The Eighth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty VIII) was a little-known and short-lived dynasty of pharaohs who ruled in quick succession during the early 22nd century BC, likely based in Memphis. The Eighth Dynasty held sway at a time referred to as the very end of the Old Kingdom or the beginning of the First Intermediate Period. The power of the pharaohs was waning while that of the provincial governors, known as nomarchs, was increasingly important, the Egyptian state having by then effectively turned into a feudal system. In spite of close relations between the Memphite kings and powerful nomarchs, notably in Coptos, the Eighth Dynasty was eventually overthrown by the nomarchs of Heracleopolis Magna, who founded the Ninth Dynasty. The Eighth Dynasty is occasionally grouped with the preceding Seventh Dynasty due to the absence of archaeological evidence for the latter, which is considered by some scholars to be possibly fictitious.
Egyptologists estimate that the Eighth Dynasty ruled Egypt for approximately 20–45 years and various dates have been proposed: 2190–2165 BC, 2181–2160 BC, 2191–2145 BC,
Sources
thumb|right|500px|Kings of the 8th Dynasty on the Abydos king list, from [[Netjerkare Siptah to Neferkamin.]]
thumb|right|500px|Kings of the 8th Dynasty on the Abydos king list, from [[Nikare until Neferirkare.]]
Historical
New Kingdom sources
Two historical sources dating to the New Kingdom list kings belonging to the Eighth Dynasty. The earliest of the two and main historical source on the Eighth Dynasty is the Abydos king list, written during the reign of Seti I. The kings listed on the entries 40 to 56 of the Abydos king list are placed between the end of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom period and the beginning of the Eleventh Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. Furthermore, the names of these kings are different from those known from the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties, none of which are on the Abydos list. As a consequence, entries 40 to 56 of the list are assigned to the Seventh and Eighth Dynasties.
The other New Kingdom source on the Eighth Dynasty is the Turin canon, written during the reign of Ramses II. The Turin papyrus was copied from an earlier source which, as the Egyptologist Kim Ryholt has shown, was itself riddled with lacunae and must have been in a poor state. In addition, the Turin papyrus is itself heavily damaged and cannot be read without much difficulty. In total three names are present on papyrus fragments which might be allocated to Eighth Dynasty kings. These are Netjerkare Siptah, another hard to read name and finally, that of Qakare Ibi, the fifty-third king on the Abydos king list. There seems to be room for two or three Because Manetho does not provide actual historical data on this period and no archeological evidence for the Seventh Dynasty has emerged, many Egyptologists have argued that this dynasty is fictitious. Concerning the Eighth Dynasty, it is now widely agreed that Manetho's estimate for its duration is a very substantial overestimation of the reality.
End of the Old Kingdom and decline into chaos
thumb|upright=1.2|Fragments of two [[Coptos Decrees dating to the reign of Neferkauhor, end of the Eighth Dynasty.]]
The Eighth Dynasty has traditionally been classified as the first dynasty of the First Intermediate Period owing to the ephemeral nature of its kings' reigns as well as the sparsity of contemporary evidence, hinting at a decline of the state into chaos. Recent re-appraisal of the archaeological evidence has shown a strong continuity between the Sixth and Eighth Dynasties, so that Egyptologist Hratch Papazian has proposed that the Eighth Dynasty rather than the Sixth should be seen as the last of the Old Kingdom period.
Given that five Eighth Dynasty kings bore Pepi II's throne name Neferkare as part of their own names, they may have been descendants of 6th Dynasty, who were trying to hold on to some sort of power. Some of the acts of the final four Dynasty VIII kings are recorded in their decrees to Shemay, a vizier during this period, although only Qakare Ibi can be connected to any monumental construction. His pyramid has been found at Saqqara near that of Pepi II and, like its predecessors, had the Pyramid Texts written on the walls. are usually attributed to the Eighth Dynasty. Following Jürgen von Beckerath, they are :
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+Dynasty VIII as per von Beckerath
|-
| Neferkare Tereru
|
|-
| Neferkahor
| Attested by a cylinder seal.
|-
| Neferkare Pepiseneb
| Turin Canon gives at least one year.
|-
| Neferkamin Anu
|
|-
| Qakare Ibi
| Turin Canon gives rule of two years, one month, one day. Attested by his pyramid at Saqqara.
|-
| Neferkaure
| Turin Canon gives rule of 4 years and 2 months,
|-
| Khwiwihepu Neferkauhor
| Turin Canon gives rule of 2 years, 1 month and 1 day, and an inscription in the tomb of vizier Shemay.
|-
| Neferirkare
| Turin Canon gives a reign of years.
!Turin King List Reign Length