First Intermediate Period
Numerous ephemeral kings (Memphite), e.g. Qakare Ibi
7th/8th Dynasties · 2181-2160 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
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 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 instant collapse, the period shows uncertain continuity from the late Old Kingdom amid increasingly autonomous provincial power. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Metropolitan Museum.
Dating: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
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. Manetho described it as "70 kings who ruled for 70 days," likely a metaphor for chaos and the rapid turnover of weak leaders rather than a historical reality.
The powerless 8th Dynasty
The 8th Dynasty was real, but incredibly weak: a rapid succession of ephemeral kings ruling from Memphis, claiming descent from the great kings of the 6th Dynasty, though their actual authority was almost nonexistent outside the city. The badly damaged fifth column of the Turin Canon preserves roughly seventeen further throne names for the dynasty, including Netjerkare, Menkare, Neferkare II, Djedkare Shemai and Neferkauhor, most known solely as list entries with no surviving monument.
Qakare Ibi
Because reigns were so brief, very few monumental records survive. One of the best-attested rulers of this period is Qakare Ibi, conventionally counted as the fourteenth king of the Eighth Dynasty. He built a tiny pyramid at South Saqqara, uniquely including the last known instance of the Pyramid Texts inscribed on its burial chamber walls. Shortly after his reign, the Memphite state collapsed, and control of Egypt fractured between rival warlords in Herakleopolis and Thebes.
Ibi's pyramid at South Saqqara
Qakare Ibi's small pyramid, the last ever built at Saqqara, measured roughly 31.5 meters across its base and stood about 21 meters high, built near Shepseskaf's tomb and the causeway of Pepi II's complex. Epigraphic study of its burial chamber confirms the inscribed walls preserve the very last known set of Pyramid Texts in the Old Kingdom tradition, closing out a practice begun roughly two and a half centuries earlier under Unas.
The Coptos Decrees and a functioning administration
Despite the dynasty's fragility, several kings issued formal royal decrees, inscribed and later buried beneath the floor of the temple of Min at Coptos, revealing a surprisingly intact bureaucracy. The Coptos Decrees record royal favors granted to an official named Shemay, promoted from nomarch of Coptos to vizier of Upper Egypt, a position later passed to his son Idy. Neferkauhor is responsible for eight of the surviving decrees, making him among the best-documented rulers of the period despite a reign of little over two years. The decrees show that even as Memphis lost its grip on the country, some regional administration continued through recognizably royal channels.
Sources for this profile
- Baker, D. D. (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume 1. Stacey International.
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- Ryholt, K. (2004). The Turin King-list. Ägypten und Levante, 14, 135–155.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
- University College London. Digital Egypt for Universities.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.