PEPI II NEFERKARE

fifth king of the 6th dynasty (c. 2325-c. 2150 BC) of ancient Egypt, during whose extensive reign the government became weakened because of internal and external troubles. Late Egyptian tradition indicates that Pepi II acceded at the age of six and, in accord with king lists of the New Kingdom, credits him with a 94-year reign. Contemporary texts record his 62nd and 65th years. Pepi II was a son of Pepi I and was born late in his father's reign. While still very young he succeeded his half-brother Merenre, who died at an early age. His mother served as coregent for a number of years, and the old group of officials serving the royal family maintained the kingdom's stability. Expeditions of trade and conquest to lower Nubia and Punt (the Somali coast of Africa), however, met with resistance, and the signs of external trouble are unmistakable. Internally, the vizierate passed from the family that had served Pepi's predecessors and descended through a number of other officials. The excessive devotion of resources to funerary endowments drained the country's resources. Furthermore, powerful provincial nobles drew talent away from the capital. Biographies of the era reveal that Pepi had more interest in duties toward the dead than concern for the kingdom. Finally, because of the unusually long reign of the king, Egypt had a senile ruler when it needed vigorous leadership. Those of his children who survived Pepi had brief, ephemeral reigns and failed to cope with the political and economic crises that arose as the 6th dynasty ended. Pepi's pyramid complex at Saqqarah, across the Nile from Cairo, was among the largest of the 5th and 6th dynasties. Structural weakness, aggravated by an earthquake, later required that a girdle wall be built around the pyramid.