Pepi I Meryre

Pepi I Meryre
Pepy Phios Phius φιός
Lifesize copper statue of Pepi I, Cairo Museum[1]
Pharaoh
Reign	Duration: over 40 years, in the second half of the 24th century BC or early 23rd century BC[note 1]
Coregency	uncertain, possibly with his son Merenre at the end of his reign
Predecessor	Userkare
Successor	Merenre Nemtyemsaf I
Royal titulary Horus name Mery Tawy mry tꜣwj Beloved of the Two Lands[13] Nebty name Mery Khet Nebti mry ẖt nbtj Beloved of the Two Ladies' body[13] Golden Horus Biku Nebu bjkw nbw The triple falcons are golden[13] Prenomen  (Praenomen) Nefer za hor nfr zꜣ ḥr Perfect is the protection of Horus[13] Excellent is the protection of Horus[14] Meryre[15] mry rꜥ Beloved of Re[13][7] Nomen Pepi ppy[13][7]
Consort	Ankhesenpepi I Ankhesenpepi II Nubwenet Inenek-Inti Mehaa Sebwetet uncertain: Nedjeftet Behenu One consort responsible for a conspiracy against Pepi known only through her title "Weret-Yamtes"
Children	Merenre Nemtyemsaf I (m) probably: Hornetjerkhet (m) Tetiankh (m) Meritites IV (f) Neith (f) Iput II (f) uncertain: Pepi II (m)
Father	Teti
Mother	Iput
Burial	Pyramid of Pepi I in South Saqqara
Monuments	Pyramid complex Pepi Men-nefer, at least six pyramids for his consorts and numerous Ka-chapels
Dynasty	6th Dynasty

Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of Teti, the founder of the dynasty, and ascended the throne only after the brief intervening reign of the shadowy Userkare. His mother was Iput, who may have been a daughter of Unas, the final ruler of the preceding Fifth Dynasty. Pepi I, who had at least six consorts, was succeeded by his son Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, with whom he may have shared power in a coregency at the very end of his reign. Pepi II Neferkare, who might also have been Pepi I's son, succeeded Merenre.

Several difficulties accumulated during Pepi's reign, beginning with the possible murder of his father and the ensuing reign of Userkare. Later, probably after his twentieth year of reign, Pepi faced a harem conspiracy hatched by one of his consorts who may have tried to have her son designated heir to the throne, and possibly another conspiracy involving his vizier at the end of his reign. Confronted with the protracted decline of pharaonic power and the emergence of dynasties of local officials, Pepi reacted with a vast architectural program involving the construction of temples dedicated to local gods and numerous chapels for his own cult throughout Egypt, reinforcing his presence in the provinces. Egypt's prosperity allowed Pepi to become the most prolific builder of the Old Kingdom. At the same time, Pepi favored the rise of small provincial centres and recruited officials of non-noble extraction to curtail the influence of powerful local families. Continuing Teti's policy, Pepi expanded a network of warehouses accessible to royal envoys and from which taxes and labor could easily be collected. Finally, he buttressed his power after the harem conspiracy by forming alliances with Khui, the provincial nomarch of Abydos, marrying two of his daughters, Ankhesenpepi I and Ankhesenpepi II, and making both Khui's wife Nebet and her son Djau viziers. The Egyptian state's external policy under Pepi comprised military campaigns against Nubia, Sinai and the southern Levant, landing troops on the Levantine coast using Egyptian transport boats. Trade with Byblos, Ebla and the oases of the Western Desert flourished, while Pepi launched mining and quarrying expeditions to Sinai and further afield.

Pepi had a pyramid complex built for his funerary cult in Saqqara, next to which he built at least a further six pyramids for his consorts. Pepi's pyramid, which originally stood 52.5 m (172 ft) tall, and an accompanying high temple, followed the standard layout inherited from the late Fifth Dynasty. The most extensive corpus of Pyramid Texts from the Old Kingdom cover the walls of Pepi I's burial chamber, antechamber and much of the corridor leading to it. For the first time, these texts also appear in some of the consorts' pyramids. Excavations revealed a bundle of viscera and a mummy fragment, both presumed to belong to the pharaoh. Pepi's complex, called Pepi Mennefer, remained the focus of his funerary cult well into the Middle Kingdom and ultimately gave its name to the nearby capital of Egypt, Memphis. Pepi's cult stopped early in the Second Intermediate Period. Pepi's monuments began to be quarried for their stone in the New Kingdom, and in the Mamluk era they were almost entirely dismantled.

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