Pharoah Khufu

Pharoah Khufu (2589-2566 B.C.) was the second pharaoh to rule over Egypt during the Fourth dynasty (2613-2494 B.C.) “His real name was Khnum-Khufwy, which means, "the god Khnum protects me," and Khufu was his nickname.” “The Turin Papyrus mentioned that he ruled for 23 years after the reign of his father Snefru.” “ Khufu’s mother’s name was Hetepheres.” “Khufu married Queen Merey-it-es...[and] he also married Queen Henutsen.”

According to various inscriptions, Khufu probably did lead military into the Sinai, and raids into Nubia and Lybia. Though his father was kind, he was a cruel ruler. “He was rumored in later times to have been prone to enjoying the fantastic stories of the reigns of his predecessors, as well as tales of magic and the mystical:” an interesting side of his life.”

Not much is known about Khufu himself. “Ironically, only a very small statue of 9 cm has been found depicting this historic ruler.” However, we do know that his greatest accomplishment was the Great Pyramid of Giza. “The pyramid covers over 13 acres and is solid masonry, not hollow or earth-filled like the Central American pyramids.”

“The precision with which the pyramid was executed is often the source of marvel and speculation. It is likely that the attention to this precision was related to the many structural problems encountered in previous pyramids. To minimize many of the previous errors, the attention to precision produced a pyramid whose base is level within 2.1 cm (less than 1 in!), with the only difference in the length of the sides being 4.4 cm (1.75 in). “It was made with 2.3 million stone blocks that weighed from 2.5 to 15 tons each.” (Shuter 13) Wow!

Also, “in the Great Pyramid, two shafts running from the burial chamber were aligned with various stars, including the constellation of Orion (divinely personified by the Egyptians as the god Sah.) Orion was possibly intended as the destination of the king’s ba when he ascended to take his place among the circumpolar stars. In this and similar ways, the Egyptians incorporated the stars into their religious beliefs as well as using a certain amount of astronomical observation in the building of the pyramids, especially in the precise alignment of the tomb with the four cardinal points.” (Gahlin 175)

“The name of Khufu and his pyramid is always attached to a popular notion that the pyramid was built by slaves. But that was not the case, because the workers built their own tombs near the pyramid of Khufu, and prepared their tombs for eternity like nobles and officials. They were also paid by the king, or worked instead of paying tax. Finally, slaves could have built a building larger than Khufu's pyramid, but could never created such an innovative work like the Great Pyramid. This pyramid indicates that they were proud to build the tomb of their great god.”

“Curiously, although his father was probably buried in Dahshur, Khufu chose the Giza plateau to situate his pyramid, temples, and perhaps, his tomb. Also curiously, he did not choose the highest spot on the plateau, which was later used by his son and successor, Khafre. This gave Khafre's pyramid the illusion of being taller, when in fact the Great Pyramid is the actually the taller pyramid…After the death of Khafre, his son Menkaure built his smaller pyramid at Giza, eventually completing the last of the famous pyramids at Giza.” “The pyramids at Giza are one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.” (Gahlin 175)

“Surrounding the Great Pyramid there is a large number of boat pits, which did not contain actual boats, but which were symbolic of the dead king sailing into the Netherworld. On the south side of the pyramid there are two other boat pits, but these differ in one significant respect - they actually contain boats. When one pit was opened in the 1950s, it was found to contain a disassembled cedar wood boat. There were 1,224 separate parts, which could be stitched together again using ropes made from vegetable fibers. It was rebuilt by the same man who reassembled Hetep-Heres's furniture. When finished, it was found that the boat was 142 ft (43.3 m) long and 5.9 m wide. In 1985, a small camera was inserted into the other boat pit to see if it contained a real ship. Although one was found, it looked in reasonably poor condition, and so it has not been excavated. It seems as if these two boats were not intended to take Khufu to the afterlife. In fact, it is more probable that they were used to carry the royal body from Memphis to Giza, and then cut up and buried outside the walls of the pyramid complex.”

It is estimated that 1 to 2 million tourists visit the pyramids at Giza each year. They marvel and stare in awe, especially at the Great Pyramid. When they behold this wonder, they may think of Pharoah Khufu building this amazing structure under his iron fist for 23 years, preparing for the after life.

Works Cited:
Gahlin, Lucia. Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Religion. China: Anness Publishing, Ltd. 2004.

Shuter, Jane. People who Made History in Ancient Egypt. Austin, Texas: Raintree Steck/Vaughn Publishers. 2001.