by
Damien F. Mackey
Previously, and hopefully, I have lain the foundations for linking Egypt’s pyramid-building Fourth Dynasty with the Sixth Dynasty, and indeed with the Twelfth Dynasty (to be considered later).
Linking the 4th, 6th … dynasties?
We may be able to trace the rise of the 4th dynasty’s Khufu (Cheops) - whose full name was Khnum-khuefui (meaning ‘Khnum is protecting me’) - to the 6th dynasty, to the wealthy noble (recalling that the founding 12th dynasty pharaoh “had no royal blood”) from Abydos in the south, called Khui. An abbreviation of Khuefui?
This Khui had a daughter called Ankhenesmerire, in whose name are contained all the elements of Mer-es-ankh, the first part of which, Meres, accords phonetically with the name Eusebius (following Artapanus) gave for the Egyptian foster-mother of Moses, “Merris”.
“Merris, the wife of Chenephres, King of Upper Egypt; being childless, she pretended to have given birth to [Moses] and brought him up as her own child. (Eusebius, l.c. ix. 27)”.
Earlier, we read a variation of this legend with “King Kheneferis [being the] … father of Maris, Moses' foster mother”.
I shall be taking this “Chenephres” (“Kheneferis”) to be pharaoh Chephren (Egyptian Khafra), the son of Khufu, since Chephren had indeed married a Meresankh.
“We know of several of Khafre's wives, including Meresankh … and his chief wife, Khameremebty I”.
…
From the 4th dynasty, we gain certain elements that are relevant to the early career of Moses.
Firstly we have a strong founder-king, Cheops (Egyptian Khufu), builder of the great pyramid at Giza, who would be an excellent candidate for the “new king” during the infancy of Moses who set the Israelite slaves to work with crushing labour (Exodus 1:8). This would support the testimony of Josephus that the Israelites built pyramids for the pharaohs, and it would explain from whence came the abundance of manpower for pyramid building. Cheap slave labour.
The widespread presence of ‘Asiatics’ in Egypt at the time would help to explain the large number of Israelites said to be in the land. Egypt’s ruler would have used as slaves other Syro-Palestinians, too, plus Libyans and Nubians. As precious little, though, is known of Cheops, despite his being powerful enough to have built one of the Seven Wonders of the World, we shall need to fill him out later with his 12th dynasty alter ego.
In Cheops’ daughter, Mer-es-ankh, we presumably have the Merris of tradition who retrieved the baby Moses from the water. The name Mer-es-ankh consists basically of two elements, Meres and ankh, the latter being the ‘life’ symbol for Egypt worn by people even today.
Mer-es-ankh married Chephren (Egyptian, Khafra), builder of the second Giza pyramid and probably, of the Great Sphinx. He would thus have become Moses’s foster/father-in-law.
Moses, now a thorough-going ‘Egyptian’ (cf. Exodus 2:19), must have been his loyal subject. “Now Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a man of power both in his speech and in his actions”. (Acts 7:22) Tradition has Moses leading armies for Chenephres as far as Ethiopia. Whilst this may seem a bit strained in a 4th dynasty context, we shall find that it is perfectly appropriate in a 12th dynasty one, when we uncover Chephren’s alter ego.
[End of quote]
Most recently, I have added a further connection between the Fourth and Sixth dynasties, this time through the agency of a wise Chief Justice and Vizier:
Vizier Kagemni another vital link for connecting Egypt’s Fourth and Sixth dynasties
(2) Vizier Kagemni another vital link for connecting Egypt's Fourth and Sixth dynasties
And, in other recent papers, it has been shown that Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty, that Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty, can be contoured to the life of Moses, from his birth to his exile in Midian:
Moses in Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty
(3) Moses in Egypt's Fourth Dynasty
Moses in Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty
(3) Moses in Egypt's Fifth Dynasty
Some Fourth and Fifth Dynasty similarities
(3) Some Fourth and Fifth Dynasty similarities
Basically I determined that, despite the multiplicity of royal names, there were only two major male rulers of Egypt - the dynasty closing with a female due to a lack of heirs.
Now, can the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt likewise be adequately matched to the life of Moses?
Its list of rulers is generally given as follows:
1 Teti
2 Userkare
3 Pepi I
4 Merenre I
5 Pepi II
6 Merenere II
7 Netjerkare Siptah (Nitocris)
Again as in the case of the Fourth Dynasty, six rulers are listed, of whom several are poorly known. Very little is known about Userkare, for instance, and the ephemeral ruler Merenre II.
And the list concludes with, appropriately, the female ruler, Nitoctris.
So, immediately, I would be inclined to look for alter egos for the two poorly attested rulers, Userkare and Merenre II.
A new thought, not yet developed, is that pharaoh Userkare may correspond to the Fourth Dynasty’s Djedefre, whom I have recently identified, with Djedefhor, as Moses (see “Fourth Dynasty” article above).
And with Merenre we may establish a link.
Merenre II follows in a tradition of murdered kings of (Old-Middle) Egypt: Teti and Amenemes I.
Merenre II | ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Merenre II - AskAladdin (ask-aladdin.com)
“According to Herodotus, Merenre II was murdered. This Greek historian had recorded a legend where an Egyptian Queen named Nitocris avenged her brother as well as husband's murder by drowning all the murderers in [a] pre-arranged banquet. The name of the brother and husband was allegedly Nemtyemsaf II (Merenre II)”.
Merenre II may now connect with the composite dynastic founder (cf. Exodus 1:8):
Cheops-Menkaure (Fourth);
Neferirkare-Neuserre-Menkauhor-Djedkare (Fifth);
Teti; Merenre (Sixth)
There appears to be a triple series of duplicates in the conventional Sixth Dynasty list, with the proper sequence inverted from numbers 3-6.
I would suggest the following re-ordering:
Dynastic founder: Teti-Merenre I-II (murdered)
Second king: (Userkare) Pepi I-II
Female ruler: Nitocris.
Once again, as with the Fourth Dynasty (and probably the Fifth), “there were only two major male rulers of Egypt - the dynasty closing with a female due to a lack of heirs”.
Moses as an historical figure in the Sixth Dynasty, I have already identified as Weni, the Chief Judge and Vizier of Egypt:
Historical Moses may be Weni and Mentuhotep
(3) Historical Moses may be Weni and Mentuhotep
Weni’s primary offices, Chief Judge and Vizier, correspond perfectly with those of the Fourth-Sixth dynasties Kagemni, as Chief Justice and Vizier of Egypt.
And I have further suggested that Moses was general Iny (a name very like Weni/Uni) of the same Sixth Dynasty:
Moses a trusted world trader for Egypt in the Pyramid Age?
(3) Moses a trusted world trader for Egypt in the Pyramid Age?
In short, the Sixth Dynasty versions of Moses were Weni (Uni) and Iny.
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