Editing Unas (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:Scarab Unas.png|thumb|[[Scarab (artifact)|Scarab]] bearing Unas' name{{sfn|Petrie|1917|loc=Plate IX & p. 34, [https://archive.org/stream/scarabscylinders00petr#page/9/mode/2up see the scarabs]}}|alt=A small seal in the shape of a scarab inscribed with hieroglyphs spelling the name Unas.]]
Unas' most immediate legacy is his funerary cult, which continued at least until the end of the Old Kingdom. This cult is attested by the tombs at Saqqara of seven priests responsible for the religious duties to be performed in the funerary complex. Three of these tombs date to the early Sixth Dynasty in the time following the death of Pepi I. Three more tombs date to the reign of [[Pepi II]] and the last one dates to the very end of the Old Kingdom (c. 2180 BC). The priests of the cult of Unas adopted basilophorous names, incorporating that of the king, possibly upon taking office.{{sfn|Altenmüller|1974|pp=3&ndash;4}}

Unas' funerary cult appears to have survived during the chaotic [[First Intermediate Period]] until the Middle Kingdom.{{sfn|Morales|2006|p=314}} By the time of the [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|12th Dynasty]] (c. 1990&ndash;c. 1800 BC), the lector-priest Unasemsaf{{efn|group=lower-alpha|Unasemsaf means "Unas is his protection".}} and his family were involved in the cult of Unas.{{sfn|Moussa|1971}}{{sfn|Moussa|Altenmüller|1975}} In spite of this, Unas' funerary complex was partially dismantled and its materials reemployed for the construction of [[Amenemhat I]] and [[Senusret I]]s' own pyramid complexes.{{sfn|Goedicke|1971|p=}}{{sfn|Malek|2000b|p=257}}

In addition to his official cult, Unas was deified and became a local god of the Saqqara necropolis. Grimal attributes this directly to the grandeur of his funerary complex.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=80}} Malek doubts the existence of a popular cult of Unas during the Old Kingdom but acknowledges it from the Middle Kingdom onwards.{{sfn|Malek|2000b|pp=250&ndash;251}} He attributes this Middle Kingdom revival to the geographic position of Unas' complex making it a natural gateway to the Saqqara necropolis.{{sfn|Malek|2000b|p=256}} The popular cult of the deified Unas continued for nearly 2,000 years as shown by the numerous scarabs bearing Unas' name found in Saqqara and dated from the New Kingdom (c. 1550&ndash;c. 1077 BC) until the [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Late Period]] (664&ndash;332 BC).{{sfn|Petrie|1917|loc=Plate IX & p. 34, [https://archive.org/stream/scarabscylinders00petr#page/9/mode/2up see the scarabs]}}{{sfn|Newberry|2003|loc=Plate IV. Scarabs 32, 33 & 34}}{{sfn|MFA Online catalog|2015}}{{sfn|MMA Online catalog|2015}} The epicenter of this cult was not the pyramid of Unas nor the associated mortuary temple but rather the statues of the king in the valley temple.{{sfn|Gundlach|2001|p=375}}
This activity could explain why the pyramid complex of Unas was the object of restoration works under the impulse of Prince [[Khaemweset]], a son of [[Ramesses II]] (1279&ndash;1213 BC).{{sfn|Lehner|1997|p=155}}