| Merenre Nemtyemsaf II | |
|---|---|
| Menthesouphis (Africanus after Manetho), Antyemsaf | |
 A false door fragment depicting Nemtyemsaf II from the PyramidNeith, who may be his mother | |
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | Around 1 year and 1 month, c. 2214 – c. 2213 BC[note 1] |
| Predecessor | Pepi II |
| Successor | PossiblyNetjerkare Siptah |
| Father | Pepi II |
| Mother | PossiblyNeith[7] |
| Died | c. 2213 BC |
| Dynasty | 6th Dynasty |
Merenre Nemtyemsaf II (diedc. 2213 BC) was anancient Egyptianking, the sixth and penultimate ruler of the6th Dynasty.[8] He reigned for 1 year and 1 month in the second half of the 23rd century BC, at the very end of theOld Kingdom period. Nemtyemsaf II likely ascended the throne as an old man, succeeding his long-lived fatherPepi II Neferkare at a time when the power of the king was crumbling.
Merenre Nemtyemsaf II is attested on the 4th line, column 6 of theTurin canon, a king list redacted in the earlyRamesside Period. Although his name is lost in the canon, the duration of its reign is still readable as 1 year and 1 month, following the reign of Pepi II Neferkare.[9]
Nemtyemsaf II is also attested on the 39th entry of theAbydos King List,[9] which dates to the reign ofSeti I and constitutes one of the best preserved historical records for the end of theOld Kingdom and beginning of theFirst Intermediate Period. The Abydos king list is the only document where Nemtyemsaf II bears the throne name Merenre.
A later historical source also records the existence of Nemtyemsaf II: indeed he is mentioned inManetho'sAegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC. Manetho gives Nemtyemsaf II's name as Menthesouphis and credits him with one year of reign.[1]
There is only one contemporary artefact known for sure to belong to Nemtyemsaf II. It is a damagedfalse door inscribed withSa-nesu semsu Nemtyemsaf, meaning "The elder king's son Nemtyemsaf", and was discovered near the site of the pyramid ofNeith, Pepi II's half-sister and queen and most likely Nemtyemsaf II's mother.[7][9] As indicated by the epithet of "elder king's son", this inscription was made before Nemtyemsaf's accession to the throne, when he was the heir apparent and also shows that he bore this name before becoming a king.[10]
A second artefact may possibly belong to Nemtyemsaf II: a decree to protect the funerary cults of queensAnkhesenpepi I andNeith discovered in the mortuary temple of queen Neith.[11][12] If this decree was indeed issued by Nemtyemsaf II, hisHorus name would beS[...]tawy meaning, "He who causes the two lands to...".
Nemtyemsaf II succeeded his father Pepi II after his extremely long reign, believed to have been around 64 years. Nothing is known for certain of Nemtyemsaf's activities but he likely had to face the collapse of the royal power and the rise of the provincialnomarchs. Less than 3 years after his death, the Old Kingdom period ended and the chaos of the First Intermediate Period started. Nemtyemsaf II may possibly have started a pyramid for himself and, if so, it would likely have been inSaqqara,[9] close to that of his father.[13]
In hisHistories, the Greek historianHerodotus records a legend according to which an Egyptian queenNitocris took revenge on the murder of her brother and husband by a rioting mob, allegedly Nemtyemsaf II, by drowning all his murderers during a banquet where she had gathered them. It is now suggested that the name "Nitocris" is a result of conflation and distortion from the name of a real male pharaoh,Neitiqerty Siptah, who succeeded Nemtyemsaf II.[14]
| Preceded by PossiblyPepi II | King of Egypt c. 2214 – c. 2213 BC | Succeeded by PossiblyNeitiqerty Siptah |
