page_title: Neferefre
section_title: Reign duration
hierarchical_section_title: Neferefre / Reign / Reign duration
caption_attribution_description: English: Slate statue of Neferkhau Neferefre wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt. Originally from the pyramid complex and funerary temple of Neferefre at Abusir, now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Dimensions: Height 49.3 cm, length 14.8 cm, thickness 18 cm. Verner, Miroslav. (1985) “Les Sculptures de Rêneferef d´couvertes à Abousir”. BIFAO 85
context_page_description: Neferefre Isi was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He was most likely the eldest son of pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II. He was known as prince Ranefer before he ascended to the throne.
  Neferefre started a pyramid for himself in the royal necropolis of Abusir called Netjeribau Raneferef, which means "The bas of Neferefre are divine". The pyramid was never finished, with a mason's inscription showing that works on the stone structure were abandoned during or shortly after the king's second year of reign. Together with the sparsity of attestations contemporaneous with his reign, this is taken by Egyptologists as evidence that Neferefre died unexpectedly after two to three years on the throne. Neferefre was nonetheless buried in his pyramid, hastily completed in the form of a mastaba by his second successor and presumably younger brother, pharaoh Nyuserre Ini. Fragments of his mummy were uncovered there, showing that he died in his early twenties.
  Little is known of Neferefre's activities beyond laying the foundations of his pyramid and attempting to finish that of his father.
context_section_description: While Neferefre is given a reign of some 20 years in epitomes of Manetho's Aegyptiaca, the current academic view is that this number is an overestimation of his true reign length, which must have been significantly shorter. Before the results of the extensive excavations in Abusir were fully published, Egyptologists following the traditional succession hypothesis credited Neferefre with around a decade of rule, based on the paucity of attestations contemporaneous with his reign. For example, von Beckerath and Winfried Barta gave him 11 and 10 years on the throne, respectively. This view now has few supporters.
  Indeed, since then, Verner has set forth the hypothesis of a reign of no more than two years. His conclusion is based on archaeological evidence: the unfinished state of his intended pyramid, and the general paucity of documents datable to his rule. Verner writes that:
  The shape of the tomb of Neferefra...as well as a number of other archaeological finds clearly indicate that the construction of the king's funerary monument was interrupted, owing to the unexpected early death of the king. The plan of the unfinished building had to be basically changed and a decision was taken to hastily convert the unfinished pyramid, (of which only the incomplete lowest step of the core was built), into a "square-shaped mastaba" or, more precisely, a stylized primeval hill. At the moment of the king's death neither the burial apartment was built, nor was the foundation of the mortuary temple laid.
  Furthermore, two historical sources conform with the hypothesis of a short reign: the mason's inscription in Neferefre's pyramid was discovered "at about two thirds of the height of the extant core of the monument" and probably refers to Neferefre's first or second year on the throne; and the Turin canon which credits Neferefre with less than two full years of reign. The combination of archaeological and historical evidence led to the consensus that Neferefre's reign lasted "not longer than about two years".
caption: Schist[6] statue of Neferefre wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt discovered in his pyramid complex at Abusir, Egyptian Museum[81]
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