# Neferkare Pepiseneb
**Neferkare Pepiseneb** (also written Neferkara Pepyseneb) was a king of Egypt's Eighth Dynasty at the end of the Old Kingdom, known only from two retrospective king lists. The [Abydos King List](https://www.edgepedia.org/abydos-king-list) records him at entry 51, and the Turin Canon at entry 5/8 under the alternative form Neferka Kheredseneb; Egyptologists have accepted the equation of the two names since Kim Ryholt proposed it in 2000.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Position | Eighth Dynasty king; successor of Neferkahor in Brovarski's reconstruction, predecessor of Neferkamin Anu[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) |
| Primary evidence | Abydos King List entry 51; Turin Canon entry 5/8[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) • [2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm) |
| Name meaning | nfr-kꜢ-rꜤ pi-pi-snb, "The perfect one of the ka of Ra, Pepi is healthy"[3](https://pharalex.app/pharaohs/neferkara-pepiseneb) • [2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm) |
| Turin epithet | Sri, "The Younger"[2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm) |
| Proposed date | end of the Old Kingdom around 2184-2169 BC by Pepy II-based chronologies[4](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/dating-the-end-of-the-egyptian-old-kingdom-new-contextualized-dates-from-the-reign-of-king-pepy-ii/B8849D7D87F21E19E7DD288FEED99CE0); 2118 BC by the Hornung, Krauss, and Warburton chronology[2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm) |
| Contemporary monuments | None securely; a pyramid named Djed-ankh-Neferkara is a possible attribution[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) |
## Attestations
Two New Kingdom documents preserve the king's name. The Abydos King List, inscribed in the mortuary temple of Sety I in the Nineteenth Dynasty, gives his cartouche (oval hieroglyphic frame enclosing a royal name) as entry 51, Neferkara Pepyseneb.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) In the section following the Sixth Dynasty this list preserves 17 royal names, most with nominal reign lengths of one to four years, confirming that these short-lived rulers held a place in the official record.[5](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/egypt/dynasty-7-8.htm) The Turin Canon, a papyrus list, names him at entry 5/8 as Neferka Kheredseneb and adds the epithet Sri, "The Younger".[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) • [2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm)
No contemporary inscription or artifact naming the king has been securely identified. A possible exception is the pyramid name Djed-ankh-Neferkara, attested on a stela from the tomb of Ankhenespepy IV at Saqqara; one reconstruction assigns this pyramid to Pepyseneb, reviving a proposal first made by Gustave Jéquier in 1933.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) The lists supplement one another and allow a fairly reliable sequence of the dynasty's rulers even though individual reigns are otherwise undocumented.[2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm) His name is written in hieroglyphs as nfr-kꜢ-rꜤ pi-pi-snb, read "The perfect one of the ka of Ra, Pepi is healthy".[3](https://pharalex.app/pharaohs/neferkara-pepiseneb) • [2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm)
## Place in the dynasty and succession
The boundaries of the Eighth Dynasty are drawn differently by different scholars. Brovarski (2018) ends Dynasty 7 with [Neferkahor](https://www.edgepedia.org/neferkahor) (Abydos entry 50) and begins Dynasty 8 with Neferkahor's successor in the king lists, Neferkara Pepyseneb/Kheredseneb, so that Dynasty 8 runs from Abydos entry 51 to 56.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) Von Beckerath instead assigns seventeen kings, from Netjerkara until Neferirkara II (entries 40-56), to the dynasty, while Papazian (2015) begins it with Qakare Ibi.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf)
In the Turin Canon the kings following Pepyseneb have recorded reign lengths of a few years at most: Ibi, 2 years, 1 month, 1 day; Neferkaura, 4 years, 2 months; [Neferkauhor](https://www.edgepedia.org/neferkauhor), 2 years, 1 month, 1 day; and Neferirkara II, 1 year and a half.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) One reconstruction places Pepyseneb's accession seven years after Pepy II's death, allowing one year for Merenra II and six for [Nitocris](https://www.edgepedia.org/nitocris) and Dynasty 7, and suggests on that basis that he was a son or grandson of Pepy II.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf)
## By the numbers: dating the reign
The Turin Canon preserves a total for the kings until Neferirkara II of 181 years, 6 months, 3 days, plus a lacuna of 6 years, for a grand total of 187 years, 6 months, 3 days.[1](https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf) Working backwards from a fixed point depends first on where Pepy II's 60-plus-year reign ended. Shaw (2003) dates Pepy II between 2278 and 2184 BCE; von Beckerath allocates him 60 years, either 2279-2219 BCE or 2229-2169 BCE.[4](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/dating-the-end-of-the-egyptian-old-kingdom-new-contextualized-dates-from-the-reign-of-king-pepy-ii/B8849D7D87F21E19E7DD288FEED99CE0) A date near c. 2170 BC for Pepyseneb follows from chronologies built on this framework. The Hornung, Krauss and Warburton chronology, on the other hand, yields a date of 2118 BC for the reign, roughly fifty years later.[2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm)
## Egypt in the late Old Kingdom: the Memphite rump state
Pepyseneb ruled a state in visible contraction. In Manetho's dynastic order, Dynasty VII functions as a symbol of anarchy and the collapse of central control, and combining Dynasties VII and VIII into a single chaotic blur is too far-reaching a simplification.[2](http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm) The single most important documentary source for the Eighth Dynasty is the series of royal decrees found at the temple of Min at Coptos (modern Qift) in [Upper Egypt](https://www.edgepedia.org/upper-egypt), designated A through R by their original editors, Raymond Weill and Hans Goedicke.[5](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/egypt/dynasty-7-8.htm)
The decrees record tax exemptions for the temple of Min, appointments of officials, land grants, and the conferral of extraordinary powers on one family: Decree B, issued by Neferkauhor, appoints Shemai as vizier, judge, and governor of Upper Egypt, and Decree C confirms the appointment and extends it to Shemai's son Idi, including hereditary control of the vizierate and the governorship of the seven southernmost nomes.[5](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/egypt/dynasty-7-8.htm) Royal power had devolved to provincial lords who retained nominal loyalty to the Memphite court. The dynasty was eventually overthrown by a rival group based in Herakleopolis Magna.[5](https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/egypt/dynasty-7-8.htm)
## References
1. Mahieu, *Manetho's Seventh and Eighth Dynasties: A Puzzle Solved*, UB IPOA. https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20252Mahieu.pdf
2. *Ancient Egypt - Dynasty VIII*, narmer.pl. http://narmer.pl/dyn/08en.htm
3. *Neferkara Pepiseneb*, PharaLex. https://pharalex.app/pharaohs/neferkara-pepiseneb
4. *Dating the End of the Egyptian Old Kingdom: New Contextualized Dates from the Reign of King Pepy II*, Radiocarbon (Cambridge Core). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/dating-the-end-of-the-egyptian-old-kingdom-new-contextualized-dates-from-the-reign-of-king-pepy-ii/B8849D7D87F21E19E7DD288FEED99CE0
5. *Dynasties VII & VIII - The Memphite Rump State*, GlobalSecurity.org. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/egypt/dynasty-7-8.htm
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Periods and civilizations › Ancient Near East, Egypt, Nubia, and the Punic world › Ancient Egypt › Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period › Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period: rulers and royal family › Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period pharaohs*
*Initially written Sep 19, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026 · Last review: Sep 19, 2026*
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