What type of ruler was Pharaoh Khufu? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [70][71], Khufu and his pyramid are referenced in several computer games such as Tomb Raider – The Last Revelation, in which the player must enter Khufu's pyramid and face the god Seth as the final boss. Furthermore, scholars point to several contradictions which can be found in Al-Maqrizi's book. Diodorus claims that the Egyptians of his lifetime were unable to tell him with certainty who actually built the pyramids. The inner corridors and chambers have walls and ceilings made of polished granite, one of the hardest stones known in Khufu's time. In 1827, Jane C. Loudon wrote the novel The Mummy! [24], At Wadi Maghareh in the Sinai a rock inscription depicts Khufu with the double crown. 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 casing was made of nearly white limestone. Some of them originate from the ruined pyramid temple and the destroyed causeway, where they once covered the walls completely. 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 Egy… On the eastern side, directly in front of the pyramid, Khufu's mortuary temple was built. Pharaoh. Papyrus Westcar is a collection of stories as told by Khufu's sons. [22][23] Therefore, Khufu's highest known and certain preserved date is the "Year after the 13th cattle count". 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. Within Egypt, Khufu is documented in several building inscriptions and statues. 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. He was an ancient Egyptian monarch, who ruled Egypt through the fourth dynasty during the 26th century B.C as a second king. [32][36], Two further objects are on display at the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim. Updates? Khufu’s reign and that of his son Khafre were represented by the Greek historian Herodotus as 106 years of oppression and misery, but this was belied by Khufu’s posthumous reputation in Egypt as a wise ruler. The contradictory depiction of Khufu is the object of great dispute between Egyptologists and historians to this day. Najīb Maḥfūẓ (Author), Raymond T. Stock (Translator): Philip C. DiMare: Movies in American History. The papyri fragments show several storage lists naming the delivered goods. [5][18], Egyptologists such as Thomas Schneider, Michael Haase, and Rainer Stadelmann 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. Khufu may have viewed himself as a divine creator, a role that was already given to Khnum, the god of creation and growth. Timeline Search. One of the fragments, that of a small seated statue, shows the legs and feet of a sitting king from the knuckles downward. The pyramid therefore already had no pyramidion anymore. [56][57] This negative picture was presumably projected onto Khufu and his pyramid. 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. It's a 241 ft × 66.6 ft (73.5 m × 20.3 m) large limestone statue in the shape of a recumbent lion with the head of a human, decorated with a royal Nemes headdress. Dynastie (= Ägypten und Altes Testament 46). He also thinks that the pyramid was built with ramps, which were removed during the finishing of the limestone shell. It was erected in small steps by more or less roughly hewn blocks of dark limestone. The Pharaoh Khufu, or commonly known as Cheops, ruled in the 4th Dynasty (2551-2528 B.C.) 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). The name of Khufu appears in Hatnub and Wadi Hammamat local quarries. The figurine was found headless; according to Petrie, it was caused by an accident while digging. Ancient Egyptian leader-Hatshepsut, Khufu, Ramses II, Senusret I. Reign. This town was still held in high esteem during the Middle Kingdom period. The faces of Djedefre and Khaefra are both similar to that of the Sphinx, but they do not match perfectly. They argue that the classical authors lived around 2000 years after Khufu, and their sources that were available in their lifetimes surely were antiquated. 2566 BCE - 2558 BCE. This is remarkable, since reliefs of Sneferu and those of all kings from Menkaura onward show the king offering to a deity. [41][42], At the Wadi Maghareh 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". They were deposited at Saqqara during the Middle Kingdom, but their creation can be dated back to Khufu's reign. In contrast, Herodotus claimed he ruled for fifty years while Manetho a Ptolemaic priest credits him with a staggering reign of sixty-three years! In: David O'Connor. It is the oldest archaeologically detected sailing route of Ancient Egypt. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. These are also made of alabaster. The guiding inscription calls them "the surroundings of Tefef serve Khufu", "beautiful bulls of Khufu" and "bawling for Khufu". [10][49] 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. Pharaoh, buried in the Great Pyramid. Zahi Hawass therefore concludes that the figurine was possibly made as an amulet or lucky charm to sell to pious citizens. It is uncertain if Khufu was actually the biological son of Sneferu. The ancient Egyptians were of the opinion that human life should not be misused for dark magic or similar evil things. At the end of 6th dynasty at least 67 mortuary priests and 6 independent high officials serving at the necropolis are archaeologically attested. Khufu was the son of King Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres I. 2649-2150 BCE, saw Ancient Egypt ruled by a strong, centralized government. An official agreement that … Khufu chose the high end of a natural plateau so that his future pyramid would be widely visible. 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. From the same period comes the famous Inventory Stela, which names Khufu and his wife Henutsen. 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. 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. The excavators point out that the statues were restored during the Middle Kingdom, after they were broken apart. The later Egyptian historian Manetho called Khufu "Sûphis" and credited him with a rulership of 63 years. And they worked by 100,000 men at a time, for each three months continually. His historical figure appears in movies, novels and documentaries. 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. For the Old Kingdom the most characteristic form of tomb building was the true pyramid, the finest example of which is the Great Pyramid... For the Old Kingdom the most characteristic form of tomb building was the true pyramid, the finest example of which is the Great Pyramid of King. [35], 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. And a fourth example shows the king with the double crown impaling a hippopotamus. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 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. It was … Khufu's serekh name is carved in a rock inscription reporting the "Mefat-travelling in the year after the 13th cattle count under Hor-Medjedu". He wanted to create a mysterious character. [25][43], None of the numerous relief fragments shows king Khufu offering to a god. [5][10], Most documents that mention king Khufu were written by ancient Egyptian and Greek historians around 300 BC. Until recently, it was assumed that these people must have been slaves. Herodotus’s story of Khufu’s prostitution of his daughter in order to raise money for his building projects is clearly apocryphal. He enslaved his people in order to build some of his ideal creations like the Pyramid of Giza. [45][46][47][48], On the eastern side of the pyramid lies the East Cemetery of the Khufu necropolis, containing the mastabas of princes and princesses. pyramid of Khafre: mortuary temple Mortuary temple of the pyramid of Khafre, near Giza, Egypt. p. 891, http://guardians.net/hawass/articles/secretchambers.htm, http://www.gizapyramids.org/static/pdf%20library/verner_archiv_or_69.pdf, "Most Ancient Port, Hieroglyphic Papyri Found", "4,500-year-old harbor structures and papyrus texts unearthed in Egypt", "Story of the Pyramid builders revealed in 4500-yr-old papyri", "A 4,500 Year Old Papyrus Holds the Answer to How the Great Pyramid Was Built", "Revealed: 4,500-year-old Papyrus that details the construction of the Great Pyramid – Mysterious Earth", "Revealed: 4,500-year-old Papyrus that details the construction of the Great Pyramid", https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/455942.The_Second_Coming_of_the_Star_Gods, 3362 Khufu in the internet-database of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Travertine fragment of a small seated statue of Khufu, on display in the Boston museum of fine arts, Zahi Hawass: Khufu – Builder of the Great Pyramid, 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, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khufu&oldid=1008504340, Wikipedia pending changes protected pages, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 23 February 2021, at 17:08. These negative evaluations were applied to Khufu. The subterranean chamber remains mysterious as it was left unfinished. Once it had been 481 ft (147 m) high, but the pyramidion and the limestone casing are completely lost due to stone robbery. Two of his sons, Redjedef and Khafre, succeeded him in turn. It was assumed that this was a highly structured society…Read more The Pharaoh Khufu › The inscriptions describe the arrival of royal boats with precious ore and turquoise in the "year after the 13th cattle count under Hor-Medjedw". He succeeded to the throne after his father died. 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. The head is made of limestone and is comparatively small at only 5,7 cm. [5][18] The ancient historian Herodotus gives 50 years and the ancient historian Manetho even credits him 63 years of reign. Wildung thinks that Dedi's refusal was an allusion to the respect Egyptians showed to human life. [45][46][47][48], Khufu possessed an extensive mortuary cult during the Old Kingdom. Egyptologists believe Khufu reigned for around twenty-three years based on the evidence contained in the Turin Kings List. [59] 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". 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. Hessling, Berlin 1969, page 152–192. Especially earlier Egyptologists and historians such as Adolf Erman, Kurt Heinrich Sethe and Wolfgang Helck evaluated Khufu's character as heartless and sacrilegious. [9][15][16], A literary masterpiece from the 13th dynasty talking about Khufu is the famous Papyrus Westcar, where king Khufu witnesses a magical wonder and receives a prophecy from a magician named Dedi. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt. The Sphinx was directly hewn out of the plateau of Giza and originally painted with red, ocher, green and black. Khafre reigned after Djedefre’s short rule, and was also a son of Khufu. [13], The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: Khnum-khuf and Khufu. 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. Because few records from that time survive, limited details about Khufu are known. Like other kings, such as Sekhemkhet, Sneferu and Sahure, who are also depicted in impressive reliefs there, he was looking for those two precious materials. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other countries is documented. 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. Khufu holds a flail in his left hand and his right hand rests together with his lower arm on his right upper leg. In chapter 127–128 Herodotus writes: "After Khéops was dead his brother Khéphrên succeeded to the royal throne. 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. [32][34], It is often said that the small figurine is the only preserved statue of Khufu. Among other material, a collection of hundreds of papyrus fragments were found in 2013 dating back 4500 years. [58], Al-Maqrizi notes that Khufu was named Saurid, Salhuk and/or Sarjak by the biblical Amalekites. 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. His birth name was Khnum-Khufu and he succeeded his father, Sneferu, to rule Upper and Lower Egypt in the 26th century B.C. 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. 2613-2494 B.C. He sent several expeditions to Byblos in an attempt to trade copper tools and weapons for precious Lebanon cedar wood. [11][12] While modern Egyptological pronunciation renders his name as Khufu, at the time of his reign his name was probably pronounced as Khayafwi(y). [9][15][16], The following list presents family members, which can be assigned to Khufu with certainty. But to this day, there still isn't much information on his rain. 526 BCE - 525 BCE. Obviously, Manetho thought "Khéops" and "Sûphis" to be two different kings. A huge number of domains' names are attested for the time of Khufu's reign. The position of her right arm suggests that the bust once belonged to a statue group similar to the well known triad of Mycerinus. As a consequence, they transferred Egyptian kings and gods into biblical prophets and kings. King Khufu “ 2589-2566 BC “, whose name means Khunum protects me, was known as Cheops to the Greeks. From the same dynasty a golden seal ring with the name of a priest Neferibrê was found at Giza. It is generally agreed that his reign began in about 2589 B.C. Its foundation was made of black basalt, a great part of which is still preserved. There is a stone inscription on the Wadi Maghareh in Sinai, which portrays Khufu holding two crowns. In respect to this, where did King Khufu live? Khufu decided to call his pyramid Akhet-Khufu (meaning "horizon of Khufu"). Both of them, Herodotus and Diodoros, lived more than 2000 years after Khufu died, literacy was less common at the time than in the last 2000 years and they would have known much less about Khufu's time than we know about events 2000 years ago (e.g. In June 2011, an archaeological team led by French Egyptologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, organized by the French Institute of Oriental Archeology (IFAO), restarted work at the site. 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.[55][56][57]. 2465 bce) of Egypt and builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza (see Pyramids of Giza), the largest single building to that time. The power or right to control someone or something. Khufu (Cheops in Greek) 2566 BCE. [22][23] The papyrus is currently exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The cattle count as an economic event served the tax collection in the whole of Egypt. 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. For example, Khufu is the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus from the 13th dynasty. One of the difficulties of a correct attribution lies in the lack of any perfectly preserved portrait of Khufu. A harsh ruler who treated his subjects cruelly. 2465 bce) of Egypt and builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza (see Pyramids of Giza), the largest single building to that time. Another riddle is the original cultic and symbolic function of the Sphinx. Therefore, it seemed clear at first that Hetepheres was the wife of Sneferu, and that they were Khufu's parents. The great number of years separating us from the birth of Khufu should make us humble in the face of the accuracy of genealogical information. ... Rule of Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt, who built a shrine to Ammon at Siwa. Reign of Psamtik III, pharaoh of Egypt. Khufu was born to Queen Hetepheres I and Sneferu. For the encryption algorithm, see, "Cheops" redirects here. [5][18], 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. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Khufu, Khufu - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. [49][56] Additionally some Egyptologists point out that the philosophies of the ancient Egyptians had changed since the Old Kingdom. Excavations at Saqqara in 2001 and 2003 revealed a pair of terracotta statues depicting a lion goddess (possibly Bastet or Sekhmet). [5][10], Khufu's name was dedicated to the god Khnum, which might point to an increase of Khnum's popularity and religious importance. It is possible that the lack of building space, the lack of local limestone quarries and the loosened ground at Dahshur forced Khufu to move north, away from the pyramid of his predecessor Sneferu. This is inconsistent with a typical statue group of the Old Kingdom — normally all statue groups were built as an artistic unit. 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. 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. The exact number of Khufu's children is unknown, as pharaohs generally had both a primary wife and many 'lesser' wives. 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 some chapters later, Al-Maqrizi claims that the Copts call Saurid the builder of the pyramids. I did know that Khufu built the largest pyramid at Giza. [9][15] 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. Khufu's attendance roll call in this list might indicate that he and his followers were worshipped as patron saints. 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. Khufu, also called Khnum-Khufwy, became the Egyptian pharaoh during the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt. 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. [58], Over time, Egyptologists examined possible motives and reasons as to how Khufu's reputation changed over time. Obviously, Manetho thought "Khéops" and "Sûphis" to be two different kings. Thanks to these documents, an obscure and critical picture of Khufu's personality persists. From the mortuary temple a causeway 0.43 miles long once connected to the valley temple. ), or Cheops, was an Egyptian king who built the Great Pyramid at Giza and ruled as the second king of the Fourth Dynasty. Verena Lepper and Miriam Lichtheim suspect that a difficult-to-assess depiction of Khufu was exactly what the author had planned. Everything known about Khufu comes from inscriptions in his necropolis at Giza and later documents. While the right figurine can be identified as king Khufu by his Horus name, the left one depicts king Pepy I of 6th dynasty, called by his birth name. Minkhaf and Khufukhaf (I) served as Vizier at some point. It is widely believed that his father was Pharaoh Snefru; due to the fact that the oldest son of the Pharaoh usually inherited the throne and Khufu followed Snefru as ruler of Egypt. It is believed Khufu became Pharaoh while in his twenties. Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. [5][10] A rare version of the name of Khufu, used by Josephus, is Sofe (/ˈsɒfi/ SOF-ee; Greek: Σόφε). More than 30 scarabs are preserved. Silke Roth: Die Königsmütter des Alten Ägypten von der Frühzeit bis zum Ende der 12. He is depicted as the direct follower of Khufu and as likewise evil and that he ruled for 56 years. [65] 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.[66]. These mortuary cults were still practiced even in Saitic and Persian periods. Khufu was the second king in ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom’s Fourth Dynasty. 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. The son and immediate successor of Queen Hetepheres and King Snefru, the founder of the Fourth Dynasty (ca. 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. Khufu and his pyramid are the objects of pseudoscientific theories purporting that Khufu's pyramid was built with the help of extraterrestrials and that Khufu simply seized and re-used the monument,[68] ignoring archaeological evidence or even falsifying it. Most documents that mention king Khufu were written by ancient Egyptian and Greek historians around 300 BC. This was typical when an addressed king was still alive; when the ruler was already dead he was addressed by his cartouche name or 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. His Hellenized names were Kheops, Cheops, and Suphis, as coined by the Greek historians Diodorus and Herodotus, along with the Egyptian historian Manetho. All reliefs were made of finely polished limestone. The appearance of Khufu on the ivory statue instead looks like the artist did not care very much about professionalism or diligence. Khufu, whose full name was Khnum-Khufu, is best remembered for his association with the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is also known as the Pyramid of Khufu. 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 certain facts are established, archaeologically speaking. When did Pharaoh Khufu rule? [39], Khufu is depicted in several relief fragments found scattered in his necropolis and elsewhere. As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. 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.

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