Pepi II Neferkare

Who was Pepi II Neferkare?

Pepi II was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from c. 2278 BC. His throne name, Neferkare, means "Beautiful is the Ka of Re". He succeeded to the throne at age six, after the death of Merenre I.

He was traditionally thought to be the son of Pepi I and Queen Ankhesenpepi II but the South Saqqara Stone annals record that Merenre had a minimum reign of 11 years. However, several 6th dynasty royal seals and stone blocks—the latter of which were found within the funerary temple of Queen Ankhesenpepi II, the known mother of Pepi II—were discovered in the 1999/2000 excavation season at Saqqara which demonstrate that she also married Merenre after Pepi I's death and became this king's chief wife. Several inscribed inscriptions on these stone blocks give Ankhesenpepi II the royal titles of the:

Therefore, today, many Egyptologists believe that Pepi II was likely Merenre's own son. Pepi II would, therefore, be Pepi I's grandson while Merenre was, most likely, Pepi II's father since he is known to have married Pepi II's known mother, Queen Ankhesenpepi II. This would also conform well with the evidence from the South Saqqara Stone which shows no coregency between the reigns of Pepi I and Merenre thus making it far more likely that Pepi II was Merenre's own son.