Pharaoh Khufu, known as Cheops to the Greeks, is credited with ordering the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza, near modern Cairo and Memphis. Unlike his grandfather Djoser Netjeriket, and his father Sneferu, both of which were remembered as caring and compassionate rulers, Khufu was reported by Herodotus to have been a cruel despot.
Horus name of Khufu was Medjedu, and his full birth name was Khnum-Khufu, meaning, "the god Khnum protects me." Khnum was considered the local god of Elephantine, near the first Nile cataract, who created mankind on his "pottery wheel" and was also responsible for the flooding of the Nile proper.
Khufu may have already been in the years when he took the throne. Its parent and grand vizier, Hemiunu, was also the architect of the Great Pyramid. First wife of Khufu was appointed Merityotes, and she and his other two wives were each buried in one of three smaller subsidiary pyramids that lie just south of the funerary temple of the main pyramid. Khufu had several son, Kawab among them, would have been his heir, Khufukhaf, Minkhaf and Djedefhor, Chephren or Khafre and Didoufri. Westcar the so-called Papyrus contains stories of some of these son.
Although the Great Pyramid somehow represents the essence of "Ancient Egypt," the king for whom it was built as a tomb has left little recorded information of his actual reign. Khufu probably reigned for 23 or 24 years. There is evidence that he sent expeditions to the Sinai and worked the diorite stone quarries deep in the Nubian Desert northwest of Abu Simbel. Inscriptions on the rocks at Wadi Maghara record the presence of its troops there to exploit the turquoise mines, and a very low enrollment at Elephantine indicates that he probably used the red granite of Aswan as well.
Herodotus, who wrote his stories and commentaries on Egypt around 450 BC, centuries after Khufu had reigned around 2585 BCE, recorded this about the King: "Kheops brought the country in all kinds misery, he closed the temples, forbade his subjects to offer. sacrifices, and compelled, without exception, to work on his works ... Egyptians can hardly bring himself to forget ... Khufu ... so great is their hatred. "It was even said that Khufu set one of his daughters to a brothel so that it can generate revenue to build the pyramid, also asking each customer for a block of stone so she can build her own pyramid. There is no evidence of such history, if there are smaller pyramids which probably belonged to half-sister/wives of Cheops, and it has done at least three girls back.
Even before Herodotus, the author of the document now known as Cheops Westcar Papyrus is also cruel. The text was inscribed in the Hyksos period before the 18th dynasty, though its composition seems to date from the 12th dynasty. A story, Kheops and the Magicians, tells of a magician named Djedi deemed that can bring the dead back to life. It is presented to Khufu, who orders a prisoner brought to him, so he can see a demonstration of the talents of magician. Khufu further orders that the prisoner should be killed, then Djedi can bring it to life. When objects Djedi, King relents his initial decision, and Djedi then demonstrates his talent on a goose.
It should be noted that while Khufu has acquired this reputation, accurate or not, the years and the work that went into building his pyramid tomb was surpassed by the three pyramids built by his father, who was unlike Snefru remembered as a gracious sovereign.
The Great Pyramid was originally 481 feet high complete with its original case, but since he lost his best 30 feet, it is only 451 feet now. It covers about 13 hectares. The outer casing was shining white limestone, laid up and down. It was largely stolen from the Middle Ages to build medieval Cairo. Today nothing remains of the funerary temple of limestone, which was 171 feet by 132 feet, with the exception of its black basalt floor. Valley of the temple complex has disappeared under the Arab village, although traces of this temple could be seen when new sewer systems have been set.
With the pyramid itself, the remains of a magnificent 141-foot long ship of cedar wood were also found in a pit cut into the rock near the south shore of the Great Pyramid. A second ship may also rest in a second sealed pit, but not as good as the first. The ship was restored over many years and is now in a museum specially built near the pyramid itself. The ship may have symbolized the solar journey of the dead king with the gods, especially the sun god Ra.
It is ironic indeed that for all the magnificence of his pyramid, his boat burial, and the wonders of grave goods that have been discovered belonging to his mother, Queen Hetepheres, wife of Sneferu, the only portrait we have of Cheops is a 3-inch high-tiny statue carved in ivory.
It had to be easy to contemplate the manufacturer of such a monument as the Great Pyramid have virtually enslaved his people to accomplish it, and to order a royal princess to prostitute themselves. Sneferu, Khufu's father, had three separate pyramids built during his reign. Certainly, workers or the nobles would have left evidence of their displeasure at least the strangeness of their sovereign if not his despotism. Yet, we remember that Snefru friendly and voluptuous. And Khafre, Khufu's son, left not only a pyramid, but most likely as a sphinx. And history, or at least, historians, not to record Khafre is being a bully.
The Great Pyramid was originally 481 feet high complete with its original case, but since he lost his best 30 feet, it is only 451 feet now. It covers about 13 hectares. The outer casing was shining white limestone, laid up and down. It was largely stolen from the Middle Ages to build medieval Cairo. Today nothing remains of the funerary temple of limestone, which was 171 feet by 132 feet, with the exception of its black basalt floor. Valley of the temple complex has disappeared under the Arab village, although traces of this temple could be seen when new sewer systems have been set.
With the pyramid itself, the remains of a magnificent 141-foot long ship of cedar wood were also found in a pit cut into the rock near the south shore of the Great Pyramid. A second ship may also rest in a second sealed pit, but not as good as the first. The ship was restored over many years and is now in a museum specially built near the pyramid itself. The ship may have symbolized the solar journey of the dead king with the gods, especially the sun god Ra.
It is ironic indeed that for all the magnificence of his pyramid, his boat burial, and the wonders of grave goods that have been discovered belonging to his mother, Queen Hetepheres, wife of Sneferu, the only portrait we have of Cheops is a 3-inch high-tiny statue carved in ivory.
It had to be easy to contemplate the manufacturer of such a monument as the Great Pyramid have virtually enslaved his people to accomplish it, and to order a royal princess to prostitute themselves. Sneferu, Khufu's father, had three separate pyramids built during his reign. Certainly, workers or the nobles would have left evidence of their displeasure at least the strangeness of their sovereign if not his despotism. Yet, we remember that Snefru friendly and voluptuous. And Khafre, Khufu's son, left not only a pyramid, but most likely as a sphinx. And history, or at least, historians, not to record Khafre is being a bully.
Continuing work at Giza is still showing that the men responsible for building the pyramids led normal lives. They bread, ate fish, made offerings to their dead and the gods blessed and cared for their families. They left funerary stelae and tombs behind to give us an indication of how they considered their fate. It is more likely that the Greeks could less easily conceive such a long term project work as anything but forced. Perhaps some archaeologist millennia in our own future may find rusted iron skeletons of some of our finest skyscrapers and wonder how cruel lords that we had the sweat of our own forced labor.
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