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Thanks again for listening. Around 2,200 BC, the only pharaoh that most Egyptians had ever known, the extremely long-lived

Pepe the second, finally passed away. His body was placed in a modest pyramid, made from small

local stones and infill, then covered with a veneer of limestone.

His mortuary temple was decorated with a scene of the king spearing a hippopotamus, wrote

symbology of the triumph of order over chaos. Considering what was coming their way, it was incredibly wishful thinking.

According to Manetho and the Turin King list, Pepe the Second was followed by a son named

Marin Ray II, who only lasted one year. He was followed by a cryptic figure named Negerkaray Sipta, sometimes associated with a

legendary queen called Naitacris. On Sipta's death, around three years later, we don't really

know what happened. Remember the Acadian period of confusion after Sharkhali Shari died, the whole who was king, who was not king era?

This is pretty much the exact same thing. According to Manetho, the subsequent seventh Egyptian dynasty consisted of 70 kings of Memphis who reigned for 70 days. You can probably do the math

yourself. We're talking about pure chaos. For the nine odd centuries of the Egyptian old kingdom,

Ferronic power had largely been based on belief in the ruler's divine authority and his ability to

organize and execute massive state building projects. With executive power devolved to the

provinces, pharaohs dropping off like flies, and construction totally stopped, claims of divine authority were ringing a bit hollow.

And there was one drastic response. Perjondi Romer, in the subsequent period, most of the

memphite pyramids were opened, the lids of their sarcoph's smashed and slid aside, and the royal corpses

...