Userkare

Userkare (meaning "Powerful is the soul of Ra"; also Woserkare) was the second king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom Period. He reigned briefly, two to four years, in the late 24th or the early 23rd century BC. Userkare's relation to his predecessor Teti and successor Pepi I is unknown and his reign remains enigmatic.

Although Userkare is attested in some historical sources, that is they bear witness to his existence, he is not mentioned in the tomb inscriptions of Egyptian officials who lived during his reign and who usually report the names of the kings whom they served. The representations of some high officials of the period have been deliberately chiselled out in their tombs and their titles altered, for instance the word "king" being replaced by that of "desert". Egyptologists thus suspect that Pepi might have tried to erase all memory of Userkare from official records, monuments, tombs and artefacts. The Egyptian priest Manetho, who wrote a history of Egypt over 2,000 years later in the 3rd century BC, stated that Userkare's predecessor Teti was murdered, but is otherwise silent concerning Userkare. Consequently, some Egyptologists consider Userkare to have been a short-lived usurper to the throne. Alternatively, he may have been a legitimate short-lived ruler, a younger brother to a more ambitious Pepi I, or a regent who ruled during Pepi I's childhood before his accession to the throne.

The identity of Userkare's parents is conjectural and depends on whether he was legitimate or not. If he was, he could have been a son of Teti with one of his queens, possibly Khuit II or Khentkaus IV. If he was an usurper, he could possibly be a descendant of a cadet branch of the preceding Fifth Dynasty, as suggested by his name being constructed in the manner of the kings of that dynasty.

The tomb of Userkare has not yet been identified, either because it was never finished or because Pepi I erased traces of his predecessor's rule. If the tomb was indeed started, Egyptologists conjecture that it would be located in South Saqqara.