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Userkare

Userkare's name means: "The Soul of Re is Strong". Notable is that he, who usually is left out of most modern lists of kings, is better attested for than one would think. Besides the Turin and Abydos king's lists there are other records with his name which have survived. Among them is a script where workers at Qau el-Kebir south of Asyut in middle Egypt are mentioned. Maybe they were engaged with stone material for the king's tomb or another monument. Userkare may have been a surviving claimer of the throne from the fifth dynasty and a rival to Teti for accessing the kingship.
Since Manethoo claims that pharaoh Teti was killed by his bo- dyguards, theories of conspiracy have been put forward advo- cating that Userkare was the man behind, but after a short reign was put out of office by the murdered king's son Pepi, the next king to be. But there is a slight possibility that he Userkare became pharaoh because the crown prince was too young and left office when the heir had reached a proper age to rule himself. But in that case he would hardly have called himself "king", but he did.
No monuments of Userkare's have bee found and his tomb (pyramid?) is possibly yet to be found. This lack of substantial remains is the backbone in the theory that he was a usurper who was overthrown from the leadership over the Nile Valley and thus his remains have all been delibrately taken away or taken over by the following kings. Future finds will hopefully bring knowledge about Userkare's deeds, who he really was and where he came from.
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