Editing Userkaf (section)

==Sun temple==
{{main|Sun temple of Userkaf}}
[[File:Userkaf SolarTemple and ValleyTemple Abusir.svg|thumb|right|alt=Layout of a temple, its main building being rectangular and connected to a long causeway|Layout of Userkaf's sun temple after its completion by Sahure or Neferirkare Kakai; 1.&nbsp;[[obelisk]], 2.&nbsp;obelisk pedestal, 3.&nbsp;statue shrines, 4.&nbsp;court open to the sun, 5.&nbsp;altar, 6.&nbsp;outbuilding, 7.&nbsp;causeway, 8.&nbsp;valley temple.{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|pp=102 & 267}}{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=150}}]]

===Significance===
Userkaf is the first{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}}{{sfn|Verner|2001b|p=588}} pharaoh to build a dedicated [[Egyptian sun temple|temple to the sun god Ra]] in the Memphite necropolis north of [[Abusir]], on a promontory on the desert edge{{sfn|Wilkinson|2000|p=121}} just south of the modern locality of [[Abu Gurab]].{{sfn|Quirke|2001|p=127}} Works might have started during Userkaf's fifth or sixth year of reign.{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=216}}
The only plausible precedent for Userkaf's sun temple was the temple associated with the Great Sphinx of Giza, which may have been dedicated to Ra and may thus have served similar purposes.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=150}} In any case, Userkaf's successors for the next 80 years followed his course of action:{{sfn|Malek|2000a|p=99}} sun temples were built by all subsequent Fifth Dynasty pharaohs until [[Menkauhor Kaiu]], with the possible{{sfn|Kaplony|1981|loc=A. Text p. 242 and B. pls. 72,8}} exception of [[Shepseskare]], whose reign might have been too short to build one.{{sfn|Verner|2000|pp=588–589|loc=fn. 30}} Userkaf's choice of Abusir as the site of his sun temple has not been satisfactorily explained,{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=408}} the site being of no particular significance up to that point.{{efn|group=note|Verner and Zemina report that some Egyptologists, whom they do not name, have proposed that Abusir was chosen as the southernmost point from which one may have been able to glimpse the sun above the obelisk of the religious center of Ra in Heliopolis.{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=102}} This observation is contested by Goedicke{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=407}} for whom "the supposed proximity to Heliopolis for
the choice of the site hardly played a role".{{sfn|Voß|2004|p=8}} Grimal instead conjectures that Abusir was chosen for its proximity to Sakhebu, a locality some {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of [[Abu Rawash]], which is mentioned in various sources such as the Westcar papyrus as a cult center of Ra and which may have been the home town of Userkaf's father, in the hypothesis that he was a grandson of Djedefre.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=75}}}}{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=102}} Userkaf's choice may{{efn|group=note|Verner and Zemina are convinced that the presence of Userkaf's sun temple in Abusir explains the subsequent development of the necropolis,{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=68}} but Goedicke sees this only as a "vague association" leaving the choice of Abusir as royal necropolis "inexplicable".{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=408}}}} have influenced subsequent kings of the Fifth Dynasty who made Abusir the royal necropolis until the reign of Menkauhor Kaiu.{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|pp=53, 102 & 111}}

For the Egyptologist Hans Goedicke, Userkaf's decision to build a temple for the setting sun separated from his own mortuary complex is a manifestation of and response to sociopolitical tensions, if not turmoil, at the end of the Fourth Dynasty.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|pp=405–406}} The construction of the sun temple permitted a distinction between the king's personal afterlife and religious issues pertaining to the setting sun, which had been so closely intertwined in the pyramid complexes of Giza and in the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} Thus, Userkaf's pyramid would be isolated in Saqqara, not even surrounded by a wider cemetery for his contemporaries, while the sun temple would serve the social need for a solar cult, which, while represented by the king, would not be exclusively embodied by him anymore.{{sfn|Goedicke|2000|p=406}} Malek similarly sees the construction of sun temples as marking a shift from the royal cult, which was so preponderant during the early Fourth Dynasty, to the cult of the sun god Ra. A result of these changes is that the king was now primarily revered as the son of Ra.{{sfn|Malek|2000a|pp=98–99}}

===Name===
The ancient Egyptians called Userkaf's sun temple Nekhenre (''Nḫn Rˁ.w''), which has been variously translated as "The fortress of Ra", "The stronghold of Ra", "The residence of Ra",{{sfn|Altenmüller|2001|p=598}} "Ra's storerooms" and "The birthplace of Ra".{{sfn|Janák et al.|2011|p=432}}
According to Coppens, Janák, Lehner, Verner, Vymazalová, Wilkinson and Zemina, ''Nḫn'' here might actually refer instead to the town of [[Nekhen]], also known as Hierakonpolis.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2000|p=121}}{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=150}}{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=102}}{{sfn|Janák et al.|2011|p=432}} Hierakonpolis was a stronghold and seat of power for the late predynastic kings who unified Egypt. They propose that Userkaf may have chosen this name to emphasise the victorious and unifying nature of the cult of Ra{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|pp=102–103}}{{sfn|Verner|2002|p=266}} or, at least, to represent some symbolic meaning in relation to kingship.{{sfn|Janák et al.|2011|p=432}} Nekhen was also the name of an institution responsible for providing resources to the living king as well as to his funerary cult after his death.{{sfn|Verner|2002|p=266}} In consequence, the true meaning of ''Nekhenre'' might be closer to "Ra's Nekhen" or "The Hierakonpolis of Ra".{{sfn|Janák et al.|2011|p=432}}

===Function===
[[File:Abusir papyrus - Pharaoh exhibit - Cleveland Museum of Art (27910051062).jpg|thumb|right|The Abusir Papyri indicate that the cults taking place at the sun temple and mortuary complex of the king were closely related.{{sfn|Verner|2002|p=266}}|alt=Photograph of papyrus fragments inscribed with ink]]
The sun temple of Userkaf first appears as pyramid XVII in [[Karl Richard Lepsius]]' pioneering [[Lepsius list of pyramids|list of pyramids]] in the mid-19th century.{{sfn|Voß|2004|p=7}}{{sfn|Lepsius|1972|p=131}} Its true nature was recognised by [[Ludwig Borchardt]] in the early 20th century but it was only thoroughly excavated from 1954 until 1957 by a team including Hanns Stock, [[Werner Kaiser (Egyptologist)|Werner Kaiser]], [[Peter Kaplony]], [[Wolfgang Helck]], and [[Herbert Ricke]].{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=217}}{{sfn|Edel|Ricke|1965}} According to the royal annals, the construction of the temple started in Userkaf's fifth year on the throne and, on that occasion, he donated 24 royal domains for the maintenance of the temple.{{sfn|Breasted|1906|p=68|loc=§ 156}}

Userkaf's sun temple covered an area of {{convert|44|x|83|m|ft|abbr=on}}{{sfn|Edel|Ricke|1965}} and was oriented to the west. It served primarily as a place of worship for the mortuary cult of Ra{{sfn|Gundlach|2001|p=375}} and was supposed to relate it to the royal funerary cult.{{sfn|Verner|2001c|p=91}} Structurally, the sun temple and the royal mortuary complex were very similar,{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=124}} as they included a valley temple close to the Nile and a causeway leading up to the high temple on the desert plateau. In other ways their architectures differed. For example, the valley temple of the sun temple complex is not oriented to any cardinal point, rather pointing vaguely{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=151}} to Heliopolis, and the causeway is not aligned with the axis of the high temple. The [[Abusir Papyri]], a collection of administrative documents from later in the Fifth Dynasty, indicates that the cultic activities taking place in the sun and mortuary temples were related; for instance, offerings for both cults were dispatched from the sun temple.{{sfn|Verner|2002|p=266}} In fact, sun temples built during this period were meant to play for Ra the same role that the pyramid played for the king. They were funerary temples for the sun god, where his renewal and rejuvenation, necessary to maintain the order of the world, could take place. Rites performed in the temple were thus primarily concerned with Ra's creator function as well as his role as father of the king. During his lifetime, the king would appoint his closest officials to the running of the temple, allowing them to benefit from the temple's income and thus ensuring their loyalty. After the pharaoh's death, the sun temple's income would be associated with the pyramid complex, supporting the royal funerary cult.{{sfn|Janák et al.|2011|pp=441–442}}

Construction works on the Nekhenre did not stop with Userkaf's death but continued in at least four building phases, the first of which may have taken place under Sahure,{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=390}} and then under his successors Neferirkare Kakai and Nyuserre Ini.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=150}}{{sfn|Verner|2001a|pp=387–389}} By the end of Userkaf's rule, the sun temple did not yet house the large granite obelisk on a pedestal that it would subsequently acquire. Instead its main temple seems to have comprised a rectangular enclosure wall with a high mast set on a mound in its center, possibly as a perch for the sun god's falcon.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=150}} To the east of this mound was a mudbrick altar with statue shrines on both sides.{{sfn|Nuzzolo|2007|pp=1402–1403}} According to the royal annals, from his sixth year on the throne, Userkaf commanded that two oxen and two geese were to be sacrificed daily in the Nekhenre.{{sfn|Strudwick|2005|p=70}}{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=150}} These animals seem to have been butchered in or around the high temple, the causeway being wide enough to lead live oxen up it.{{sfn|Lehner|2008|p=151}} In addition to these sacrifices Userkaf endowed his sun temple with vast agricultural estates amounting to {{convert|34655|acre|}} of land,{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=216}} which Klaus Baer describes as "an enormous and quite unparalleled gift for the Old Kingdom".{{sfn|Baer|1956|p=117}} Kozloff sees these decisions as a manifestation of Userkaf's young age and of the power of the priesthood of Ra rather than as a result of his personal devotion to the sun god.{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=216}}