DW | Ancient Egypt
07 – Pharaoh Khufu
Welcome to the DW World History Series. In the last episode, we discussed King Sneferu and observed how he, through trial and error, constructed the first true pyramid. His son, Khufu, would take pyramid building to the extreme and construct the First of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
7.1 – Pharaoh Khufu (2589-2566 BC)
Khufu, also known as Cheops to the Greeks, was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt. He reigned from roughly c. 2589 to 2566 BC. Khufu's full name was Khnum Khufu, meaning "protected by Khnum."
Historical records often portray Khufu as a harsh ruler. Contemporary documents suggest that he was not regarded as a benevolent leader, in contrast to his father. By the Middle Kingdom, he was commonly described as heartless. In the Westcar Papyrus, Khufu is depicted as striving to consolidate his power and secure the continued rule of his family. While he is not portrayed as an excessively cruel monarch, there is an account of him sacrificing a criminal to test a magician's ability to resurrect the dead, which is sometimes cited as evidence of his malevolence.
According to Manetho, Khufu initially showed disrespect for the gods during the early years of his reign but later repented and composed a series of sacred books. However, there is no mention of these books in later works about the pharaohs of the pyramid age. Despite this, the notation that Khufu was not a benevolent ruler is repeated in various sources. It is occasionally suggested that few depictions of the king survived because they were destroyed after his death.
Interestingly, during Khufu's lifetime, there is no indication from workers, artisans, or nobles that he was despised. Herodotus mentions that Egyptians could not even bear to speak his name. However, after his death, Khufu was worshiped as a god, and his cult remained popular well into the Late Period and even during the Roman Period.
Khufu is believed to be the son of Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres I. He had a large family, with at least nine sons, including his successor Djedefre and Djedefre's successor Khafre, as well as fifteen daughters.
While there is some evidence suggesting that Khufu expanded Egypt's borders to include the Sinai Peninsula and maintained a military presence in the Sinai and Nubia, there were no significant military threats to the kingdom during his reign. He engaged in mining activities, such as extracting turquoise from Wadi Maghara, diorite from the Nubian desert, and red granite near Aswan. However, apart from his association with the Great Pyramid of Giza, little else is known about his reign.
7.2 - The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid is 480 feet high with a ground surface of 13 acres. It would remain the tallest building in the world for four-and-a-half thousand years until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. A proud achievement for any architect.
The construction of the pyramid was almost faultless in design. The sides were oriented exactly toward the cardinal points, and were precise 90-degree angles. The Chief of Works for this project was Khufu's cousin, Hemiunu. He was buried in a mastaba close by the Great Pyramid. Exactly how he built this masterpiece remains a debated subject. Also unknown is why Khufu would turn away from his father's site at Dahshur and choose a location on the Giza plateau, just south-west of Cairo. His work appears to have been the first on the site and it is curious why he did not build on the highest point of the plateau. This area would be taken by his son, Khafre, and would produce the optical illusion that his pyramid was taller, which it is not.
The exterior of the pyramid was cased with white tura limestone. Like other pyramids, this was largely removed in the Middle Ages to build Medieval Cairo. The original entrance to the Great Pyramid is on the north side, 56 ft vertically above ground level. From this original entrance, there is a Descending Passage which goes down through the masonry of the pyramid and then into the bedrock beneath it.
After 345 ft, the passage becomes level and continues for an additional 29 ft to the Lower Chamber, which appears not to have been finished. There is a continuation of the horizontal passage in the south wall of the lower chamber; there is also a pit dug in the floor of the chamber. Some Egyptologists suggest that this Lower Chamber was intended to be the original burial chamber, but Pharaoh Khufu later changed his mind and wanted it higher in the pyramid.
Ninety-three feet from the entrance is a square hole in the roof of the Descending Passage. Originally concealed with a slab of stone, this was the beginning of the Ascending Passage, which is 129 ft long that slopes up at almost precisely the same angle to reach the Grand Gallery. The lower end of the Ascending Passage is closed by three huge blocks of granite. One must use the Robbers' Tunnel to access the Ascending Passage. At the start of the Grand Gallery there is the Horizontal Passage leading to the "Queen's Chamber". The Queen's Chamber is exactly halfway between the north and south faces of the pyramid and has a pointed roof with an apex above the floor. The chamber was discovered empty.
The Grand Gallery continues the slope of the Ascending Passage. This engineering marvel is a 28 foot high, corbelled ceiling that goes all the way up the pyramid. Its function remains unknown. It is roofed by slabs of stone laid at a slightly steeper angle than the floor of the gallery, so that each stone fits into a slot cut in the top of the gallery like the teeth of a ratchet. The purpose was to have each block supported by the wall of the Gallery, rather than resting on the block beneath it, in order to prevent cumulative pressure.
The King's Chamber is entirely faced with granite. Remember Khufu's father used the corbelled ceiling in his pyramid. Khufu took it one step further by creating relieving chambers. These five chambers, above the roof, consist of nine slabs of stone weighing in total about 400 tons. These compartments were intended to safeguard the King's Chamber from the possibility of a roof collapsing under the weight of the stone above the Chamber. As the chambers were not intended to be seen, they were not finished in any way and a few of the stones still retain masons' marks painted on them. One of the stones records the name of a work gang.
The only object in the King's Chamber is a rectangular granite sarcophagus, one corner of which is broken. The sarcophagus is slightly larger than the Ascending Passage, its also 2-inches wider than the doorway to the chamber which indicates that it must have been placed in the Chamber before the roof was put in place.
Unlike the fine masonry of the walls of the Chamber, the sarcophagus is roughly finished, with saw marks visible in several places. This is in contrast with the finely finished and decorated sarcophagi found in other pyramids of the same period.
Tombs of courtiers surrounded the pyramid's west side and three smaller pyramids for the queens were constructed on the east side. As recorded by Herodotus, the central pyramid was a product of one of Khufu's daughters. He states Khufu had her placed in a brothel to raise more money for building the Great Pyramid.
Herodotus also claims that Khufu closed all of the temples (there is no evidence at all of this) and that the daughter of Khufu was prostituted in order to help pay for the construction of the Great Pyramid (again this rather unlikely claim is not supported by any evidence).
'She not only obtained the sum appointed by her father, but she also formed a design for herself privately to leave behind a memorial, and she requested each man to give her one stone upon her building.'
-Herodotus, The Histories, Book 2, Section 126
Nothing but the black basalt floor remains of the Great Pyramid's mortuary temple, and the valley temple, at the end of the causeway, has disappeared.
7.3 – Building the Pyramids
Higher mathematics were not needed to build the pyramid. The only thing required was social organization and lots of manpower for quarrying the stone, transporting the blocks, and feeding the workers.
The pyramid was not magical. We know the purpose for the pyramid. It was a tomb for the burial of the pharaoh. Its important to know the difference; a temple was a place of worship, a tomb was a place for burial. The pyramids were tombs. Another point that needs to be made: the pyramid shape was not magical. Although the Ancient Egyptians believed in magic, the pyramid was not a form the Egyptians considered as magical. The renown Egyptologist Bob Brier clarifies, “The pyramid shape was an architectural development.” It developed. It evolved. Magical conspiracies would have been silly even to the ancient Egyptians.
The pyramids were not built by slaves. The old movies with the slaves and the Egyptian soldier with the whip striking the worker as he pulled the stone is not accurate. First, it would have been very difficult to control thousands of slaves. Secondly, there was never a large number of slaves in Egypt that were used for work projects, especially the number required to build the pyramids. So who built the pyramids? The Egyptians did through the use of work gangs. We have their inscriptions and we now understand the organizational structures they used. Egypt was practically an agrarian culture. Everyone was a farmer. These farmers would be used, during the time of inundation, when the fields were underwater. When Herodotus, our ancient Greek tourist, went to Egypt thousands of years later, he was told how these pyramids were constructed by the Ancient Egyptians themselves. They didn't say the pyramids were built by aliens or by slaves. They told him 90,000 men, separated through work-gangs, created the pyramids three months at a time. The number of 90,000 men is like the numbers used in ancient battles, and it may be inaccurate, but you get the point. Ancient Egyptian farmers created the pyramids when they weren't working the fields.
An interesting point that no one really talks about, no architectural papyri exist explaining how to build temples or pyramids. Bob Brier believes theses were 'trade secrets', similar to the mummification process, which was also never written down.
So how was the Great Pyramid built? First, workers removed the sand and cleared down to the bedrock, as you can't build on sand, (just look at the Bent Pyramid). They probably built channels in the earth at the base and filled them with water, until they had a level surface, much like a carpenter's level. Now wherever the water ran out- you know that's lower than the rest of the base. So they kept leveling, digging channels, leveling, until the water stayed in. Once the water stayed in, then they had a level base. Again, you did not need higher mathematics to build a pyramid. You needed craftsmanship and precision, and the Great Pyramid demonstrates both of these. Surveys show the Great Pyramid at 13.5 acres. From one corner to the other, the level varies no more than two inches. That's precision! All done through a simple technique, by filling channels with water.
How did they bring all the blocks to the site? They didn't have to. The quarries were right around the pyramids. You can still see these quarries today. What was far away was the limestone casing that was used for creating the smooth outer surface, but that stone was much smaller and could easily be transported down the Nile. But how the stones were positioned at the top of the pyramid, by ramp or winding road, is a debated subject. They probably had both. We know they used ramps elsewhere, as some of these ramps still exist. At 480 feet high, any ramps used would have to be a quarter of a mile long, obviously implausible for this project. But the Great Pyramid was most likely created using a winding road, equivalent more accurately to the switchback.
The sides of the Great Pyramid are perfectly aligned to the four cardinal points: North, South, East, and West. They could do this by careful observation of the stars, primarily through following the North Star. An example of this is demonstrated later in the 19th Dynasty by Ramesses II when he creates his Temple at Abu Simbel. Here, he is able to use perfect alignment to illuminate specific statues within the temple depending on the time of year.
In the end, careful management, not higher mathematics was all that was needed for construction, which was completed within 22 years of Khufu's reign.
7.4 – The Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I
Two remarkable discoveries relating to Khufu have been found in the vicinity of his pyramid. The first was his burial tomb for his mother, Queen Hetepheres, which was discovered in 1925. After tomb robbers had apparently gained entry into her first burial in Dahshur, it was decided to move her to the Giza Plateau to a more secure location near her son. The robbers had destroyed her body before the guards were able to rescue the remainder of the burial. When her sarcophagus was opened, it was found to be empty. However, her canopic chest had been used which had four compartments containing her organs. This is the earliest known use of evisceration in the mummification process.
Along with her large alabaster sarcophagus, her furniture was discovered and has been fully restored through the replacement of wood that had suffered over the thousands of years. There were also various gold, copper, and alabaster vessels, a gold manicure set, and twenty silver bracelets inlaid with dragonflies. The craftsmanship of these items are superb.
The queen's furniture would have been placed within a canopy made from wooden jambs, battens and poles that were finely gilded. The entrance jambs have inscriptions raised in relief which give the name and titles of her husband, Sneferu. The back pillars, which are carved with a matted pattern, are held together with copper staples. The floor and top rails are fixed to the vertical corner posts with a number of complex joints, and poles are spaced around the walls of the frame. Roof poles have also been dovetail-jointed into the top rails of this canopy.
To prevent wear at the joints, each has been carefully encased with copper plates that have been folded to shape and tacked through the gold sheet to the wooden core below. This suggests that the canopy was portable. Around the walls and across the roof were hung, on copper hooks, netting and curtains which provided the queen with privacy and protection from insects and comfort from the chilling night air.
Two armchairs had been placed in the tomb, but unfortunately only one could be reconstructed. Each had legs of lion form and stood on copper drums and shoes. The back support of the reconstructed armchair shows that it was made from a mitred frame that was covered in gold and enclosed a plain, solid-wood panel. The chair's arms were semi circular in section and the vertical front posts were raised with a matted pattern. The spaces below the arms were filled with an array of three tied papyrus flowers, and covered with gold sheet. A cushion may have been placed on the wooden seat, which was made from another solid panel.
Also discovered was the queen's bed, which again was covered in gold sheet and stood on lion legs. The general shape is similar to those beds discovered in the Early Dynastic Period but it slopes, like the Hesire illustrations, downwards towards the bed's foot. Boards have been rebated into the side poles of the bed, on which the queen would have slept. For the first time a footboard has been attached to the bed. It was inlaid with many pieces of colored faience in a feathered pattern, which is also repeated on a long box which held the curtains that hung around the canopy. Two smaller boxes were also found that contained the queen's bracelets and a headrest.
7.5 - Khufu's Ship
The second remarkable discovery was that of an intact wooden ship uncovered in 1954, close to the south face of the pyramid. Too large for the pit intended for it, the boat had been carefully dismantled into 650 parts comprising of 1224 pieces, and has now been restored by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization.
Khufu's ship is one of the oldest, largest, and best-preserved vessels from antiquity. It measures 143 ft long and 19.5 ft wide. It was thus identified as the world's oldest intact ship and has been described as "a masterpiece of woodcraft" that could even sail today if put into water.
The history and function of the ship are not precisely known. It is of the type known as a "solar barge", a ritual vessel to carry the resurrected king with the sun god Ra across the heavens. However, it bears some signs of having been used in water, and it is possible that the ship was either a funerary "barge" used to carry the king's embalmed body from Memphis to Giza, or even that Khufu himself used it as a "pilgrimage ship" to visit holy places and that it was then buried for him to use in the afterlife.
The Khufu ship has been on display to the public in a specially built museum at the Giza pyramid complex since 1982.
7.6 – Khufu's Legacy
What is amazing to consider is the tiny statue of Khufu being the only portrait remaining of the king who created the largest pyramid in the world. This tiny, 3-inch high ivory sculpture was discovered by Flinders Petrie in the old Temple of Osiris at Abydos, in 1903. The pharaoh's right hand is held to his chest and holds a flail while the left hand rests on his left knee. In spite of the diminutive size of the piece, the face is carved with great care. He is wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. This crown was a symbol of royal power and was believed by the Egyptians to have magical powers.
These were the original crown styles of the kings before the unification of Egypt as discussed in the 3rd episode of this series. The Red Crown had a peak at the back and was worn by the ruler of Lower Egypt. In the south, it was the White Crown and was conical in shape. When worn together, they signified the unification of Kingdoms. No crown has ever been found for the two kingdoms, and archaeologist Bob Brier theorizes that there was only one crown at any given time.
During the Second Intermediate Period and into the New Kingdom, the Blue Crown, or War Crown, began to be seen on the walls of royal tombs. During the New Kingdom, pharaohs were shown with this crown in military circumstances. However, some scholars think that the crown was also meant to evoke the divine power of the pharaoh, and was thereby worn to religiously situate kings as manifestations of gods on earth.
7.7 - Pharaoh Djedefre and the Lost Pyramid
Khufu was succeeded by his short-lived son, Djedefre, of whom little is known. It was most likely he who completed his father's burial at Giza and who was responsible for the funerary boats. Djedefre is the first king to adopt the name 'Son of Ra', which would follow the subsequent pharaohs. It is unknown why he constructed his pyramid five miles north of Giza on a plateau at Abu-Roash. He also constructed a north-south causeway, instead of the usual east-west direction. Hardly more than a start was made on the overall plan of his pyramid complex, a consequence of his short reign. However, recent research debates that this pyramid may have been actually completed.
Some experts believe that Djedefre was responsible for building the Sphinx at Giza in the image of his father. A sphinx statue of his wife, Queen Hetepheres II, was discovered in Djedefre's pyramid, and may be the first depiction of the sphinx.
7.8 – Queen Hetepheres II
During the reign of Khufu, Hetepheres II married her brother, the Crown Prince Kawab, the eldest son of Khufu and heir to the throne. She bore him at least one daughter, named Meresankh III, and three sons (Duaenhor, Kaemsekhem, and Mindjedef), but unfortunately Prince Kawab died before he could take his place as pharaoh.
Hetepheres then married Djedefre and he became pharaoh. Djedefre probably married her in order to cement his position as king when he succeeded their father Khufu, but she also bore him at least one daughter, Neferhetepes.
She was then widowed a second time, but this time did not re-marry. Her eldest daughter, Meresankh III, married Djedefre’s successor Khafre, so after being the wife of one king she became the mother-in-law of another. She would later out-live Meresankh III.
When Meresankh III died Hetepheres had her own mastaba in Giza adapted for her. She is depicted in this tomb with brilliant blond hair (courtesy of a unique blond wig).
Hetepheres finally died early in the reign of Shepseskaf, the son and successor of Menkaure, and had thus witnessed the reigns of at least five and perhaps six (if she was born during the reign of Sneferu) pharaohs of the fourth Dynasty.
We'll continue with pharaohs Khafre & Menkaure in the next episode.
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