First Intermediate Period
Numerous ephemeral kings (Memphite), e.g. Qakare Ibi
7th/8th Dynasties · 2181-2160 BCE
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This row represents the many poorly attested rulers conventionally grouped as Dynasties 7 and 8, including Qakare Ibi. Manetho’s famous claim that seventy kings ruled for seventy days is not supported by contemporary evidence and is often read as a later literary image of disorder. Some names, including Ibi, are archaeologically attested, but the sequence, territories and length of individual reigns remain difficult to recover. Rather than a simple instant collapse, the period shows uncertain continuity from the late Old Kingdom amid increasingly autonomous provincial power. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Metropolitan Museum.
Chronology: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
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The myth of the 7th Dynasty
Following the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt plunged into the First Intermediate Period—an era of civil war, famine, and fractured authority. The 7th Dynasty is widely considered by modern historians to be entirely fictional. The ancient historian Manetho famously described it as "70 kings who ruled for 70 days." Rather than a historical reality, this phrase was likely an ancient metaphor used to describe absolute political chaos and the rapid turnover of weak leaders.
The powerless 8th Dynasty
The 8th Dynasty was real, but incredibly weak. It consisted of a rapid succession of ephemeral kings who ruled from the ancient capital of Memphis. They desperately claimed legitimate descent from the great kings of the 6th Dynasty, but their actual political authority was almost nonexistent outside the city walls.
Qakare Ibi
Because their reigns were so brief, very few monumental records or artifacts survive. One of the only verifiable rulers of this period is Qakare Ibi. He managed to construct a tiny pyramid at South Saqqara, which uniquely included the last known instance of the Pyramid Texts inscribed on its burial chamber walls. Shortly after his reign, the Memphite state completely collapsed, and control of Egypt fractured between rival warlords in Herakleopolis and Thebes.