According to Herodotus, Menkaure was succeeded by Asychis. However, it is not clear that Shepsekaf (son of Menkaure) and Asychis were indeed one and the same. For a start, Asychis supposedly built a brick pyramid, but this building technique was not used until the Middle Kingdom.
Diodorus Siculus mentions a King named Sasychis, who ruled in the second dynasty and was a great lawgiver. It is possible that he is the source for Asychis, placing him in the wrong time-period. Others suggest that Asychis was Sheshonq I (based on the Greek rendering of the pharaoh’s name as Asa-ix.t), but he was a twenty-second dynasty pharaoh!
Herodotus claims that Asychis established a system whereby loans could be granted using the family tomb as security. He also built a gateway for the temple of Hephaistos (Ptah).
Herodotus: Pharaohs
- Min
- Cheops
- Chephren
- Mykerinos
- Asychis
- Nitocris
- Moiris
- Sesostris
- Pheros
- Proteus
- Rhampsinitos
- Anysis
- Sethon
- Psammis
- Apries
- Amasis
- Cambyses
- Darius
Copyright J Hill 2010