Editing Sahure (section)

== Legacy ==

[[File:Sahure-Pyramid - Temple 04.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Column of limestone, its capitals made to look like a palm tree|Palmiform columns, an innovation of Sahure's temple, became a hallmark of Egyptian architecture{{sfn|Lehner|2008|pp=142–144}}]]

=== Artistic and architectural legacy ===

The painted reliefs covering the walls of Sahure's mortuary temple were recognized as an artistic achievement of the highest degree by the Ancient Egyptians. A [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] inscription found in Abusir for example poetically compares the temple to the heaven lit by full moon.{{sfn|Navrátilová|Arnold|Allen|2013|p=132}}

Subsequent generations of artists and craftsmen tried to emulate Sahure's reliefs, using them as templates for the tombs of later kings and queens of the Old Kingdom period.{{sfn|Verner|Zemina|1994|p=60}} The layout of Sahure's high temple was also novel and it became the standard template for all subsequent pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom. Some of its architectural elements, such as its palmiform columns, became hallmarks of Egyptian architecture.{{efn|group=note|The standard work on Sahure's pyramid complex is Borchardt's excavation report, available online in its entirety.{{sfn|Borchardt|1910}}}}{{sfn|Lehner|2008|pp=142–144}}{{sfn|Hayes|1978|p=68}}

This trend continued to hold in later times. For example, in the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], [[Senusret I]] had reliefs for his temple directly copied from those of Sahure. He also chose to follow the innovative layout of Sahure's complex once again. At the time, Senusret I's decision was in stark contrast with the burial customs of the [[Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt|11th Dynasty]] pharaohs, who were buried in saff tombs. These consisted of an open courtyard fronting a row of entrances into subterranean corridors and chambers dug in the hillsides of [[El-Tarif]] and [[Deir el-Bahari]], near Thebes.{{efn|group=note|This change may have been spurred by the return of the Egyptian capital to Middle Egypt, in [[Itjtawy]], close to Memphis and the attraction of then already ancient pyramids of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties.{{sfn|Lansing|1926|p=34}}}}{{sfn|Lansing|1926|p=34}}

=== Cults ===
==== Old Kingdom ====

Sahure was the object of a funerary cult from the time of his death and which continued until the end of the Old Kingdom, some 300 years later. At least 22 agricultural estates were established to produce the goods necessary for providing the offerings to be made for this cult.{{sfn|Schneider|2002|pp=243–244}} Decorated reliefs from the upper part of the causeway represent the procession of over 150 personified funerary domains created by and for Sahure, demonstrating the existence of a sophisticated economic system associated with the king's funerary cult.{{sfn|Khaled|2013}} The enormous quantities of offerings pouring into the mortuary and sun temples of Sahure benefitted other cults as well, such as that of Hathor, which had priests officiating on the temple premises.{{sfn|Gillam|1995|p=216}}

Several priests serving the mortuary cult or in Sahure's sun temple during the later Fifth and Sixth Dynasties are known thanks to inscriptions and artifacts from their tombs in Saqqara and Abusir.{{sfn|Wildung|2010|pp=275–276}}
These include Tjy, overseer of the sun temples of Sahure, Neferirkare, Neferefre and Nyuserre;{{sfn|Strudwick|1985|p=159}} Neferkai priest of Sahure's funerary cult;{{sfn|Brooklyn Museum|2019}} Khabauptah priest of Sahure, Neferirkare, Neferefre, and Niuserre,{{sfn|Mariette|1885|p=295}}{{sfn|Callender|2011|p=141|loc=footnote 78}}
Atjema, priest of the sun temple of Sahure during the Sixth Dynasty;{{sfn|Allen ''et al.''|1999|pp=456–457}} Khuyemsnewy, who served as priest of the mortuary cult of Sahure during the reigns of Neferirkare and Nyuserre;{{efn|group=note|Khuyemsnewy was also priest of Ra and [[Hathor]] in Neferirkare's sun temple, priest of Neferirkare, priest in Nyuserre Ini's and Neferirkare Kakai's pyramid complexes and ''Overseer of the Two Granaries''.{{sfn|Hayes|1978|p=106}}}} Nikare, priest of the cult of Sahure and overseer of the scribes of the granary during the Fifth Dynasty.{{sfn|Allen ''et al.''|1999|p=370}} Further priests are known, such as Senewankh, serving in the cults of Userkaf and Sahure and buried in a [[mastaba]] in Saqqara;{{sfn|Sethe|1903|p=36}}
Sedaug, a priest of the cult of Sahure, priest of Ra in the sun-temple of Userkaf and holder of the title of royal acquaintance;{{sfn|Junker|1950|pp=107–118}} Tepemankh, priest of the cults of kings of the Fourth to early Fifth Dynasty including Userkaf and Sahure, buried in a mastaba at Abusir.{{sfn|Allen ''et al.''|1999|p=404}}{{sfn|Strudwick|2005|p=248, text number 173}}{{sfn|Sethe|1903|p=33}}

==== Middle Kingdom ====

[[File:Sahure Karnak.png|thumb|upright|alt=Statue of a seated man|Statue of Sahure enthroned, commissioned by [[Senusret&nbsp;I]]{{sfn|Legrain|1906|loc=CG 42004}}]]

No priest serving in the funerary cult of Sahure is known from the Middle Kingdom period. Evidence from this period rather come from works undertaken in the Karnak temple by [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|12th Dynasty]] pharaoh Senusret I ([[floruit|fl.]] 20th century BC), who dedicated statues of Old Kingdom kings{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=180}} including one of Sahure.{{efn|group=note|Another statue from this group is that of [[Intef the Elder]].{{sfn|Legrain|1906|pp=4–5 & pl. III}}}}{{sfn|Wildung|1969|pp=60–63}} The statue and the accompanying group of portraits of deceased kings indicates the existence of a generic cult of royal ancestor figures, a "limited version of the cult of the divine" as Jaromir Málek writes.{{sfn|Málek|2000b|p=257}}
The statue of Sahure, now in the [[Egyptian Museum]] in [[Cairo]] (catalog number CG 42004), is made of black granite and is {{convert|50|cm|in|abbr=on}} tall. Sahure is shown enthroned, wearing a pleated skirt and a round curly wig. Both sides of the throne bear inscriptions identifying the work as a portrait of Sahure made on the orders of Senusret I.{{sfn|Legrain|1906|pp=3–4}}

Sahure's legacy had endured sufficiently by the Middle Kingdom period that he is mentioned in a story of the [[Westcar Papyrus]], probably written during the 12th Dynasty although the earliest extent copy dates to the [[Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt|Seventeenth Dynasty]].{{sfn|Burkard|Thissen|Quack|2003|p=178}} The papyrus tells the mythical story of the origins of the Fifth Dynasty, presenting kings Userkaf, Sahure and Neferirkare Kakai as three brothers, sons of Ra and a woman named [[Rededjet]] destined to supplant Khufu's line.{{sfn|Lichteim|2000|pp=215–220}}

==== New Kingdom: emergence of Sekhmet of Sahure ====

As a deceased king, Sahure continued to receive religious offerings during the New Kingdom as part of the standard cult of the royal ancestors. For example, Sahure is present on the Karnak king list, a list of kings inscribed on the walls of the ''Akhmenu'', the Karnak temple of Thutmose{{nbs}}III. Unlike other ancient Egyptian king lists, the kings there are not listed in chronological order. Rather, the purpose of the list was purely religious, its aim being to name the deceased kings to be honored in the Karnak temple.{{sfn|Wildung|1969|pp=60–63}}

In the second part of the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth Dynasty]] and during the Nineteenth Dynasty numerous visitors left inscriptions, stelae and statues in the temple.{{sfn|Borchardt|1910|p=101}}{{sfn|Peden|2001|pp=59–60, 95–96}}
These activities were related to a cult then taking place in the mortuary temple of Sahure since the time of Thutmose{{nbs}}III. This cult was devoted to the deified king in a form associated with the goddess [[Sekhmet]]{{sfn|Morales|2006|p=313}}{{sfn|Horváth|2003|pp=63–70}}{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=393}} named "Sekhmet of Sahure".{{sfn|Gaber|2003|p=18}}
For example, the scribe Ptahemuia and fellow scribes visited Sahure's temple in the 30th year of Ramses{{nbs}}II's reign (c. 1249 BC) to ask Sekhmet to grant them a long life of 110 years.{{sfn|Grinsell|1947|pp=349–350}} The reason for the appearance of this cult during the New Kingdom is unknown.{{sfn|Gaber|2003|p=28}} In any case, the cult of Sekhmet of Sahure was not a purely local phenomenon as traces of it were found in the Upper Egyptian village of [[Deir el-Medina]], where it was celebrated during two festivals taking place every year, on the 16th day of the first month of [[Season of the Emergence|Peret]] and on the 11th day of the fourth month of that season.{{sfn|Gaber|2003|pp=19 & 28}}

During the same period, prince [[Khaemwaset]], a son of [[Ramesses II|Ramses{{nbs}}II]], undertook works throughout Egypt on pyramids and temples which had fallen into ruin, possibly to appropriate stones for his father's construction projects while ensuring a minimal restoration for cultic purposes.{{sfn|Málek|1992|pp=57–76}} Inscriptions on the stone cladding of the pyramid of Sahure show that it was the object of such works at this time.{{sfn|Wildung|2010|pp=275–276}}{{sfn|Wildung|1969|p=170}} This renewed attention had negative consequences as the first wave of dismantlement of the Abusir monuments, particularly for the acquisition of valuable Tura limestone, arrived with it. Sahure's mortuary temple may have been spared at this time due to the presence of the cult of Sekhmet.{{sfn|Bareš|2000|p=9}} The cult's influence likely waned after the end of Ramses{{nbs}}II's reign, becoming a site of local worship only.{{sfn|Bareš|2000|p=11}}

==== Third intermediate, late and Ptolemaic periods ====

During the [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|Twenty-fifth Dynasty]] (744–656 BC) at the end of the [[Third Intermediate Period of Egypt|Third Intermediate Period]], some of Sahure's temple reliefs were copied by [[Taharqa]],{{sfn|Bareš|2000|p=12}} including images of the king crushing his enemies as a sphinx.{{sfn|Kahl|2000|pp=225–226}}
Shortly after, under the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Twenty-sixth Dynasty]] (664–525 BC) of the [[Late Period of Egypt|Late Period]], a statue of Sahure was among a group of statues of Old Kingdom kings hidden in a cachette of the Karnak temple, testifying to some form of cultic interest up to that time.{{sfn|Morales|2006|pp=320–321}}
In parallel, a new period of dismantlement of the pyramids of Abusir took place, yet Sahure's was once again spared. This might be because of the cult of Sekhmet of Sahure{{sfn|Gaber|2003|p=18}} the temple hosted well into the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom#History|Ptolemaic period]] (332–30 BC), albeit with a very reduced influence.{{sfn|Bareš|2000|pp=13–14}} Several graffiti dating from the reigns of [[Amasis&nbsp;II]] (570–526 BC), [[Darius&nbsp;II]] (423–404 BC) and up until the Ptolemaic period attest to continued cultic activities on the site.{{sfn|Wildung|2010|pp=275–276}}{{sfn|Wildung|1969|p=198}}{{sfn|Peden|2001|pp=278–279}} For example, a certain Horib was "Priest of Sekhmet of the temple of Sekhmet of Sahure" under the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]].{{sfn|Gaber|2003|p=19}}

The dismantlement of Sahure's pyramid started in earnest in the [[Roman period]], as shown by the abundant production of mill-stones, presence of lime production facilities and worker shelters in the vicinity.{{sfn|Bareš|2000|pp=14–15}}

=== In Contemporary Culture ===

Sahure's name and that of his father were used in the 1983 [[Sesame Street]] special [[Don%27t Eat the Pictures]]. A cursed child from ancient Egypt introduces himself as "Prince Sahure of Egypt, son of the god Userkof, king of kings, lord of the two lands, conquered of the east and west, and fabulous fisherman."<ref>{{cite AV media | title=Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art | time=15:35}}</ref>