Khufu, or Cheops, was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, reigning during the 26th century BC in the early Old Kingdom period. Khufu succeeded his father, Sneferu, as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented.Thomas Schneider: Lexikon der Pharaonen. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, , page 100–104. Khufu is also the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus from the 13th dynasty.
The only completely preserved portrait of the king is a small ivory figurine found in a temple ruin of a later period at Abydos in 1903. All other reliefs and statues were found in fragments, and many buildings of Khufu are lost. Khufu has a conflicting legacy: 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 and Herodotus hand down a very negative depiction of Khufu's character. As a result, an obscure and critical picture of Khufu's personality persists.
Name Khufu's name ("He protects me") was dedicated to the god Khnum, 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 cartouche names (official royal 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 protects me".Rosalie F. Baker, Charles F. Baker: Ancient Egyptians: People of the Pyramids (= Oxford Profiles Series). Oxford University Press, 2001, , page 33. 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).Gundacker, Roman (2015) "The Chronology of the Third and Fourth Dynasties according to Manetho's Aegyptiaca" in Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom, page 114–115, provides the final vowel but disagrees with Loprieno in some details of the word's subsequent development: where Loprieno considers the semivowels preceding the tonic /a/ to have ultimately reduced to glottal stops, Gundacker posits that /j/ assimilated to the preceding /w/, which was preserved.
The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: Khnum-khufu 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 was not meant to be connected to any god at all.
Khufu is well known under his Hellenized name , Khéops or Cheops (, , by Diodorus and Herodotus) 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, is , Sofe (, ).Flavius Josephus, Folker Siegert: Über Die Ursprünglichkeit des Judentums (Contra Apionem), Volume 1, Flavius Josephus. From: Schriften Des Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum, Westfalen Institutum Iudaicum Delitzschianum Münster). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, , page 85. (The pronunciations given here are for English; the pronunciations in Ancient Greek were different.) Arab historians, who wrote mystic stories about Khufu and the Giza pyramids, called him Saurid () or Salhuk (سلهوق).Gerald Massey: The natural genesis, or, second part of A book of the beginnings: containing an attempt to recover and reconstitute the lost origins of the myths and mysteries, types and symbols, religion and language, with Egypt for the mouthpiece and Africa as the birthplace, vol. 1. Black Classic Press, 1998, , p.224-228.
Family
Origin
The royal family of Khufu was quite large. It is uncertain if Khufu was actually the biological son of Sneferu. 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.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, pp. 52–53 In 1925, the tomb of queen Hetepheres I 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.
Spouses: Meritites I: First wife of Khufu Henutsen: Second wife of Khufu. She is mentioned on the famous Inventory Stela.
Brothers and sisters: Hetepheres: Wife of Ankhhaf Ankhhaf: The eldest brother. His nephew would later become pharaoh Khafra. Nefermaat: Half-brother; buried at Meidum 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 of Cairo.
Sons: Kawab ( 2600 BC – 2570 BC): Most likely the eldest son and crown prince, he died before Khufu's own end of reign and thus did not follow Khufu on the throne. Wepemnofret (died 2585 BC) Djedefre (died 2558 BC): Also known as Radjedef and Ratoises. Became the first throne successor. Khafre (died 2532 BC): Most possibly second throne successor Djedefhor (died 2530 BC): Also known as Hordjedef. Mentioned in the Papyrus Westcar. Babaef I: Also known as Khnum-baef I Khufukhaf I: Also known as Kaefkhufu I Minkhaf I Horbaef
Daughter:Grajetzki: Ancient Egyptian Queens: A Hieroglyphic Dictionary. Golden House Publications, London, 2005, Hetepheres II: Wife of prince Kawab, later married to king Djedefre
Grandchildren: Mindjedef: Also known as Djedefmin Meresankh III ( 2578 BC – 2520 BC): Queen consort of Egypt
Nephews and nieces: Hemiunu: Director of the building of Khufu's great pyramid Djedi: 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
Unconfirmed The following list presents unconfirmed family members, which may be related to Khufu.Parents: Sneferu: Most likely his father, maybe just his stepfather. Famous pharaoh and builder of three pyramids. Hetepheres I: Most likely his mother. Wife of king Sneferu and well known for her precious grave goods found at Giza Sons:
Baufra: Possibly a son of Khufu, but neither archaeologically nor contemporarily attested. Only known from two much later documents.
Daughters:
Meresankh II: Assumed to be his daughter, but never explicitly called his daughter. Nefertiabet: Known for her beautiful slab stelae Meritites II: Married to Akhethotep Khamerernebty I: Wife of king Khafre and mother of Menkaura
Grandchildren:
Duaenhor: Thought by some to be a son of Kawab and possibly eldest grandchild Kaemsekhem: Probably a second son of Kawab Djaty: Possibly a son of Horbaef Iunmin I: Possibly a son of Khafre Nefertkau III: Possibly a daughter of Meresankh II and Horbaef
Reign
Length It is still unclear how long exactly Khufu ruled over Egypt. Dates from Khufu's final years suggest that he was approaching his 30-year jubilee, but may have just missed it.
One of them was found at the Dakhla Oasis in the Libyan Desert. Khufu's serekh name is carved in a rock inscription reporting the "Mefat-travelling in the year after the 13th (biennial) cattle count under Hor-Medjedu", reignal year 27.R. Kuper and F. Forster: Khufu's 'mefat' expeditions into the Libyan Desert. In: Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 23, Autumn 2003, page 25–28 Photo of the Dachla-inscription
Several papyrus fragments, known as the Diary of Merer, were found at Khufu's harbor at Wadi al-Jarf. They log the transport of limestone blocks from Tura to the Great Pyramid of Giza in the "year after the 13th cattle count under Hor-Medjedw".
The highest known date from Khufu's reign is related to his funeral. Four instances of graffiti from the western of two rock-cut pits along the south side of the Great Pyramid attest to a date from the 28th or 29th reignal year of Khufu: the 14th census, month 1 of the season Shemu (spring-early summer).
The Royal Canon of Turin from the 19th Dynasty gives 23 years of rulership for Khufu.Michael Haase: Eine Stätte für die Ewigkeit: der Pyramidenkomplex des Cheops aus baulicher, architektonischer und kulturgeschichtlicher Sicht. von Zabern, Mainz 2004, , p. 12-13. The ancient historian Herodotus gives 50 years, and the ancient historian Manetho even credits him 63 years of reign. These figures are now considered an exaggeration or a misinterpretation of antiquated sources. Judging by his enormous building activity, Khufu must have reigned for more than 23 years, but its virtually impossible to determine the exact length, as cattle counts were irregular during his reign and not necessarily annual or biannual.
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 and Elephantine and in local quarries at Hatnub and Wadi Hammamat. At Saqqara two terracotta figures of the goddess Bastet were found, on which, at their bases, the horus name of Khufu is incised. They were deposited at Saqqara during the Middle Kingdom, but their creation can be dated back to Khufu's reign.Sakuji Yoshimura: Sakuji Yoshimura's Excavating in Egypt for 40 Years: Waseda University Expedition 1966–2006 – Project in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of Waseda University. Waseda University, Tokyo 2006, page 134–137, 223.
Wadi Maghareh