Editing Userkaf (section)

===Funerary cult===
====Old Kingdom====
[[File:Userkaf Teti Sekhemket.png|thumb|upright=2|alt=Relief showing three kings looking right, with hieroglyphs around their heads|Relief from a Saqqara tomb dating to the Ramesside Period showing, from left to right, [[Djoser]], [[Teti]] and Userkaf.{{sfn|Gauthier|1906|p=42}}]]
Like other Fourth and Fifth Dynasty pharaohs, Userkaf received a funerary cult after his death. His cult was state-sponsored and relied on goods for offerings produced in dedicated agricultural estates established during his lifetime, as well as such resources as fabrics brought from the "house of silver" (the treasury).{{sfn|Desplancques|2006|p=212}}

The cult flourished in the early to mid-Fifth Dynasty, as evidenced by the tombs and seals of participating priests and officials such as Nykaure, who served in the cults of Userkaf and Neferefre;{{sfn|Mariette|1889a|p=313}} Nykaankh and Khnumhotep, who served in Userkaf's pyramid complex;{{sfn|Mariette|1889a|pp=310–312}} Ptahhotep, a priest of the Nekhenre and of Userkaf's mortuary temple;{{sfn|Mariette|1889a|pp=314–315}} Tepemankh,{{sfn|Sethe|1903|loc=Ch.1 § 19}} Nenkheftka{{sfn|Mariette|1889a|p=304}} and Senuankh,{{sfn|Mariette|1889a|pp=316–322}}{{sfn|Sethe|1903|loc=Ch.1 § 24}} who served in the cults of Userkaf and Sahure; Pehenukai, a vizier under Sahure and Neferirkare Kakai;{{sfn|Sethe|1903|loc=Ch.1 § 30}} and Nykuhor, a judge, inspector of scribes, privy councillor, and priest of funerary cults of Userkaf and Neferefre.{{sfn|Hayes|1978|pp=102–103}}{{sfn|Rice|1999|p=141}}

====Middle Kingdom====
The long-term importance of Userkaf's official cult may be judged by its abandonment at the end of the Fifth Dynasty.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=76}} In comparison, the official funerary cult of at least one of Userkaf's successors, Nyuserre Ini, may have lasted until the Middle Kingdom period.{{sfn|Morales|2006|p=336}}{{sfn|Bareš|2000|p=5}} The mortuary temple of Userkaf must have been in ruins or dismantled by the time of the Twelfth Dynasty as indicated, for example, by a block showing the king performing a ritual found re-used as a construction material in the [[Pyramid of Amenemhet I|pyramid of Amenemhat I]].{{sfn|Strudwick|2005|p=83}} Userkaf was not the only king whose mortuary temple met this fate: Nyuserre's temple was targeted even though its last priests were serving in it around this time. These facts hint at a lapse of royal interest in the state-sponsored funerary cults of Old Kingdom rulers.{{sfn|Malek|2000b|p=257}}

====Later periods====
Examples of personal devotions on behalf of pious individuals endured much longer. For example, Userkaf is depicted on a relief from the Saqqara tomb of the priest Mehu, who lived during the [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Ramesside period]] (c. 1292–1189 BCE).{{sfn|Wildung|1969|pp=74–76}}{{sfn|Gauthier|1906|pp=41–42}} Early in this period, during the reign of [[Ramesses II]], Ramesses's fourth son, [[Khaemwaset]] ([[fl.]] c. 1280–1225 BCE), ordered restoration work on Userkaf's pyramid as well as on other pyramids of the Fifth Dynasty. In the case of Userkaf, this is established by inscriptions on stone cladding from the pyramid field showing Khaemwaset with offering bearers.{{sfn|Verner|1998|p=308}}

The reliefs from Userkaf's funerary complex were copied during the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt|26th Dynasty]] of the [[Late Period of Egypt|Late Period]]. A particular example is a relief showing Userkaf wearing a boatman's circlet with streamers and [[Uraeus|urae]] with the horns of an [[Atef|Atef crown]], a motif which had disappeared from Egyptian arts since Userkaf's time.{{sfn|Kozloff|1982|p=219}}