Shepseskare Isi
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. 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 2 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.
* Miroslav Verner, Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology, Archiv OrientálnÃ, Volume 69: 2001, pp.395-400
*
Egyptian Kings 
