Teti, 1st king of the 6th dynasty ruled Egypt for some 32 years. The 6th dynasty is considered a period of decline and indeed the Old Kingdom ended with the 6th dynasty after the 92 year reign of Pepi II. Teti chose an area in Central Saqqara just south of the 1st dynasty mastabas and northeast of Userkaf's pyramid. Teti's pyramid follows a diagonal formed by the pyramids of Sekhemkhet, Unas, Djoser and Userkaf. There is some evidence from the nearby mastabas that Teti may come to the throne in unusual circumstances. The pyramid can be entered and has extremely beautiful high relief in the subterranean chambers. It contains a basalt sarcophagus in a pented vault with stars on the ceiling. There are three pyramids in the immediate area. The Ba pyramid on the southeast side. The Queens pyramids of Iput mother of Pepi I, and Khuit located just north of Teti's pyramid next to the mastaba of Ankhmahor. Mereruka served during the sixth dynasty of Egypt as one of Egypt's most powerful officials at a time when the influence of local state noblemen was increasing in wealth and power. Mereruka held numerous titles along with that of Vizier which made him the most powerful person in Egypt after the king himself. Some of the other state titles which Mereruka held included 'Inspector of the priests attached to the pyramid of Teti', 'Governor of the palace', 'Chief lector-priest', 'Overseer of the royal record scribes' and 'Director of all the works of the king. The mastaba is divided into three ares, one for Mereruka, one for his wife and one for their son. The entrance faces the Pyramid of Teti, and is thus on its southern side, which is unusual for the time. Kagemni was also called Memi. He was 'Chief Justice and Vzier, Overseer of the pyramid town of Teti. He had been in royal service since the reign of Unas. His mastaba lies just beside the one of Mereruka and has the same type of entrance door. He was married to a daughter of Teti, by name of Nebti-Nubkhet. Like the wife of Mererukha, she was also known as Seshseshet. The Mastaba of Kagemni: The tomb is wellknow for its beautiful reliefs of animals and birds. The entrance is from the east and on both the doorjambs are depictions of Kagemni along with his titles. A depiction of Kagemni inside the tomb shows him as being rather fat. The whole tomb consists of eight rooms and five magazines. The chambers are all decorated but the colors are not so well preserved as in the tomb of Mereruka. Ti was another official during the 5th Dynasty, and a mighty one. He held the title "Overseer of the Pyramids of Niuserre" and "Overseer of the Suntemples of Sahure, Neferikare and Niuserre. The mastaba lies ca 300 m north from the so called Philosophers Circle, which is a Greek monument and contains statues of Plato, Heraklites, Pythagorean and Pindar, a rather sorry lot of statues few of which are well preserved. The tomb of Ti has been restored since it was discovered by Auguste Mariette in the 1800´s. It is now considered one of the most beautiful of Old Kingdom mastabas in the necropolis. The reliefs are lovely and the motifs unusual. Entrance was via a portico on the north side, leading into a big courtyard with columns and 12 square pillars. There was also a burial shaft. This was in the center and here was the sarcophagus of Ti discovered. Decorations in the courtyard have for the most disappeared except some of Ti in agricultural scenes and of daily life. There is an opening to the serdab (room for statue of the tomb owner) in the north-east corner. In the south-west corner is a false door stela for his son, Demedji Userkaf, 1st king of the 5th dynasty, ruled Egypt for ~7 years. He built his pyramid at Saqqara at the northeast corner of Djoser's complex. The local description for the the pyramid is el-haram el-makherbish "ruined pyramid". The pyramid is not on the tourist track and requires a 30 minute track tru the soft sand from the step pyramid to reach. The pyramid has been stripped of its outer casing and appears as a heap of rubble. Part of the black basalt open court floor is still visible. A satellite pyramid, 21m square, and third pyramid just south of and outside the enclosure wall, was apparently for a queen whose name is Neferhetepes. The open courtyard appears to be in a trench several meter lower than the surrounding desert. Egyptologist are still debating the reasons why Userkaf, the founder of the Fifth dynasty, would build his pyramid on this particular location, away from the 5th dynasty necropolis of Abusir or his predecessor Shepseskaf in south Saqqara. Userkaf wanted to be close the Djoser's step pyramid and this location is probably for political and dynastic reasons. The Pyramid Complex of Unas is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, near Cairo in Egypt. The pyramid of Unas of the Fifth Dynasty (originally known as Beautiful are the places of Unas) is now ruined, and looks more like a small hill than a royal pyramid. It was investigated by Perring and then Lepsius, but it was Gaston Maspero who first gained entry to the chambers in 1881, where he found texts covering the walls of the burial chambers. These together with others found in nearby pyramids of successive pharaohs are now known as the Pyramid Texts. He was the first pharaoh to include this, and he created the concept of having a number of magic spells inscribed on the walls of his tomb, intended to assist with the pharaoh's journey through the Duat and into the afterlife. This concept was thought to be so successful by other pharaohs that it soon evolved into the Coffin Texts in the Middle Kingdom, and then into the Book of the Dead from the beginning of the New Kingdom until the end of the Ptolemaic Period, when new texts began appearing. In the burial chamber itself the remains of a mummy were found, including the skull, right arm and shin, but whether these belong to Unas is not certain. Near to the main pyramid, to the north east, there are mastabas that contain the burials of the consorts of the king. It is believed that within the inscriptions of the Pyramid Text in Unas's tomb, there are also some lines of a Semitic dialect, written in Egyptian script and comprising the earliest evidence of written Semitic language.