‘Eternal are the abodes of Teti’, but despite its name, it was already
being used as a quarry in ancient Egypt.
During the 19th century, explorations of the pyramid were conducted by Lepsius and Gaston Maspero, among others. Since then, its historical significance has been extensively studied.
the 1950s mainly by French Egyptologists such as Jean Leclant.
The valley temple and procession route were destroyed in ancient times and little research has been done into them.
As usual, they were located to the east of the pyramid and only the end of the procession route is visible.
The mortuary temple had also been demolished in the Second Intermediate Period and had the same
floor plan as the mortuary temple of Djedkare Isesi.
This was characterized by a large courtyard and around it there were warehouses.
The pyramid was originally 52.2 meters high and each side measured 78.5 meters. The pyramid is very poorly preserved.
The plan of the pyramid is very regular: The entrance was located in the north and there used to be a small chapel.
One then entered the vestibule via an underground passage.
This contains a large sarcophagus made of basin stone and pyramid texts have been placed on the burial chamber.
