Editing Shepseskaf (section)

===Decision to build a mastaba===
As Shepseskaf chose to have a mastaba built for himself he broke with the fourth dynasty tradition of constructing pyramids. Several theories have been put forth to explain this choice. First, Verner hypothesises that Shepseskaf may have designed a mastaba as a temporary measure because he was faced with the arduous task of completing Menkaure's pyramid complex at Giza while simultaneously having to start his own tomb.{{sfn|Baker|2008|p=426}} In this theory, Shepseskaf may have intended to turn the mastaba into a pyramid at a later stage.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=384}} In support of this theory is the observation that the architecture and layout of the subterranean structures of the mastaba exactly follow the standard plan for royal pyramids.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=384}} Shepseskaf might have been forced to take this decision if Egypt experienced economic difficulties at the time as Verner posits,{{sfn|Verner|2001c|p=588}} or perhaps Menkaure's failure to complete his mortuary temple could have made Shepseskaf more cautious about his own tomb.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=384}}

At the opposite, Egyptologist Stephen Quirke believes that Shepseskaf's tomb amounts to the first step of a planned step pyramid that was unfinished owing to its owner's early death, only to be completed by his successor or his queen in the shape of a mastaba.{{sfn|Quirke|2001|p=126}} This theory finds some support in the Palermo stone which indicates that the emplacement and name of Shepseskaf's tomb were chosen during his first year on the throne. In this text the name of the tomb is written with the [[determinative]] of a pyramid rather than that of a mastaba,{{sfn|Breasted|1906|p=67|loc=§ 150–152}} but in the tomb of Nikauhor, who worked as overseer of Shepseskaf's tomb, it appears with the determinative of a mastaba.{{efn|group=note|Janák, Vymazalová and Coppens note in passing that this sign could be "a schematic depiction of the mastaba-like tomb{{nbsp}}[...] of pharaoh Shepseskaf".{{sfn|Janák et al.|2011|p=432}}}}{{sfn|Bogdanov|2020|p=129|loc=footnote 45}}{{sfn|The Giza Archive|2022|loc=photo A7394_NS}}

Alternatively, Hassan has put forward the idea that Shepseskaf may have deliberately chosen to build a mastaba owing to religio-political reasons, as the pyramid shape is closely associated with the solar cult.{{efn|group=note|Verner is explicitly against this hypothesis, qualifying it as "erroneous".{{sfn|Verner|2001c|p=588}}}} In doing so he would have tried to undermine the growing influence of the priesthood of Ra.{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|pp=50 & 118}} This hypothesis could also explain the absence of a direct [[Theophoric name|theophoric]] reference to Ra in his name as well as in that of his probable immediate successor Userkaf.{{efn|group=note|Against this opinion Stadelmann thinks that the "Ka" in Shepseskaf's and Userkaf's names does refer to the soul of Ra.{{sfn|Stadelmann|2000|pp=535–536}}}} Hassan, who believes Khentkaus{{nbs}}I was Shepseskaf's consort, further conjectures that Khentkaus was forced to marry Userkaf, the high priest of Ra, after Shepseskaf's death.{{sfn|El-Shahawy|Atiya|2005|p=33}} This marriage would have sealed the unrivalled ascendancy of the solar cult throughout the fifth dynasty.{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=118}} Egyptologist Jaromir Málek concurs in part with this hypothesis, seeing Shepseskaf's decision as the symptom of a possible religious crisis.{{sfn|Málek|2000|p=91}} The archaeologist [[Joyce Tyldesley]] notes that if Shepseskaf really did intend his tomb to be a mastaba and regardless of his motivations, this indicates that while a pyramid may be desirable, it was not an absolute necessity for a pharaoh to reach the afterlife.{{sfn|Tyldesley|2005|p=222}}

In a fourth opinion, Bárta, who stresses that the reasons for Shepseskaf's choice largely elude us, nonetheless proposes that the king may have lacked full legitimacy after ascending the throne from his position of high official through marriage.{{sfn|Bárta|2017|p=5}} In this hypothesis Shepseskaf would be a son of Khentkaus{{nbs}}I. While in all probability related to the fourth dynasty royal family, he may not have had the legitimacy that prince [[Khuenre]], the firstborn son of Menkaure and queen Khamerernebty{{nbs}}II, had enjoyed prior to his death. Possibly faced with opponents and a state-administration increasingly from outside of the royal family, he could have chosen to build a non-typical tomb fitting his peculiar status.{{sfn|Bárta|2016|p=60}}