Editing Shepseskaf (section)

==Family==
===Parents===
{{See also|Fourth Dynasty of Egypt family tree}}

The relationship between Shepseskaf and his predecessor [[Menkaure]] is not entirely certain. The dominant view in modern [[Egyptology]] was first expounded by [[George Andrew Reisner]] who proposed that Shepseskaf was Menkaure's son. Reisner based his hypothesis on a decree showing that Shepseskaf completed Menkaure's mortuary temple. This hypothesis is shared by many Egyptologists including Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton,{{sfn|Dodson|Hilton|2004|p=55}} [[Rainer Stadelmann]]{{sfn|Stadelmann|2000|pp=529–530}} and Peter Clayton.{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=59}} Peter Jánosi nonetheless remarks that the decree does not constitute irrefutable proof of filiation since it does not describe the relationship between these two kings explicitly.{{efn|group=note|name=fatherson|Direct father-son relationships between [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] pharaohs are never explicitly reported in contemporary documents. Furthermore, no official title is known to have designated the crown prince before his accession to the throne. This makes such relationships difficult to assert beyond doubt from purely archaeological evidence.{{sfn|Stadelmann|2000|p=532}}}} In particular, the completion of the tomb of a deceased pharaoh by his successor does not necessarily depend on a direct father/son relation between the two.{{sfn|Jánosi|2005|p=66}}{{sfn|Málek|2000|p=91}} A possible alternative proposed by [[Miroslav Verner]] is that Menkaure and Shepseskaf could have been brothers,{{sfn|Verner|2001b|p=588}} and the latter's consequently advanced age when ascending to the throne could explain his short reign.{{sfn|Stadelmann|2001|p=597}} In contrast with these hypotheses, Egyptologists [[Ludwig Borchardt]] and [[William C. Hayes]] posited that Shepseskaf could have been of non-royal extraction and took the throne only thanks to his marriage to queen [[Khentkaus I]].{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=119}}

The identity of Shepseskaf's mother is even more uncertain than that of his father. If the latter was Menkaure, then Shepseskaf's mother could have been one of Menkaure's royal wives [[Khamerernebty II]], [[Rekhetre]] or a secondary wife.{{sfn|Verner|2001c|p=588}} Alternatively Miroslav Bárta believes that Khentkaus{{nbs}}I may have been Shepseskaf's mother{{sfn|Bárta|2017|p=5}} and also the mother of his successor [[Userkaf]].{{efn|group=note|Of particular importance is an unusual title of Khentkaus{{nbs}}I which seems to indicate that she was the mother of two kings.{{sfn|Bárta|2016|p=57}}}}{{sfn|Bárta|2016|p=57}} Indeed, a close relationship between Shepseskaf and Khentkaus{{nbs}}I has been inferred by Egyptologist [[Selim Hassan]] based on the "immense conformity" of their tombs, an opinion that is widely shared,{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=118}}{{sfn|Callender|1994|pp=87 & 91}}{{sfn|Maragioglio|Rinaldi|1967|p=170}}{{sfn|Tyldesley|2005|p=222}} yet what this relationship was remains unclear. Khentkaus{{nbs}}I may instead have been the wife{{sfn|Hayes|1978|p=65}} or the daughter of Shepseskaf.{{sfn|Stadelmann|2001|p=597}} One more possibility was put forth by Arielle Kozloff, who proposed instead that it was [[Neferhetepes]], a daughter of [[Djedefre]], who was Shepseskaf's mother.{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=220}} For Egyptologist Vivienne Gae Callender there is no evidence in support of this hypothesis.{{sfn|Callender|1994|p=101}}

===Queens and children===
[[File:Khentkaus I 2.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=wornout relief of a seated woman|Portrait of [[Khentkaus I]] from her tomb]]

Inscriptions in queen [[Bunefer]]'s [[Giza]] tomb{{efn|group=note|Buried in Giza tomb G8408, she bore the title of {{transliteration|egy|njswt sA.t n Xt f}}, meaning "royal daughter of his body" but her father's identity remains in doubt.{{sfn|Hassan|Habashi|1941|pp=176–199}}}}{{sfn|Hassan|Habashi|1941|pp=176–199}} demonstrate that she is related to Shepseskaf: she notably bore the title of "Great of praise, priestess of King Shepseskaf, the king's wife, the great ornament, the great favourite". Lana Troy, an Egyptologist, deduces from this title that while she married a pharaoh, she served as a priestess in the funerary cult for her father{{efn|group=note|She may have participated in his burial ceremonies.{{sfn|Hassan|Habashi|1941|pp=176–199}}}} and therefore must have been Shepseskaf's daughter and the consort of another unspecified king.{{sfn|Troy|1986|p=154}} Indeed, all priestesses serving in a king's funerary cult were princesses, daughters or granddaughters of that king. If this hypothesis is true, it makes Bunefer the only queen known from Ancient Egypt to have served in a mortuary cult.{{sfn|Callender|1994|pp=85–86}} Exceptional circumstances could explain this observation, for example if there was no other suitable female descendant to officiate in Shepseskaf's cult after his death.{{sfn|Callender|1994|p=86}} Bunefer's mother could have been Khentkaus{{nbs}}I whose tomb is located near Bunefer's so that Khentkaus{{nbs}}I might have been a consort of Shepseskaf.{{sfn|Callender|1994|p=86}} Bunefer's royal husband may have been pharaoh [[Thamphthis]], whose existence is uncertain however as he is not attested archaeologically (see below for a discussion).{{sfn|Callender|1994|p=86}}

Hassan, who excavated Bunefer's tomb, rejects the opinion that Bunefer was Shepseskaf's daughter. He notes that most of Bunefer's titles are wifely ones and stresses "the fact that the name of Shepseskaf appears in her tomb is in favour of the assumption that he was her husband".{{sfn|Hassan|Habashi|1941|p=181}} In any case Bunefer had at least one son, whose name is lost, and whose father was not a king according to this son's titles.{{sfn|Hassan|Habashi|1941|pp=176, 196|loc=figs. 147, 149, 150, 152,
156, 159, pls. 54–56, 58}} He was possibly an issue from a second, non-royal, marriage of Bunefer.{{sfn|Callender|1994|p=87}}{{sfn|Hassan|Habashi|1941|loc=pl. LVI}}

Princess Khamaat married to the high priest of Ptah, [[Ptahshepses (high priest)|Ptahshepses]], and is known by her titles to have been the daughter of a king. She was long thought to be a daughter of Shepseskaf{{sfn|Dorman|2002|p=107}} following a hypothesis by 19th-century Egyptologist [[Emmanuel de Rougé]].{{sfn|de Rougé|1865|p=67}} A consensus was reached on this issue,{{sfn|Callender|1994|p=86}}{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=75}}{{sfn|Smith|1971|p=184}}{{sfn|Vercoutter|1992|p=295}}{{sfn|Troy|1986|p=154|loc=#4.20}}{{sfn|von Beckerath|1984|p=584}}{{sfn|Wildung|1977|p=1257}} but in 2002 Egyptologist [[Peter F. Dorman]] published inscriptions from Ptahshepses's tomb showing that she was Userkaf's daughter instead.{{sfn|Dorman|2002|pp=95 & 101}}

Finally, [[Mark Lehner]] proposes that Shepseskaf fathered pharaoh Userkaf with queen Khentkaus{{nbs}}I, an idea shared by Kozloff{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=140}}{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=216}} but rejected by Bárta who thinks they were brothers.{{sfn|Bárta|2017|p=5}} Alternatively, Khentkaus{{nbs}}I has been conjectured to be Shepseskaf's daughter.{{sfn|Stadelmann|2001|p=597}}