The pyramid of Pepi I (in ancient Egyptian Men-nefer-Pepi meaning Pepi's splendour is enduring) is the pyramid complex built for the Egyptian pharaoh Pepi I of the Sixth Dynasty in the 24th or 23rd century BC. The complex gave its name to the capital city of Egypt, Memphis. As in the pyramids of his predecessors, Pepi I's substructure was filled with vertical columns of hieroglyphic texts, Pyramid Texts. It was in Pepi I's pyramid that these texts were initially discovered in 1880 by Gaston Maspero, though they originated in the pyramid of Unas. The corpus of Pepi I's texts is also the largest from the Old Kingdom, comprising 2,263 columns and lines of hieroglyphs.
Pepi I sited his pyramid complex in South Saqqara an approximate north of Djedkare Isesi's pyramid. It is unclear why Pepi I relocated to South Saqqara. Perhaps Pepi I had moved the royal palace south and away from the city, or perhaps no viable sites were left in North and Central Saqqara after Teti built his pyramid there. Pepi I entrusted one of his wives, Inenek-Inti, with the construction of the funerary monument. The pyramid and substructure replicated the basic design of Djedkare-Isesi's and is proportionally very similar. The pyramid has been extensively damaged and now stands as a small ruinous mound. The mortuary temple has also seen extensive damage from stone thieves, but the work carried out by the Mission archéologique française de Saqqâra/Mission archéologique franco-suisse de Saqqâra (MAFS) has revealed that the temple is laid out in near exactly the same manner as those of his predecessor's. Excavation work at the causeway has only extended out to a few metres, and the valley temple and pyramid town remain unexcavated.
The most significant finds at the complex are the queens' pyramids. As of 2017, a total of nine pyramids have been discovered south-west of Pepi I's complex. These pyramids belong to Nebuunet, Inenek-Inti, Meritites IV, Ankhesenpepi II and Ankhesenpepi III, Mehaa with a tomb belonging to her son Hornetjerikhet to its north, Behenu, Reherishefnakht and one, the Western Pyramid, remains anonymous. The pyramids of Queens Ankhesenpepi II and Behenu contain Pyramid Texts. The pyramid of Reherishefnakht contains both Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. This find is significant for two reasons. The first is that it is the oldest known pyramid not built for a member of the royal family. The second is that its epigraphy represents a link between the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Location and excavation
Pepi I selected a site about north of Djedkare's pyramid in South Saqqara. Mark Lehner suggests that siting the pyramid in North or Central Saqqara may not have been possible after Teti built his pyramid there, and that this may be the reason for Pepi I's choice to move to South Saqqara. Jaromír Malek proposes that the "squalor, smell and noise of a crowded city", Djed-Isut to the east of Teti's pyramid, may have caused Djedkare Isesi and Pepi I to relocate their royal palaces further south and that this would explain their siting of their funerary monuments at South Saqqara.
The pyramid was first examined by John Shae Perring in the 1830s. In 1880, Gaston Maspero, director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, arrived in Egypt. He selected a site in South Saqqara, a mound that had been previously mapped by Karl Richard Lepsius, for his first archaeological dig. Here he found the ruins of a large structure which he identified as the pyramid of Pepi I. During the excavations he was able to gain access to the substructure where he discovered that the walls were covered in hieroglyphic text – the Pyramid Texts. This was the first pyramid in which texts were found. Maspero also found texts in the pyramids of Unas, Teti, Merenre I, and Pepi II in 1880–1. He published his findings in Les inscriptions des pyramides de Saqqarah in 1894.
MAFS has been leading efforts at the site of Pepi I's pyramid since 1950. Jean-Philippe Lauer and Jean Sainte-Fare Garnot led the efforts until 1963, and since then the site has been under the supervision of Jean Leclant and . Under Jean Leclant's supervision, a "major architectural and epigraphic project" was undertaken in the pyramids of Unas, Teti, Pepi I, and Merenre I. In 1966, the burial chamber and passageway of the substructure in Pepi I's pyramid were unearthed. It was revealed that the texts in Pepi I's pyramid were engraved and painted in a shade of green, referred to by ancient Egyptians as wadj, that symbolized "renewal and germination".