If Moses belonged to Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty, then six sun temples ought not to be expected

 

by

Damien F. Mackey

 

“Sun temples were constructed to honor Ra, the primary sun god,

and to reinforce the pharaohs’ divine connection. They were most prominent

during the Fifth Dynasty (c. 25th–24th century BCE), with six or seven temples attributed to kings such as Userkaf, Sahure, Neferirkare Kakai, Neferefre, Nyuserre, and Menkauhor”.

 AI Overview

 

There just would not have been that many pharaohs, “six or seven”, in an Egyptian dynasty with which Moses was contemporaneous.

These dynasties (except that there was actually only one of them) were, according to what I have previously determined, the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Twelfth, and, in part, the Thirteenth.

 

As I re-iterated in my article:

 

Joseph and Moses loom large in Egyptian dynastic history

 

(6) Joseph and Moses loom large in Egyptian dynastic history

 

“Joseph and Moses serve to knit together Egypt’s early dynastic history, and they even bring into synchronicity the Old Kingdom with the so-called ‘Middle’ Kingdom”.

 

Re-casting Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty

 

But here, in connection with the sun temples, we are concerned solely with:

 

Moses in Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty

 

(5) Moses in Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty

 

The other matter that immediately needs to be rectified is that, if we are talking here about the era of Moses, those grossly inflated conventional dates for the Fifth Dynasty, “(c. 25th–24th century BCE)”, would need to be lowered on the timescale by roughly a millennium, to c. 1500 BC.

 

The proper configuration for an Egyptian dynasty to which Moses belonged, yea, even ruled, must proceed according to the following pattern:

 

1.       The Founding Pharaoh (“new king” of Exodus 1:8);

2.      Moses as ruler briefly, before abdication;

3.      The traditional pharaoh, “Chenephres”, rival of Moses,

married to “Merris”, Egyptian foster-mother of Moses;

4.      Female Pharaoh.

 

Such a configuration is relatively easily recognised in the so-called Sixth Dynasty, with 1. Teti (and Merenre) as Founder; 2. Userkare as Moses, whose memory is damned to the “desert” by 3. Pepi Neferkare (“Chenephres”), married to Ankhesenmerire/Meres-ankh, “Merris”; the dynasty concluding with the female pharaoh, Nitocris.  

 

I need to add a further important dimension here, as it will be relevant to Moses and the Fifth Dynasty. Moses was also the influential and highly literate Egyptian official, Vizier and Chief Judge (cf. Exodus 2:14), Weni. That name element, Weni (var. Uni), whatever its meaning (a hypocoristicon, nickname?), recurs in relation to Moses from the Fifth to the Twelfth dynasty. On this, see my article:

 

Ini, Weni, Iny, Moses

 

(6) Ini, Weni, Iny, Moses

 

Somewhat more of a challenge, though - than in the case of the Sixth Dynasty - will be to crystallise into a Mosaïc pattern the Fifth Dynasty of multiple names:

 

Userkaf,

Sahure,

Neferirkare,

Neferere

Shepseskare

Niuserre Ini,

Djedkare

Unas

 

For one, there is no female pharaoh listed, to correspond with the legendary Nitocris (Sixth Dynasty), with Sobekneferure (Twelfth Dynasty).

 

Names above with the element Kaf (Userkaf - Shepseskare possibly being the same as Shepseskaf, Fourth Dynasty) - and Nefer, I would identify with Khafra/ “Chenephres”/Neferkare, our no. 3. ruler above.

 

In terms of name, at least, Unas looks very much like Weni (Uni), who was Moses.

 

More clearly, Moses was pharaoh Niuserre Ini (one of those Ini, Weni, Iny names).

 

For the female pharaoh, I would suggest the newly-found Fifth Dynasty woman ruler, Khentkaus. See my article:

 

Triplicating woman ruler Khentkaus

 

(2) Triplicating woman ruler Khentkaus

 

My re-configuring of the Fifth Dynasty according to our Mosaïc pattern, then, would be approximately this:

 

1. Sahure (and Djedkare) as Founder; 2. Niuserre Ini as Moses; 3. Userkaf, Neferirkare, Shepseskare and Neferere as Neferkare/“Chenephres”, supposedly married to Khentkaus; the dynasty concluding with the female ruler, Khentkaus.    

 

The first king, Djedkare, had a famous Vizier and sage, Ptahhotep – thought by many to have been the biblical Joseph – but who, I think, must be another version of Moses:

 

Moses, not Joseph, pertains to Egyptian Fifth-Twelfth dynasty

 

(6) Moses, not Joseph, pertains to Egyptian Fifth-Twelfth dynasty

 

From this reconstruction, one would expect only two to three, not six to seven, Egyptian sun temples. And this, indeed, is how few of them have been found.