Sahure

Sahure
Sephres (Manetho)
Head of a gneiss statue of Sahure in the gallery 103 of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pharaoh
Reign	Duration: 13 years, 5 months and 12 days, in the early 25th century BC.(5th Dynasty)
Predecessor	Userkaf
Successor	Neferirkare Kakai
Royal titulary
Consort	Meretnebty
Children	Ranefer (ascended the throne as Neferirkare Kakai), Netjerirenre (possibly the same person as Shepseskare), Horemsaf, Raemsaf, Khakare and Nebankhre
Father	Userkaf
Mother	Neferhetepes II
Burial	Pyramid of Sahure
Monuments	Pyramid of Sahure "The Rising of the Ba Spirit of Sahure" at Abusir Sun temple "The Field of Ra" Palace "Sahure's splendor soars up to heaven"

Sahure (meaning "He who is close to Re") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the second ruler of the Fifth Dynasty, who reigned for about 12 years in the early 25th century BC. Sahure is considered to be one of the most important kings of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, his reign being a political and cultural high point of the 5th Dynasty. He was probably the son of his predecessor Userkaf with queen Neferhetepes II, and was in turn succeeded by his son Neferirkare Kakai.

During Sahure's time on the throne, Egypt had important trade relations with the Levantine coast. Sahure launched several naval expeditions to modern day Lebanon to procure cedar trees, people (possibly slaves) and exotic items. He also ordered the earliest attested expedition to the land of Punt, which brought back large quantities of myrrh, malachite and electrum. Sahure is shown celebrating the success of this venture in a relief from his mortuary temple which shows him tending a myrrh tree in the garden of his palace named "Sahure's splendor soars up to heaven". This relief is the only one in Egyptian art depicting a king gardening. Sahure sent further expeditions to the mines of turquoise and copper in Sinai. He also possibly ordered military campaigns against Libyan chieftains in the Western Desert, bringing back livestock to Egypt.

Sahure had a pyramid built for himself in Abusir, thereby abandoning the royal necropolises of Saqqara and Giza, where his predecessors had built their pyramids. This decision was possibly motivated by the presence of the sun temple of Userkaf in Abusir, the first such temple of the 5th Dynasty. The Pyramid of Sahure is much smaller than the pyramids of the preceding 4th Dynasty but the decoration of his mortuary temple is more elaborate. The causeway and mortuary temple of his pyramid complex were once adorned by over 10,000 m² (110,000 sq ft) of fine reliefs, which made them renowned in antiquity. The architects of Sahure's pyramid complex introduced the use of palmiform columns (that is columns whose capital has the form of palm leaves), which would soon become a hallmark of ancient Egyptian architecture. Sahure is also known to have constructed a sun temple called "The Field of Ra", and although it is yet to be located it is presumably in Abusir as well.