Khufu or Cheops was an
ancient Egyptian
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
who was the second
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...
of the
Fourth Dynasty
The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty IV) is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other ...
, in the first half of the
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
period (
26th century BC
The 26th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 2600 BC to 2501 BC.
Events Crete
* c. 2600–2400 BC: Early Minoan I period in Crete.
Egypt
* c. 2551–2526 BC: Reign of Khufu, second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. The height of th ...
). Khufu succeeded his father
Sneferu
Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phar ...
as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Worl ...
, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity. The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2 ...
, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented.
[
The only completely preserved portrait of the king is a three-inch high ivory figurine found in a temple ruin of a later period at Abydos in 1903. All other ]relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
s and statues were found in fragments, and many buildings of Khufu are lost. Everything known about Khufu comes from inscriptions in his necropolis at Giza and later documents. For example, Khufu is the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus
The Westcar Papyrus (inventory-designation: ''P. Berlin 3033'') is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. In the papyrus text, each of these tales are told at the royal court of king K ...
from the 13th dynasty
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave p ...
.[
Most documents that mention king Khufu were written by ancient Egyptian and Greek historians around 300 BC. Khufu's obituary is presented there in a conflicting way: while the king enjoyed a long-lasting cultural heritage preservation during the period of the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom, the ancient historians Manetho, ]Diodorus
Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...
and Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
hand down a very negative depiction of Khufu's character. Thanks to these documents, an obscure and critical picture of Khufu's personality persists.[
]
Khufu's name
Khufu's name was dedicated to the god Khnum
Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt an ...
, which might point to an increase of Khnum's popularity and religious importance. In fact, several royal and religious titles introduced at this time may point out that Egyptian pharaohs sought to accentuate their divine origin and status by dedicating their official cartouche names to certain deities. Khufu may have viewed himself as a divine creator, a role that was already given to Khnum, the god of creation and growth. As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. Khufu's full name (Khnum-khufu) means "Khnum protect me". While modern Egyptological pronunciation renders his name as ''Khufu'', at the time of his reign his name was probably pronounced as ''Kha(w)yafwi(y)'', and during the Hellenized era, ''Khewaf(w)''.
The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: ''Khnum-khuf'' and ''Khufu''. The first (complete) version clearly exhibits Khufu's religious loyalty to Khnum, the second (shorter) version does not. It is unknown as to why the king would use a shortened name version since it hides the name of Khnum and the king's name connection to this god. It might be possible though, that the short name wasn't meant to be connected to any god at all.[
Khufu is well-known under his ]Hellenized
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
name , Khéops or Cheops (, , by Diodorus
Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...
and Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
) and less well-known under another Hellenized name, , Súphis (, , by Manetho).[Aidan Dodson: ''Monarchs of the Nile''. American Univ in Cairo Press, 2000, , page 29–34.] A rare version of the name of Khufu, used by Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, is , Sofe (, ).[Flavius Josephus, Folker Siegert: ''Über Die Ursprünglichkeit des Judentums (Contra Apionem)'' (=''Über die Ursprünglichkeit des Judentums'', Volume 1, Flavius Josephus. From: ''Schriften Des Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum, Westfalen Institutum Iudaicum Delitzschianum Münster)''. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, , page 85.] Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
historians, who wrote mystic stories about Khufu and the Giza pyramids, called him Saurid ( ar, سوريد) or Salhuk (سلهوق).
Family
Khufu's origin
The royal family of Khufu was quite large. It is uncertain if Khufu was actually the biological son of Sneferu
Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phar ...
. Mainstream Egyptologists believe Sneferu was Khufu's father, but only because it was handed down by later historians that the eldest son or a selected descendant would inherit the throne. In 1925 the tomb of queen Hetepheres I, ''G 7000x'', was found east of Khufu's pyramid. It contained many precious grave goods, and several inscriptions give her the title ''Mut-nesut'' (meaning "mother of a king"), together with the name of king Sneferu. Therefore, it seemed clear at first that Hetepheres was the wife of Sneferu, and that they were Khufu's parents. More recently, however, some have doubted this theory, because Hetepheres is not known to have borne the title ''Hemet-nesut'' (meaning "king's wife"), a title indispensable to confirm a queen's royal status.[Silke Roth: Die Königsmütter des Alten Ägypten von der Frühzeit bis zum Ende der 12. Dynastie (= Ägypten und Altes Testament 46). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2001, , pp. 354–358, 388.] Instead of the spouse's title, Hetepheres bore only the title ''Sat-netjer-khetef'' (verbatim: "daughter of his divine body"; symbolically: "king's bodily daughter"), a title mentioned for the first time.[ As a result, researchers now think Khufu may not have been Sneferu's biological son, but that Sneferu legitimised Khufu's rank and familial position by marriage. By apotheosizing his mother as the daughter of a living god, Khufu's new rank was secured. This theory may be supported by the circumstance that Khufu's mother was buried close to her son and not in the necropolis of her husband, as it was to be expected.][Porter, Bertha and Moss, Rosalind: ''Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings'', Volume III: ''Memphis, Part I Abu Rawash to Abusir''. 2nd edition]
Family tree
The following list presents family members, which can be assigned to Khufu with certainty.
Parents:[Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, pp. 52–53]
* Sneferu
Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phar ...
: Most possibly his father, maybe just stepfather. Famous pharaoh and builder of three pyramids.
* Hetepheres I: Most possibly his mother. Wife of king Sneferu and well known for her precious grave goods found at Giza.
Spouses:
* Meritites I
Meritites I was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 4th Dynasty. Her name means "Beloved of her Father". Several of her titles are known from a stela found at Giza. She was buried in the middle Queen’s Pyramid in Giza (''Pyramid G 1b'').
Meritite ...
: First wife of Khufu.
* Henutsen
Henutsen is the name of an ancient Egyptian queen consort who lived and ruled during the 4th dynasty of the Old Kingdom Period. She was the second or third wife of pharaoh Khufu and most possibly buried at Giza.
Identity Life
Little is kno ...
: Second wife of Khufu. She is mentioned on the famous Inventory Stela
The Inventory Stela (also known as Stela of Khufu's Daughter) is an ancient Egyptian commemorative tablet dating to the 26th Dynasty (c. 670 BC). It was found in Giza during the 19th century. The stela presents a list of 22 divine statues owned b ...
.
Brothers and Sisters:
* Hetepheres {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2012
Hetepheres is the name of several queens, princesses and noble women from the Fourth dynasty of Egypt.
* Hetepheres I, wife of Pharaoh Sneferu and mother of Khufu
* Hetepheres A, daughter of Sneferu, wife of Ankhhaf ...
: Wife of Ankhhaf.
* Ankhhaf
Ankhhaf was an Egyptian prince and served as an overseer during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, who is thought to have been Ankhhaf's half-brother. One of Ankhaf's titles is also as a vizier, but it is unknown which pharaoh he would have held this ...
: The eldest brother. His nephew would later become pharaoh Khafra.
* Nefermaat
Nefermaat I (''fl.'' ''c.'' 2575–2551 B.C.) was an ancient Egyptian prince, a son of king Sneferu. He was a vizier possessing the titles of the king's eldest son, royal seal bearer, and prophet of Bastet. His name means "Maat is beautiful" or ...
: Half-brother; buried at Meidum
Meidum, Maydum or Maidum ( ar, ميدوم, , ) is an archaeological site in Lower Egypt. It contains a large pyramid and several mudbrick mastabas. The pyramid was Egypt's first straight-sided one, but it partially collapsed in ancient times. The ...
and owner of the famous "mastaba of the geese".
* Rahotep: Elder brother or half-brother. Owner of a life-size double statue portraying him and his wife ''Nofret'', displayed in the Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...
of Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
.
Sons of Khufu:
* Kawab
Kawab is the name of an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was the eldest son of King Khufu and Queen Meritites I. Kawab served as vizier and was buried in the double mastaba G 7110–7120 in the east field which is part of the Giz ...
: Most possibly the eldest son and crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...
, he died before Khufu's own end of reign and thus did not follow Khufu on the throne.
* Djedefra
Djedefre (also known as Djedefra and Radjedef – Modern Greek: ) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the Hellenized form of his name Rhatoisēs (Ῥατοίσης) by Manetho. Dj ...
: Also known as ''Radjedef'' and ''Ratoises''. Became the first throne successor.
* Khafre: Most possibly second throne successor.
* Djedefhor
Djedefhor or Hordjedef was a noble Egyptian of the 4th Dynasty. He was the son of Pharaoh Khufu and his name means "Enduring Like Horus".
Biography
Djedefhor was a son of Pharaoh Khufu and half-brother of pharaohs Djedefre and Khafre., p.58 Que ...
: Also known as ''Hordjedef'', mentioned in Papyrus Westcar
The Westcar Papyrus (inventory-designation: ''P. Berlin 3033'') is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. In the papyrus text, each of these tales are told at the royal court of king K ...
.
* Baufra
Baufra (also read as Bauefre and Ra-bau-ef) is the name of an alleged son of the ancient Egyptian king ( pharaoh) Khufu from the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. He is known from a story in the Papyrus Westcar and from a rock inscription at Wadi ...
: Possibly a son of Khufu, but neither archaeologically nor contemporarily attested. Only known from two much later documents.
* Babaef I
Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having com ...
: Also known as ''Khnum-baef I''.
* Khufukhaf I
Khufukhaf I (also read as Khaefkhufu I) was an ancient Egyptian prince and vizier of the 4th Dynasty.
Family
Khufukhaf was a son of pharaoh Khufu, half-brother of pharaoh Djedefre and full brother of pharaoh Khafre and prince Minkhaf., p.60 Hi ...
: Also known as ''Kaefkhufu I''.
* Minkhaf I
Minkhaf I was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was a son of Pharaoh Khufu, half-brother of Pharaoh Djedefre and elder brother of Pharaoh Khafre., p. 60 His mother may have been Queen Henutsen.Porter, Bertha and Moss, Rosalind, ...
.
* Horbaef
Horbaef (also known as Baefhor and Horbaf) was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. His title was "King’s son".
Horbaef was a son of Pharaoh Khufu and an unknown woman. He married his half-sister Meresankh II,Her mother was very lik ...
.
Daughters:
* Nefertiabet
Nefertiabet (''nfrt-jꜣbt''; "Beautiful One of the iabet, East") was an ancient Egyptian princess of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, 4th Dynasty. She was possibly a daughter of Pharaoh Khufu.
Tomb
Her tomb at Giza is known (G 1225). The mastaba i ...
: Known for her beautiful slab stelae.
* Hetepheres II
Hetepheres II was a Queen of Ancient Egypt during the 4th Dynasty.
Biography
Birth and family
Queen Hetepheres II may have been one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted from ca. 2723 ...
: Wife of prince ''Kawab'', later married to pharaoh ''Djedefra''.
* Meresankh II
Meresankh II ("She Loves Life") was a Queen of Egypt who lived during 4th Dynasty.
Family
Meresankh II's parents are assumed to be King Khufu and Queen Meritites I given that they are mentioned in Meresankh's mastaba. She is never explicitly cal ...
.
* Meritites II: Married to Akhethotep.
* Khamerernebty I
Khamerernebty I was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 4th dynasty. She was probably a wife of King Khafre and the mother of King Menkaure and Queen Khamerernebty II. It is possible that she was a daughter of Khufu, based on the fact that inscripti ...
: Wife of king ''Khafra'' and mother of Menkaura
Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by Hero ...
.
Grandchildren:
* Duaenhor
Duaenhor was a Prince of Egypt. He was named after god Horus. Family
Duaenhor is thought by some to be a son of Crown Prince Kawab and Queen Hetepheres II. If so, he would have been a grandson of Pharaoh Khufu and Queen Meritites I.Dodson, Aidan ...
: Son of ''Kawab'' and possibly eldest grandchild.
* Kaemsekhem
Kaemsekhem was an ancient Egyptian nobleman and probably the son of Crown Prince Kawab and Hetepheres II. He later served as the director of the royal palace. He was buried in mastaba G 7660 in the Giza East Field, which is part of the Giza Necr ...
: Second son of ''Kawab''.
* Mindjedef
Mindjedef was a Prince of ancient Egypt, who lived during the 4th Dynasty. His name means "Enduring Like Min". Min is an Egyptian fertility god.
Family
Mindjedef was a son of Crown Prince Kawab and Queen Hetepheres II. He was the grandson of P ...
: Also known as ''Djedefmin''.
* Djaty
Djaty I (also Djati) was a prince who lived in the ancient Egypt during the 4th Dynasty. He was an overseer of a royal expedition.
Djaty was a son of Queen Meresankh II, daughter of King Khufu. Djaty's sisters were Nefertkau III and Nebty-tepi ...
: Son of ''Horbaef''.
* Iunmin I
Iunmin (also written as Yunmin, Iuenmin, Minuen) was a vizier from the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt. He was possibly a son of king Khafre. He served as vizier towards the end of the dynasty, possibly during the reign of his brother Menkaure.
Tomb
The ...
: Son of ''Khafre''.
Nephews and nieces:
* Hemiunu
Hemiunu (fl. 2570 BC) was an ancient Egyptian prince who is believed to have been the architect of the Great Pyramid of Giza. As vizier, succeeding his father, Nefermaat, and his uncle, Kanefer, Hemiunu was one of the most important members of t ...
: Director of the building of Khufu's great pyramid.
* Nefertkau III
Nefertkau III was an ancient Egyptian princess. She lived during the 4th Dynasty. She was possibly a daughter of Meresankh II and Horbaef. If so, she was a granddaughter of King Khufu. Baud has proposed that Nefertkau was a daughter of Khufu ins ...
: Daughter of ''Meresankh II''.
*Djedi
Djedi (also Dedi or Djedi of Djed-Sneferu) is the name of a fictional ancient Egyptian magician appearing in the fourth chapter of a story told in the legendary Westcar Papyrus. He is said to have worked wonders during the reign of king (pha ...
: Son of Rahotep and Nofret
*Itu: Son of Rahotep and Nofret
*Neferkau: Son of Rahotep and Nofret
*Mereret: Daughter of Rahotep and Nofret
*Nedjemib: Daughter of Rahotep and Nofret
*Sethtet: Daughter of Rahotep and Nofret
Reign
Length of reign
It is still unclear how long Khufu ruled over Egypt, because historically later documents contradict each other and contemporary sources are scarce. The Royal Canon of Turin from the 19th Dynasty however, gives 23 years of rulership for Khufu.[ The ancient ]historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
gives 50 years and the ancient historian Manetho even credits him 63 years of reign. These figures are now considered an exaggeration
Exaggeration is the representation of something as more extreme or dramatic than it really is. Exaggeration may occur intentionally or unintentionally.
Exaggeration can be a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke stron ...
or a misinterpretation
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.
The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous interp ...
of antiquated sources.[
Sources ]contemporary
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...
to Khufu's time give three key pieces of information: One of them was found at the Dakhla Oasis
Dakhla Oasis (Egyptian Arabic: , , "''the inner oasis"''), is one of the seven oases of Egypt's Western Desert. Dakhla Oasis lies in the New Valley Governorate, 350 km (220 mi.) from the Nile and between the oases of Farafra and Khar ...
in the Libyan Desert
The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...
. Khufu's serekh name is carved in a rock inscription reporting the "''Mefat''-travelling in the year after the 13th cattle count In ancient Egypt, the cattle count was one of the two main means of evaluating the amount of taxes to be levied, the other one being the height of the annual inundation. A very important economic event, the cattle count was controlled by high offic ...
under Hor-Medjedu". The second source can be found in the relieving chambers inside Khufu's pyramid above the burial chamber. One of these inscriptions according to Flinders Petrie mentions a workmen's crew named "friends of Khufu" alongside the note "in the year of the 17th cattle count", but it is questioned if the number of years points to a biennial cattle count, or if the number must be taken verbatim.[Michael Haase: ''Eine Stätte für die Ewigkeit: der Pyramidenkomplex des Cheops aus baulicher, architektonischer und kulturgeschichtlicher Sicht''. von Zabern, Mainz 2004, , p. 12-13.] Though Zahi Hawass has reported locating the inscription of the date given by Petrie, there is also some debate whether Petrie may have mistakenly relied on other sources as the inscription has otherwise yet to be found. Newer evidence from Wadi al-Jarf
Wadi al-Jarf ( ar, وادي الجرف) is the present name for an area on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, south of Suez, that is the site of the oldest known artificial harbour in the world, developed about 4500 years ago. It is located at the mout ...
, however, gives a third clue about the true length of reign: Several papyrus fragments contain handwritten reports from a royal harbour at modern-day Wadi al-Jarf. The inscriptions describe the arrival of royal boats with precious ore and turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of year ...
in the "year after the 13th cattle count under Hor-Medjedw".[ Therefore, Khufu's highest known and certain preserved date is the "Year after the 13th cattle count".][
In an attempt to solve the riddle around Khufu's true length of rulership, modern Egyptologists point to Sneferu's reign, when the cattle count was held every second year of a king's rulership. The cattle count as an economic event served the tax collection in the whole of Egypt. Newer evaluation of contemporary documents and the Palermo stone inscription strengthen the theory that the cattle count under Khufu was still performed biennially, not annually, as thought earlier.][
Egyptologists such as Thomas Schneider, ]Michael Haase
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
, and Rainer Stadelmann
Dr. Rainer Stadelmann (24 October 1933 – 14 January 2019) was a German Egyptologist. He was considered an expert on the archaeology of the Giza Plateau.
Biography
After studying in Neuburg an der Donau in 1933, he studied Egyptology, orienta ...
wonder if the compiler of the Turin Canon actually took into account that the cattle count was performed biennially during the first half of the Old Kingdom period, whilst tax collection during the 19th Dynasty was held every year. In sum, all these documents would prove that Khufu ruled for at least 26 or 27 years, and possibly for over 34 years, if the inscription in the relieving chambers points to a biennial cattle count. Indeed, if the compiler of the Turin Canon did not take into account a biennial cattle count, it could even mean that Khufu ruled for 46 years.[Thomas Schneider: ''Lexikon der Pharaonen''. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, , page 100–104.][
]
Political activities
There are only a few hints about Khufu's political activities within and outside Egypt. Within Egypt, Khufu is documented in several building inscriptions and statues. Khufu's name appears in inscriptions at Elkab
Elkab, also spelled El-Kab or El Kab, is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal about south of Luxor (ancient Thebes). Elkab was called Nekheb in the Egyptian language ( , Late Coptic: ), a name th ...
and Elephantine and in local quarries
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
at Hatnub
Hatnub was the location of Egyptian alabaster quarries and an associated seasonally occupied workers' settlement in the Eastern Desert, about from el-Minya, southeast of el-Amarna. The pottery, hieroglyph inscriptions and hieratic graffiti at ...
and Wadi Hammamat
Wadi Hammamat ( en, Valley of Many Baths, ''India way; gateway to India'') is a dry river bed in Egypt's Eastern Desert, about halfway between Al-Qusayr and Qena. It was a major mining region and trade route east from the Nile Valley in ancie ...
. At Saqqara
Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis ...
two terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
figures of the goddess Bastet
Bastet or Bast ( egy, bꜣstjt, cop, Ⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥⲧⲉ, Oubaste , Phoenician: 𐤀𐤁𐤎𐤕, romanized: ’bst, or 𐤁𐤎𐤕, romanized: bst) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty (2 ...
were found, on which, at their bases, the horus name
The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term: the "serekh na ...
of Khufu is incised. They were deposited at Saqqara during the Middle Kingdom, but their creation can be dated back to Khufu's reign.
Wadi Maghareh
At Wadi Maghareh
Wadi Maghareh (also spelled Maghara or Magharah, meaning "The Valley of Caves" in Egyptian Arabic), is an archaeological site located in the southwestern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It contains pharaonic monuments and turquoise mines dating from the ...
in the Sinai a rock inscription depicts Khufu with the double crown. Khufu sent several expeditions in an attempt to find turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of year ...
and copper mines. Like other kings, such as Sekhemkhet
Sekhemkhet (also read as Sechemchet) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. His reign is thought to have been from about 2648 BC until 2640 BC. He is also known under his later traditioned birth name D ...
, Sneferu
Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phar ...
and Sahure
Sahure (also Sahura, meaning "He who is close to Re") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the second ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2465 – c. 2325 BC). He reigned for about 13 years in the early 25th century BC during the Old Kingdom Period. ...
, who are also depicted in impressive reliefs there, he was looking for those two precious materials.[James Henry Breasted: ''Ancient Records of Egypt: The first through the seventeenth dynasties''. University of Illinois Press, New York 2001, , page 83–84.] Khufu also entertained contacts with Byblos
Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8 ...
. He sent several expeditions to Byblos in an attempt to trade copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
tools and weapons for precious Lebanon cedar
''Cedrus libani'', the cedar of Lebanon or Lebanese cedar (), is a species of tree in the genus cedrus, a part of the pine family, native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is a large evergreen conifer that has great relig ...
wood. This kind of wood was essential for building large and stable funerary boats and indeed the boats discovered at the Great Pyramid were made of it.
Wadi al-Jarf
New evidence regarding political activities under Khufu's reign has recently been found at the site of the ancient port of Wadi al-Jarf
Wadi al-Jarf ( ar, وادي الجرف) is the present name for an area on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, south of Suez, that is the site of the oldest known artificial harbour in the world, developed about 4500 years ago. It is located at the mout ...
on the Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
coast in the east of Egypt. The first traces of such a harbour were excavated in 1823 by John Gardner Wilkinson
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (5 October 1797 – 29 October 1875) was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology".
Childhood and education
Wilkinson ...
and James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...
, but the site was quickly abandoned and then forgotten over time. In 1954, French scholars François Bissey and René Chabot-Morisseau re-excavated the harbour, but their works were brought to an end by the Suez Crisis in 1956. In June 2011, an archaeological team led by French Egyptologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, organized by the French Institute of Oriental Archeology
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
(''IFAO''), restarted work at the site. Among other material, a collection of hundreds of papyrus fragments were found in 2013 dating back 4500 years.[Pierre Tallet, Gregory Marouard: ''Wadi al-Jarf - An early pharaonic harbour on the Red Sea coast''. In: ''Egyptian Archaeology'', vol. 40, Cairo 2012, p. 40-43.] The papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
is currently exhibited at the Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...
in Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
. The Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass
Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...
called this ancient papyrus “the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century.”
Ten of these papyri are very well preserved. The majority of these documents date to the 27th year of Khufu's reign and describe how the central administration sent food and supplies to the sailors and wharf workers. The dating of these important documents is secured by phrases typical for the Old Kingdom period, as well as the fact that the letters are addressed to the king himself, using his Horus name. This was typical when the king in question was still alive; when the ruler was dead he was addressed by his cartouche name or birth name. One document is of special interest: the diary of Merer
The Diary of Merer (also known as ''Papyrus Jarf'') is the name for papyrus logbooks written over 4,500 years ago by Merer, a middle ranking official with the title ''inspector'' (''sHD''). They are the oldest known papyri with text, dating to the ...
, an official involved in the building of the Great Pyramid. Using the diary, researchers were able to reconstruct three months of his life, providing new insight into the everyday lives of people of the Fourth Dynasty. These papyri are the earliest examples of imprinted papyri ever found in Egypt. Another inscription, found on the limestone walls of the harbor, mentions the head of the royal scribes controlling the exchange of goods: ''Idu''.[
Khufu's cartouche name is also inscribed on some of the heavy ]limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
blocks at the site. The harbor was of strategic and economic importance to Khufu because ships brought precious materials, such as turquoise, copper and ore from the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. The papyri fragments show several storage lists naming the delivered goods. The papyri also mention a certain harbour at the opposite coast of Wadi al-Jarf, on the western shore of the Sinai Peninsula, where the ancient fortress Tell Ras Budran was excavated in 1960 by Gregory Mumford. The papyri and the fortress together reveal an explicit sailing route across the Red Sea for the very first time in history. It is the oldest archaeologically detected sailing route of Ancient Egypt. According to Tallet, the harbor could also have been one of the legendary high sea harbours of Ancient Egypt, from where expeditions to the infamous gold land Punt had started.[
]
Monuments and statues
Statues
The only three-dimensional depiction of Khufu that has survived time nearly completely is a small and well restored ivory figurine known as Khufu Statuette
The Khufu Statuette or the Ivory figurine of Khufu is an ancient Egyptian statue. Historically and archaeologically significant, it was found in 1903 by Sir Flinders Petrie, William Matthew Flinders Petrie during excavation of Kom el-Sultan in Aby ...
. It shows the king with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.[ The king is seated on a throne with a short backrest, at the left side of his knees the Horus-name ''Medjedu'' is preserved, and, at the right side, a fragment of the lower part of the cartouche name ''Khnum-Khuf'' is visible. Khufu holds a flail in his left hand and his right hand rests together with his lower arm on his right upper leg. The artifact was found in 1903 by ]Flinders Petrie
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...
at Kom el-Sultan
The area now known as Kom El Sultan is located near Abydos, in Egypt. It is a big mudbrick structure, the purpose of which is not clear and thought to have been at the original settlement area, dated to the Early Dynastic Period. The structure in ...
near Abydos. The figurine was found headless; according to Petrie, it was caused by an accident while digging. When Petrie recognized the importance of the find, he stopped all other work and offered a reward to any workman who could find the head. Three weeks later the head was found after intense sifting in a deeper level of the room rubble. Today the little statue is restored and on display in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo in room 32 under its inventory number ''JE 36143''.[ Most Egyptologists believe the statuette is contemporary, but some scholars, such as ]Zahi Hawass
Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...
, think that it was an artistic reproduction of the 26th dynasty
The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...
. He argues that no building that clearly dates to the Fourth Dynasty was ever excavated at Kom el-Sultan or Abydos. Furthermore, he points out that the face of Khufu is unusually squat and chubby and shows no emotional expression. Hawass compared the facial stylistics with statues of contemporary kings, such as Sneferu, Khaefra and Menkaura. The faces of these three kings are of even beauty, slender and with a kindly expression – the clear result of idealistic motivations; they are not based on reality. The appearance of Khufu on the ivory statue instead looks like the artist did not care very much about professionalism or diligence. He believes Khufu himself would never have allowed the display of such a comparatively sloppy work. And finally, Hawass also argues that the sort of throne the figurine sits on does not match the artistic styles of any Old Kingdom artifact. Old Kingdom thrones had a backrest that reached up to the neck of the king. But the ultimate proof that convinces Hawass about the statue being a reproduction of much later time is the ''Nehenekh'' flail in Khufu's left hand. Depictions of a king with such a flail as a ceremonial insignia appear no earlier than the Middle Kingdom. Zahi Hawass therefore concludes that the figurine was possibly made as an amulet or lucky charm to sell to pious citizens.[Zahi Hawass: ''The Khufu Statuette: Is it an Old Kingdom Sculpture?'' In: ''Paule Posener-Kriéger (Hrsg.): Mélanges Gamal Eddin Mokhtar'' (= ''Bibliothèque d'étude'', vol. 97, chapter 1) Institut français d'archéologie orientale du Caire, Kairo 1985, , page 379–394.][Abeer El-Shahawy, Farid S. Atiya: ''The Egyptian Museum in Cairo: A Walk Through the Alleys of Ancient Egypt''. American Univ in Cairo Press, New York/Cairo 2005, , page 49ff.]
Deitrich Wildung has examined the representation of Nubian
Nubian may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
*Nubian people
*Nubian languages
*Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat
* Nubian ibex
* , several ships of the Britis ...
features in Egyptian iconography since the predynastic era and has argued that Khufu had these specific, Nubian features and this was represented in his statues.
It is often said that the small figurine is the only preserved statue of Khufu. This is not quite correct. Excavations at Saqqara
Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis ...
in 2001 and 2003 revealed a pair of terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
statues depicting a lion goddess (possibly Bastet
Bastet or Bast ( egy, bꜣstjt, cop, Ⲟⲩⲃⲁⲥⲧⲉ, Oubaste , Phoenician: 𐤀𐤁𐤎𐤕, romanized: ’bst, or 𐤁𐤎𐤕, romanized: bst) was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty (2 ...
or Sekhmet
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis (), also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, Sakhet among other spellings, cop, Ⲥⲁⲭⲙⲓ, Sakhmi), is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness.
Sekhmet is a solar de ...
). On her feet two figures of childlike kings are preserved. While the right figurine can be identified as king Khufu by his Horus name, the left one depicts king Pepy I
Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of ...
of 6th dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt.
Pharaohs
Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho acc ...
, called by his birth name. The figurines of Pepy were added to the statue groups in later times, because they were placed separately and at a distance from the deity. This is inconsistent with a typical statue group of the Old Kingdom — normally all statue groups were built as an artistic unit. The two statue groups are similar to each other in size and scale but differ in that one lion goddess holds a scepter. The excavators point out that the statues were restored during the Middle Kingdom, after they were broken apart. However, it seems that the reason for the restoration lay more in an interest in the goddess, than in a royal cult around the king figures: their names were covered with gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
.
The Palermo Stone reports on its fragment ''C-2'' the creation of two oversize standing statues for the king; one is said to have been made of copper, the other of pure gold.[
Furthermore, several ]alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...
and travertine
Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...
fragments of seated statues, which were found by George Reisner
George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine.
Biography
Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabeth ...
during his excavations at Giza, were once inscribed with Khufu's full royal titulary. Today, the complete or partially preserved cartouches with the name ''Khufu'' or ''Khnum-Khuf'' remain. One of the fragments, that of a small seated statue, shows the legs and feet of a sitting king from the knuckles downward. To the right of them the name ''...fu'' in a cartouche is visible, and it can easily be reconstructed as the cartouche name ''Khufu''.[
Two further objects are on display at the ]Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim
The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim is an archaeological museum in Hildesheim, Germany. Mostly dedicated to ancient Egyptian and ancient Peruvian art, the museum also includes the second largest collection of Chinese porcelain in Europe ...
. These are also made of alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...
. One of them shows the head of a cat goddess (most probably Bastet or Sekhmet). The position of her right arm suggests that the bust once belonged to a statue group similar to the well known triad of Mycerinus.
Several statue heads might have belonged to Khufu. One of them is the so-called "Brooklyn head" of the Brooklyn Museum in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. It is 54,3 cm large and made of pink granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergr ...
. Because of its chubby cheeks the head is assigned to Khufu as well as to king Huni. A similar object is on display at the State Collection of Egyptian Art in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. The head is made of limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
and is comparatively small at only 5,7 cm.
Reliefs
Khufu is depicted in several relief fragments found scattered in his necropolis and elsewhere. All reliefs were made of finely polished limestone. Some of them originate from the ruined pyramid temple and the destroyed causeway, where they once covered the walls completely. Others were found re-used in the pyramid necropolis of king Amenemhet I
:''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.''
Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynast ...
at Lisht
Lisht or el-Lisht ( ar, اللشت, translit=Al-Lišt) is an Egyptian village located south of Cairo. It is the site of Middle Kingdom royal and elite burials, including two pyramids built by Amenemhat I and Senusret I. The two main pyramids were ...
and at Tanis
Tanis ( grc, Τάνις or Τανέως ) or San al-Hagar ( ar, صان الحجر, Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar; egy, ḏꜥn.t ; ; cop, ϫⲁⲛⲓ or or ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ''ḏꜥn.t'', an important archaeological site in the ...
and Bubastis
Bubastis ( Bohairic Coptic: ''Poubasti''; Greek: ''Boubastis'' or ''Boubastos''), also known in Arabic as Tell-Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified with the biblical ''Pi-Beseth'' ( h ...
.[ One of the relief fragments shows the cartouche of Khufu with the phrase: "Building of the sanctuaries of the gods". Another one shows a row of fat oxen decorated with flowers – they were obviously prepared as sacrifices during an offering procession. The guiding inscription calls them "the surroundings of ''Tefef'' serve Khufu", "beautiful bulls of Khufu" and "bawling for Khufu". A third one shows the earliest known depiction of royal warfare: the scene is called "archers prepare", since it shows archers drawing their bows. And a fourth example shows the king with the ]double crown Double crown can refer to:
* the Pschent combined crown of Ancient Egypt;
* a British coin worth ten shillings or two crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A ...
impaling a hippopotamus.
At the Wadi Maghareh
Wadi Maghareh (also spelled Maghara or Magharah, meaning "The Valley of Caves" in Egyptian Arabic), is an archaeological site located in the southwestern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It contains pharaonic monuments and turquoise mines dating from the ...
in Sinai a rock inscription contains Khufu's names and titles and reports: "''Hor-Medjedu, Khnum-Khuf, Bikuj-Nebu'', the great god and smiter of the troglodytes, all protection and life are with him". The work-off of the relief is similar to that of king Snefru. In one scene king Khufu wears the double-crown; nearby, the depiction of the god Thoth
Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...
is visible. In another scene, close by, Khufu wears the ''Atef''-crown while smiting an enemy. In this scene the god Wepwawet
In late Egyptian mythology, Wepwawet ( hieroglyphic ''wp-w3w.t''; also rendered Upuaut, Wep-wawet, Wepawet, and Ophois) was originally a war deity, whose cult centre was Asyut in Upper Egypt (Lycopolis in the Greco-Roman period). His name means ...
is present.[
None of the numerous relief fragments shows king Khufu offering to a god. This is remarkable, since reliefs of Sneferu and those of all kings from Menkaura onward show the king offering to a deity. It is possible that the lack of this special depiction influenced later ancient Greek historians in their assumptions that Khufu could have actually closed all temples and prohibited any sacrifice.][
]
Pyramid complex
The pyramid complex of Khufu was erected in the northeastern section of the plateau of Giza. It is possible that the lack of building space, the lack of local limestone quarries and the loosened ground at Dahshur
DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur'' ar, دهشور ' , ''Dahchur'') is a royal necropolis located in the desert on the west bank of the Nile approximately south of Cairo. It is known chiefly for several p ...
forced Khufu to move north, away from the pyramid of his predecessor Sneferu. Khufu chose the high end of a natural plateau so that his future pyramid would be widely visible. Khufu decided to call his pyramid ''Akhet-Khufu'' (meaning "horizon of Khufu").[Michael Haase: ''Eine Stätte für die Ewigkeit. Der Pyramidenkomplex des Cheops aus baulicher, architektonischer und kulturhistorischer Sicht''. von Zabern, Mainz 2004, .][Rainer Stadelmann: Die ägyptischen Pyramiden: Vom Ziegelbau zum Weltwunder. 2. überarteitete und erweiterte Auflage., von Zabern, Mainz 1991, .][Zahi Hawass: The Programs of the Royal Funerary Complexes of the Fourth Dynasty. In: David O'Connor, David P. Silverman: Ancient Egyptian Kingship. BRILL, Leiden 1994, .][Peter Jánosi: ''Die Pyramiden: Mythos und Archäologie''. Beck, Frankfurt 2004, , page 70–72.]
The Great Pyramid has a base measurement of ca. 750 x 750 ft (≙ 230.4 x 230.4 m) and today a height of . Once it had been high, but the pyramidion
A pyramidion (plural: pyramidia) is the uppermost piece or capstone of an Egyptian pyramid or obelisk. Speakers of the Ancient Egyptian language referred to pyramidia as ''benbenet'' and associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred ...
and the limestone casing are completely lost due to stone robbery. The lack of the casing allows a full view of the inner core of the pyramid. It was erected in small steps by more or less roughly hewn blocks of dark limestone. The casing was made of nearly white limestone. The outer surface of the casing stones were finely polished so the pyramid shimmered in bright, natural lime-white when new. The pyramidion might have been covered in electrum
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially, and ...
, but there is no archaeological proof of that. The inner corridors and chambers have walls and ceilings made of polished granite, one of the hardest stones known in Khufu's time. The Mortar (masonry), mortar used was a mixture of gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
, sand, pulverized limestone and water.[
The original entrance to the pyramid is on the northern side. Inside the pyramid are three chambers: at the top is the burial chamber of the king (the ''king's chamber''), in the middle is the statue chamber (erroneously called the ''queen's chamber''), and under the foundation is an unfinished subterranean chamber (''underworld chamber''). Whilst the burial chamber is identified by its large sarcophagus made of granite, the use of the "queen's chamber" is still disputed – it might have been the serdab of the ''Ka'' statue of Khufu. The subterranean chamber remains mysterious as it was left unfinished. A tight corridor heading south at the western end of the chamber and an unfinished shaft at the eastern middle might indicate that the subterranean chamber was the oldest of the three chambers and that the original building plan contained a simple chamber complex with several rooms and corridors. But for unknown reasons the works were stopped and two further chambers were built inside the pyramid. Remarkable is the so-called ''Grand Gallery'' leading to the king's chamber: It has a Corbel arch, corbelled arch ceiling and measures in height and in length. The gallery has an important statics, static function; it diverts the weight of the stone mass above the king's chamber into the surrounding pyramid core.][
Khufu's pyramid was surrounded by an enclosure wall, with each segment in distance from the pyramid. On the eastern side, directly in front of the pyramid, Khufu's mortuary temple was built. Its foundation was made of black basalt, a great part of which is still preserved. Pillars and portals were made of red granite and the ceiling stones were of white limestone. Today nothing remains but the foundation. From the mortuary temple a causeway 0.43 miles long once connected to the valley temple. The valley temple was possibly made of the same stones as the mortuary temple, but since even the foundation is not preserved, the original form and size of the valley temple remain unknown.][
On the eastern side of the pyramid lies the ''East Cemetery'' of the Khufu necropolis, containing the mastabas of princes and princesses. Three small satellite pyramids, belonging to the queens ''Hetepheres'' (G1-a), ''Meritites I'' (G1-b) and possibly ''Henutsen'' (G1-c) were erected at the southeast corner of Khufu's pyramid. Close behind the queens' pyramids G1-b and G1-c, the cult pyramid of Khufu was found in 2005. On the southern side of the Great Pyramid lie some further mastabas and the Khufu ship, pits of the funerary boats of Khufu. On the western side lies the ''West Cemetery'', where the highest officials and priests were interred.][
A possible part of Khufu's funerary complex is the famous Great Sphinx of Giza. It's a large limestone statue in the shape of a recumbent lion with the head of a human, decorated with a royal ''Nemes'' headdress. The Sphinx was directly hewn out of the plateau of Giza and originally painted with red, ochre, green and black. To this day it is passionately disputed as to who exactly gave the order to build it: the most probable candidates are Khufu, his elder son Djedefra and his younger son Khaefra. One of the difficulties of a correct attribution lies in the lack of any perfectly preserved portrait of Khufu. The faces of Djedefre and Khaefra are both similar to that of the Sphinx, but they do not match perfectly. Another riddle is the original cultic and symbolic function of the Sphinx. Much later it was called ''Heru-im-Akhet'' (''Hârmachís''; "Horus at the horizon") by the Egyptians and ''Abu el-Hὀl'' ("father of terror") by the Arabians. It might be that the Sphinx, as an allegory, allegoric and mystified representation of the king, simply guarded the sacred cemetery of Giza.][
]
Khufu in later Egyptian traditions
Old Kingdom
Khufu possessed an extensive mortuary cult during the Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
. At the end of 6th dynasty
The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt.
Pharaohs
Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho acc ...
at least 67 mortuary priests and 6 independent high officials serving at the necropolis are archaeologically attested. Ten of them were already serving during the late 4th dynasty (seven of them were royal family members), 28 were serving during the 5th dynasty and 29 during the 6th dynasty. This is remarkable: Khufu's famous (step-)father Sneferu enjoyed "only" 18 mortuary priesthoods during the same period of time, even Djedefra enjoyed only 8 and Khaefra enjoyed 28. Such mortuary cults were very important for the state's economy, because for the oblations special Territory (administrative division), domains had to be established. A huge number of domains' names are attested for the time of Khufu's reign. However, by the end of the 6th dynasty the number of domains abated quickly. With the beginning of the 7th dynasty no domain's name was handed down any more.[Dietrich Wildung: ''Die Rolle ägyptischer Könige im Bewußtsein ihrer Nachwelt'', Band 1: ''Posthume Quellen über die Könige der ersten vier Dynastien'' (= ''Münchener Ägyptologische Studien'', Bd. 17). Hessling, Berlin 1969, S. 105–205.]
Middle Kingdom
At Wadi Hammamat
Wadi Hammamat ( en, Valley of Many Baths, ''India way; gateway to India'') is a dry river bed in Egypt's Eastern Desert, about halfway between Al-Qusayr and Qena. It was a major mining region and trade route east from the Nile Valley in ancie ...
a rock inscription dates back to the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, 12th dynasty. It lists five cartouche names: ''Khufu, Djedefra, Khafra, Baufra'' and ''Djedefhor''. Because all royal names are written inside cartouches, it was often believed that Baufra and Djedefhor once had ruled for short time, but contemporary sources entitle them as mere princes. Khufu's attendance roll call in this list might indicate that he and his followers were worshipped as patron saints. This theory is promoted by findings such as alabaster vessels with Khufu's name found at Koptos, the pilgrimage destination of Wadi Hammamat travellers.
A literary masterpiece from the 13th dynasty
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave p ...
talking about Khufu is the famous Papyrus Westcar
The Westcar Papyrus (inventory-designation: ''P. Berlin 3033'') is an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories about miracles performed by priests and magicians. In the papyrus text, each of these tales are told at the royal court of king K ...
, where king Khufu witnesses a Magic (paranormal), magical wonder and receives a prophecy from a Magician (paranormal), magician named Dedi. Within the story, Khufu is characterised in a difficult-to-assess way. On one hand, he is depicted as ruthless when deciding to have a condemned prisoner Decapitation, decapitated to test the alleged magical powers of Dedi. On the other hand, Khufu is depicted as inquisitive, reasonable and generous: He accepts Dedi's outrage and his subsequent alternative offer for the prisoner, questions the circumstances and contents of Dedi's prophecy and rewards the magician generously after all. The contradictory depiction of Khufu is the object of great dispute between Egyptologists and historians to this day. Especially earlier Egyptologists and historians such as Adolf Erman, Kurt Heinrich Sethe and Wolfgang Helck evaluated Khufu's character as heartless and heresy, sacrilegious. They leaned on the ancient Greek traditions of Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
and Diodorus Siculus, who described an exaggerated negative character image of Khufu, ignoring the Contradiction, paradoxical (because positive) traditions the Egyptians themselves had always taught.
But other Egyptologists, such as Dietrich Wildung, see Khufu's order as an act of mercy: the prisoner would have received his life back if Dedi had actually performed his magical trick. Wildung thinks that Dedi's refusal was an allusion to the respect Egyptians showed to human life. The ancient Egyptians were of the opinion that human life should not be misused for dark magic or similar evil things. Verena Lepper and Miriam Lichtheim suspect that a difficult-to-assess depiction of Khufu was exactly what the author had planned. He wanted to create a mysterious character.[Adolf Erman: ''Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar I. Einleitung und Commentar''. In: ''Mitteilungen aus den Orientalischen Sammlungen''. Heft V, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin 1890.][Verena M. Lepper: ''Untersuchungen zu pWestcar. Eine philologische und literaturwissenschaftliche (Neu-)Analyse''. In: ''Ägyptologische Abhandlungen'', Band 70. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, .][Miriam Lichtheim: ''Ancient Egyptian literature: a book of readings. The Old and Middle Kingdoms'', Band 1. University of California Press 2000 (2. Auflage), ][Friedrich Lange: ''Die Geschichten des Herodot'', Band 1. S. 188–190.]
New Kingdom
During the New Kingdom the necropolis of Khufu and the local mortuary cults were reorganized and Giza became an important economic and cultic destination again. During the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty king Amenhotep II erected a memorial temple and a royal fame stele close to the Great Sphinx. His son and throne follower Thutmose IV freed the Sphinx from sand and placed a memorial stele – known as the "Dream Stele" – between its front paws. The two steles' inscriptions are similar in their narrative contents, but neither of them gives specific information about the true builder of the Great Sphinx.[
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At the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty a temple for the goddess Isis was built at the satellite pyramid ''Pyramid G1-c, G1-c'' (that of queen Henutsen) at Khufu's necropolis. During the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt, Twenty-first Dynasty the temple got extended, and, during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt, Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the extensions continued. From this period of time several "priests of Isis" (''Hem-netjer-Iset''), who were also "priests of Khufu" (''Hem-netjer-Khufu''), worked there. From the same dynasty a golden seal ring with the name of a priest ''Neferibrê'' was found at Giza.[
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Late Period
During the Late Period of ancient Egypt, Late Period huge numbers of scarab (artifact), scarabs with the name of Khufu were sold to the citizens, possibly as some kind of lucky charms. More than 30 scarabs are preserved. At Isis' temple a family tree of the Isis priests is on display, which lists the names of priests from 670 to 488 BC. From the same period comes the famous Inventory Stela
The Inventory Stela (also known as Stela of Khufu's Daughter) is an ancient Egyptian commemorative tablet dating to the 26th Dynasty (c. 670 BC). It was found in Giza during the 19th century. The stela presents a list of 22 divine statues owned b ...
, which names Khufu and his wife Henutsen
Henutsen is the name of an ancient Egyptian queen consort who lived and ruled during the 4th dynasty of the Old Kingdom Period. She was the second or third wife of pharaoh Khufu and most possibly buried at Giza.
Identity Life
Little is kno ...
. However, modern Egyptologists question whether Khufu was still personally adored as a royal ancestor at this time; they think it more likely that Khufu was already seen as a mere symbolic foundation figure for the history of the Isis temple.[
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Khufu in ancient Greek traditions
Manetho
The later Egyptian historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
Manetho called Khufu "Sûphis" and credited him with a rulership of 63 years. He also mentions that Khufu built the Great Pyramid, then he claims that his contemporary Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
says that the pyramid was built by a king "Khéops". Obviously, Manetho thought "Khéops" and "Sûphis" to be two different kings. Manetho also says that Khufu received a contempt against the gods and that he had written a sacred book about that and that he (Manetho) received that book during his travel through Egypt. The story about the alleged "Sacred Book" is questioned by modern Egyptologists, for it would be highly unusual that a pharaoh wrote books and that such a precious document could be sold away so easily.[Dietrich Wildung: Die Rolle ägyptischer Könige im Bewußtsein ihrer Nachwelt. Band 1: Posthume Quellen über die Könige der ersten vier Dynastien (= Münchener Ägyptologische Studien. Bd. 17). Hessling, Berlin 1969, page 152–192.][Siegfried Morenz: ''Traditionen um Cheops''. In: ''Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde'', vol. 97, Berlin 1971, , page 111–118.][Wolfgang Helck: ''Geschichte des Alten Ägypten'' (= ''Handbuch der Orientalistik'', vol. 1.; ''Chapter 1: Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten'', vol 1.). BRILL, Leiden 1968, , page 23–25 & 54–62.]
Herodotus
The Greek historian Herodotus instead depicts Khufu as a Heresy, heretic and cruel tyrant. In his literary work ''History (Herodotus), Historiae'', Book II, chapter 124–126, he writes: "As long as ''Rhampsinitos, Rhámpsinîtos'' was king, as they told me, there was nothing but orderly rule in Egypt, and the land prospered greatly. But after him ''Khéops'' became king over them and brought them to every kind of suffering: He closed all the temples; after this he kept the priests from sacrificing there and then he forced all the Egyptians to work for him. So some were ordered to draw stones from the stone quarries in the Arabian mountains to the Nile, and others he forced to receive the stones after they had been carried over the river in boats, and to draw them to those called the Libyan mountains. And they worked by 100,000 men at a time, for each three months continually. Of this oppression there passed ten years while the causeway was made by which they drew the stones, which causeway they built, and it is a work not much less, as it appears to me, than the pyramid. For the length of it is 5 furlongs and the breadth 10 fathoms and the height, where it is highest, 8 fathoms, and it is made of polished stone and with figures carved upon it. For this, they said, 10 years were spent, and for the underground chambers on the hill upon which the pyramids stand, which he caused to be made as sepulchral chambers for himself in an island, having conducted thither a channel from the Nile.
For the making of the pyramid itself there passed a period of 20 years; and the pyramid is square, each side measuring 800 feet, and the height of it is the same. It is built of stone smoothed and fitted together in the most perfect manner, not one of the stones being less than 30 feet in length. This pyramid was made after the manner of steps, which some call 'rows' and others 'bases': When they had first made it thus, they raised the remaining stones with devices made of short pieces of timber, lifting them first from the ground to the first stage of the steps, and when the stone got up to this it was placed upon another machine standing on the first stage, and so from this it was drawn to the second upon another machine; for as many as were the courses of the steps, so many machines there were also, or perhaps they transferred one and the same machine, made so as easily to be carried, to each stage successively, in order that they might take up the stones; for let it be told in both ways, according as it is reported. However, that may be, the highest parts of it were finished first, and afterwards they proceeded to finish that which came next to them, and lastly they finished the parts of it near the ground and the lowest ranges.
On the pyramid it is declared in Egyptian writing how much was spent on radishes and onions and leeks for the workmen, and if I remember correctly what the interpreter said while reading this inscription for me, a sum of 1600 silver talents was spent. Kheops moreover came to such a pitch of evilness, that being in want of money he sent his own daughter to a brothel and ordered her to obtain from those who came a certain amount of money (how much it was they did not tell me). But she not only obtained the sum that was appointed by her father, but she also formed a design for herself privately to leave behind her a memorial: She requested each man who came in to her to give her one stone for her building project. And of these stones, they told me, the pyramid was built which stands in front of the great pyramid in the middle of the three, each side being 150 feet in length."[
The same goes for the story about king Khafre. He is depicted as the direct follower of Khufu and as likewise evil and that he ruled for 56 years. In chapter 127–128 Herodotus writes: "After Khéops was dead his brother ''Khéphrên'' succeeded to the royal throne. This king followed the same manner as the other ... and ruled for 56 years. Here they reckon altogether 106 years, during which they say that there was nothing but evil for the Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed and not opened during all that time".][
Herodotus closes the story of the evil kings in chapter 128 with the words: "These kings the Egyptians (because of their hate against them) are not very willing to say their names. What's more, they even call the pyramids after the name of ''Philítîs'' the shepherd, who at that time pastured herd, flocks in those regions."][
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Diodorus of Sicily
The ancient historian Diodorus claims that Khufu was so much abhorred by his own people in later times that the mortuary priests secretly brought the royal sarcophagus, together with the corpse of Khufu, to another, hidden grave. With this narration he strengthens and confirms the view of the Greek scholars, that Khufu's pyramid (and the other two, as well) must have been the result of slavery. However, at the same time, Diodorus distances himself from Herodotus and argues that Herodotus "only tells fairy tales and entertaining fiction". Diodorus claims that the Egyptians of his lifetime were unable to tell him with certainty who actually built the pyramids. He also states that he didn't really trust the interpreters and that the true builder might have been someone different: the Khufu pyramid was (according to him) built by a king named ''Harmais'', the Khafre pyramid was thought to be built by king Amasis II and the Menkaura pyramid was allegedly the work of king Inaros I.[
Diodorus states that the Khufu pyramid was beautifully covered in white, but the top was said to be capped. The pyramid therefore already had no pyramidion anymore. He also thinks that the pyramid was built with ramps, which were removed during the finishing of the limestone shell. Diodorus estimates that the total number of workers was 300,000 and that the building works lasted for 20 years.][
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Khufu in Arabic traditions
In 642 A.D. the Arabs conquered Egypt. Upon arriving at the Giza pyramids, they searched for explanations as to who could have built these monuments. By this time, no inhabitant of Egypt was able to tell and no one could translate the Egyptian hieroglyphs anymore. As a consequence, the Arab historians wrote down their own theories and stories.[Stefan Eggers: ''Das Pyramidenkapitel in Al-Makrizi`s "Hitat"''. BoD, 2003, , p. 13-20.]
The best known story about Khufu and his pyramid can be found in the book ''Hitat'' (completely: ''al-Mawāʿiẓ wa-’l-iʿtibār fī ḏikr al-ḫiṭaṭ wa-’l-ʾāṯār''), written in 1430 by Al-Maqrizi, Muhammad al-Maqrizi (1364–1442). This book contains several collected theories and myths about Khufu, especially about the Great Pyramid. Though King Khufu himself is seldom mentioned, many Arab writers were convinced that the Great Pyramid (and the others, too) were built by the god Hermes (named ''Idris'' by the Arabs).[
Al-Maqrizi notes that Khufu was named '' Saurid'', ''Salhuk'' and/or ''Sarjak'' by the biblical Amalekites. Then he writes that Khufu built the pyramids after repeated nightmares in which the earth turned upside-down, the stars fell down and people were screaming in terror. Another nightmare showed the stars falling down from heaven and kidnapping humans, then putting them beneath two large mountains. King Khufu then received a warning from his prophets about a devastating deluge that would come and destroy Egypt. To protect his treasures and books of wisdom, Khufu built the three pyramids of Giza.][
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Modern egyptological evaluations
Over time, Egyptologists examined possible motives and reasons as to how Khufu's reputation changed over time. Closer examinations of and comparisons between contemporary documents, later documents and Greek and Coptic readings reveal that Khufu's reputation changed slowly, and that the positive views about the king still prevailed during the Greek and Ptolemaic era.[ Alan B. Lloyd, for example, points to documents and inscriptions from the 6th dynasty listing an important town called ''Menat-Khufu'', meaning "nurse of Khufu". This town was still held in high esteem during the Middle Kingdom period. Lloyd is convinced that such a heart-warming name wouldn't have been chosen to honour a king with a bad (or, at least, questionable) reputation. Furthermore, he points to the overwhelming number of places where mortuary cults for Khufu were practiced, even outside Giza. These mortuary cults were still practiced even in Saitic and Persian periods.][Alan B. Lloyd: ''Herodotus, Book II: Commentary 1-98'' (volume 43 of: ''Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain''). BRILL, Leiden 1993, , page 62 - 63.]
The famous Lamentation Texts from the First Intermediate Period reveal some interesting views about the monumental tombs from the past; they were at that time seen as proof of vanity. However, they give no hint of a negative reputation of the kings themselves, and thus they do not judge Khufu in a negative way.[
Modern Egyptologists evaluate Herodotus's and Diodorus's stories as some sort of defamation, based on both authors' contemporary philosophy. They call for caution against the credibility of the ancient traditions. They argue that the classical authors lived around 2000 years after Khufu, and their sources that were available in their lifetimes surely were antiquated.][ Additionally some Egyptologists point out that the philosophies of the ancient Egyptians had changed since the Old Kingdom. Oversized tombs such as the Giza pyramids must have appalled the Greeks and even the later priests of the New Kingdom, because they remembered the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten and his megalomaniac building projects.][ This negative picture was presumably projected onto Khufu and his pyramid. The view was possibly promoted by the fact that during Khufu's lifetime, permission for the creation of oversized statues made of precious stone and their displaying in public was limited to the king.][ In their era, the Greek authors, mortuary priests, and temple priests could only explain the impressive monuments and statues of Khufu as the result of a megalomaniac. These negative evaluations were applied to Khufu.][
Furthermore, several Egyptologists point out that Roman historians such as Pliny the Elder and Frontinus (both around 70 A.D.) equally do not hesitate to ridicule the pyramids of Giza: Frontinus calls them "idle pyramids, containing the indispensable structures likewise to some of our abandoned Roman aqueduct, aqueducts at Rome" and Pliny describes them as "the idle and foolish ostentation of royal wealth". Egyptologists clearly see politically and socially motivated intentions in these criticisms and it seems paradoxical that the use of these monuments was forgotten, but the names of their builders remained immortalized.
Another hint to Khufu's bad reputation within the Greek and Roman folk might be hidden in the Coptic reading of Khufu's name. The Egyptian hieroglyphs forming the name "Khufu" are read in Coptic as "Shêfet", which actually would mean "bad luck" or "sinful" in their language. The Coptic reading derives from a later pronunciation of ''Khufu'' as "Shufu", which in turn led to the Greek reading "Suphis". Possibly the bad meaning of the Coptic reading of "Khufu" was unconsciously copied by the Greek and Roman authors.][
On the other hand, some Egyptologists think that the ancient historians received their material for their stories not only from priests, but from the citizens living close to the time of the building of the necropolis.][ Among the "simple folk", also, negative or critical views about the pyramids might have been handed down, and the mortuary cult of the priests was surely part of tradition. Additionally a long-standing literary tradition does not prove popularity. Even if Khufu's name survived within the literary traditions for so long, different cultural circles surely fostered different views about Khufu's character and historical deeds.][Erhart Graefe: ''Die gute Reputation des Königs "Snofru".'' In: ''Studies in Egyptology Presented to Miriam Lichtheim'', vol. 1. page 257–263.] The narrations of Diodorus, for example, are credited with more trust than those of Herodotus, because Diodorus obviously collected the tales with much more scepsis. The fact that Diodorus credits the Giza pyramid to Greek kings, might be reasoned in legends of his lifetimes and that the pyramids were demonstrably reused in late periods by Greek and Roman kings and noblemen.[
Modern Egyptologists and historians also call for caution about the credibility of the Arabian stories. They point out that medieval Arabs were guided by the strict Islamic belief that only one god exists, and therefore no other gods were allowed to be mentioned. As a consequence, they transferred Egyptian kings and gods into biblical prophets and kings. The Egyptian god Thoth, named ''Hermes'' by the Greeks, for example, was named after the prophet Enoch (ancestor of Noah), Henoch. King Khufu, as already mentioned, was named "Saurid", "Salhuk" and/or "Sarjak", and often replaced in other stories by a prophet named ''Šaddād bīn 'Âd''. Furthermore, scholars point to several contradictions which can be found in Al-Maqrizi's book. For example, in the first chapter of the Hitat, the Copts are said to have denied any intrusion of the Amalekites in Egypt and the pyramids were erected as the tomb of Šaddād bīn 'Âd. But some chapters later, Al-Maqrizi claims that the Copts call Saurid the builder of the pyramids.][
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Khufu in popular culture
Because of his fame, Khufu is the subject of several modern references, similar to kings and queens such as Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamen. His historical figure appears in movies, novels and Documentary, documentaries. In 1827, Jane C. Loudon wrote the novel ''The Mummy!, The Mummy! A Tale of the 22nd Century''. The story describes the citizens of the 22nd century, which became highly advanced technologically, but totally immoral. Only the mummy of Khufu can save them. In 1939, Nagib Mahfuz wrote the novel ''Khufu's Wisdom'', which is based on the stories of Papyrus Westcar. In 1997, French author Guy Rachet published the novel series ''Le roman des pyramides'', including five volumes, of which the first two (''Le temple soleil'' and ''Rêve de pierre'') use Khufu and his tomb as a theme. In 2004, spiritualist Page Bryant published the novel ''The Second Coming of the Star Gods'', which deals with Khufu's alleged celestial origin. The novel ''The Legend of The Vampire Khufu'', published by Raymond Mayotte in 2010, deals with king Khufu awakening in his pyramid as a vampire.
Films which deal with Khufu, or have the Great Pyramid as a subject, include Howard Hawks' ''Land of the Pharaohs'' from 1955, a fictional account of the building of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and Roland Emmerich's ''Stargate (film), Stargate'' from 1994, in which an extraterrestrial device is found near the pyramids.
Khufu and his pyramid are the objects of Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific theories purporting that Khufu's pyramid was built with the help of extraterrestrials and that Khufu simply seized and re-used the monument, ignoring archaeological evidence or even falsifying it.
A near-Earth asteroid bears Khufu's name: ''3362 Khufu''.
Khufu and his pyramid are referenced in several computer games such as ''Tomb Raider IV, Tomb Raider – The Last Revelation'', in which the player must enter Khufu's pyramid and face the god Set (mythology), Seth as the final boss. Another example is ''Duck Tales 2'' for the Game Boy; the player here must guide Uncle Scrooge through a trap-loaded Khufu's pyramid. In the classic action role playing game Titan Quest, the Giza Plateau is a large desert region in Egypt, where the Tomb of Khufu and The Great Sphinx can be found. He was also mentioned in ''Assassin's Creed Origins'', as to where the player should find his tomb.
See also
* Egyptian pyramid construction techniques
* Fourth Dynasty of Egypt family tree
* Khufu ship
References
External links
Travertine fragment of a small seated statue of Khufu, on display in the Boston museum of fine arts
An early pharaonic harbour on the Red Sea coast
The Harbor of Khufu on the Red Sea Coast at Wadi al-Jarf
La découverte des papyrus de Chéops sur le port antique du ouadi el-Jarf
{{Authority control
Khufu,
26th-century BC Pharaohs
26th-century BC deaths
Pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt
Year of birth unknown
Sneferu
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