Menkauhor Kaiu

Menkauhor Kaiu
Mencherês, Menkaouhor, Ikau, Ikaouhor, Hor-A-Kau
Statue of Menkauhor wearing the dress of the Sed festival from Memphis[note 1][2]
Pharaoh
Reign	Eight to nine years of reign in the late-25th to early-24th century BC.[note 2]
Predecessor	Nyuserre Ini
Successor	Djedkare Isesi
Royal titulary Horus name Menkhau Mn-ḫ3w He whose appearances are eternal Alternative translation: Established of appearances[11] Golden Horus Bik-nebu Hedj Bik-nbw ḥḏ The effulgent Golden Falcon Alternative translation: The radiant Golden Falcon[11] Turin canon: Menkahor Mn-k3-Ḥr The Ka of Horus Saqqara Tablet: Menkahor Mn-k3-Ḥr The Ka of Horus Abydos king list: Menkauhor Mn-k3w-Ḥr Eternal are the Kas of Horus Prenomen  (Praenomen) Menkauhor Mn-k3w-Ḥr Eternal are the Kas of Horus[4] Alternative translation: The established one of the Kas of Horus[11] Nomen Ikauhor Ik3w-Ḥr The Ka of Horus Variant form: Kaiu Ik3w The Ka [of Horus]
Consort	Uncertain: Khuit I,[12][13] Meresankh IV[14]
Children	Conjectural: Raemka ♂, Khaemtjenent ♂
Father	Uncertain, possibly Neferefre or, less likely, Nyuserre Ini
Mother	Possibly Khentkaus III[15]
Burial	Headless Pyramid
Monuments	Sun temple Akhet-Ra Pyramid Netjer-isut-Menkauhor
Dynasty	Fifth Dynasty

Menkauhor Kaiu (also known as Ikauhor and in Greek as Mencherês, Μεγχερῆς)^[16] was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Old Kingdom period. He was the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynasty at the end of the 25th century BC or early in the 24th century BC (circa 2399–2390 BC).

Menkauhor ruled for possibly eight or nine years, following king Nyuserre Ini, and was succeeded in turn by Djedkare Isesi. Although Menkauhor is well attested by historical sources, few artefacts from his reign have survived. Consequently, his familial relation to his predecessor and successor is unclear, and no offspring of his have been identified. Khentkaus III may have been Menkauhor's mother, as indicated by evidence discovered in her tomb in 2015.

Beyond the construction of monuments, the only known activity dated to Menkauhor's reign is an expedition to the copper and turquoise mines in Sinai. Menkauhor ordered the construction of a sun temple, called the "Akhet-Ra", meaning "The Horizon of Ra". The last to be built, this sun temple, known from inscriptions found in the tombs of its priests, is yet to be located. Menkauhor was buried in a small pyramid in Saqqara, which the Ancient Egyptians named Netjer-Isut Menkauhor, "The Divine Places of Menkauhor". Known today as the Headless Pyramid, the ruin had been lost under shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2008.

The figure of Menkauhor was at the centre of a long lasting funerary cult until the end of the Old Kingdom period, with at least seven agricultural domains producing goods for the necessary offerings. The cult of a deified Menkauhor, then known by the titles "Strong Lord of the Two Lands, Menkauhor the Justified" reappeared during the New Kingdom period (c. 1550 – c. 1077 BC), and lasted until at least the Nineteenth Dynasty (c. 1292 – c. 1077 BC), some 1200 years after his death.

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