who was khufu - by andrew gough

8/9/2019 Who Was KHUFU - By Andrew Gough

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By Andrew Gough


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The Pharaoh Khufu built the most audacious and sublime monument in history, the

Great Pyramid of Egypt. So, what do we know about this legendary king from the

Fourth Dynasty? Surprisingly, testament to his life, let alone pyramid is

conspicuously scant, casting doubt over his true identity. Nevertheless, there are

several viable candidates for the figure known as Khufu, including the traditionalattribution championed by most orthodox academics, for evidence suggests that the

oft-maligned field of Egyptology may, in fact, be right. But there are others, one being

that Khufus real name was confused with the oath of protection bestowed by his

parents, while another, albeit controversial, possibility is that the celebrated king was

actually a woman.

The sole surviving statue of Khufu. Does it portray the builder of the Great Pyramid?

Lifting the Veil on the Fourth Dynasty

For an era that produced the spectacular pyramids of Meidum, Dashour, Giza and

Abu Roash, embodying the pinnacle of Egyptian building prowess, the Fourth

Dynasty (circa BCE 2575 2465) remains veiled in anonymity. Take, for instance,

the five-volume, 1500-page Ancient Records of Egypt (1922) by J.H. Breasted,

which is indexed by Dynasty and Pharaoh and includes texts transcribed from ancient

documents and artefacts, yet includes only 13 pages on the prodigious pyramid

builders of the Fourth Dynasty. This is but one of many other examples, particularly

in regards to Khufu, the second king of the period known as the Egyptian Old

Kingdom.


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Fourth Dynasty grandeur: the pyramids of Dashour, Giza and Meidum

Khufu was one of several children born to King Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres and

had fifteen daughters and nine sons of his own, including his successor, Radjedef.

According to the Turin King List, Khufu reigned for 23 years. Other sources ascribevarying lengths: Manetho 65 years; Herodotus 50. Regardless of the differences, one

thing is certain; history does not remember Khufu kindly. In fact, for a man of his

apparent renown, it hardly remembers him at all.

Khufus name, as it appears in the Kings Lists

Khufus father, Sneferu, was the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, an accomplished

builder in his own right, who constructed two impressive pyramids at Dashour and a

third at Meidum. American Egyptologist, Mark Lerner, comments on Khufus

achievement relative to his fathers, in his authoritative work, The Complete

Pyramids: If Khufu did not equal the total mass of his fathers monuments, he came

close in his single pyramid and far surpassed his fathers pyramids in size andaccuracy. So Khufu literally built upon his fathers legacy and succeeded in creating

the grandest pyramid of them all - the Great Pyramid, which, we are told, he referredto as the House of Isis, a peculiar detail that we shall return to shortly.


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Pharaoh Sneferu, Khufus father

While Sneferu, the Good King, was remembered as a kind and benevolent ruler,

Khufus legacy is quite the opposite. This is reinforced in many tales, including the

writings of the Fifth Century BCE historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt two

thousand years after Khufu and recorded an account that portrays the pharaoh as an

oppressive tyrant, despised by his people; a heartless man who let his own daughter

work in a brothel in order to fund the construction of her pyramid. Herodotusrecounts:

Kheops [the Ancient Greek name for Khufu] brought the country intoall kinds of misery. He closed the temples, forbade his subjects to offer

sacrifices, and compelled them without exception to labor upon his

works. The Egyptians can hardly bring themselves tomentionKheopsso great is their hatred."


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A bust of Herodotus, the first historian, who shaped our image of Khufu

Two thousand years after Herodotus, we find that history is less critical, yet more

quizzical, of Khufus legacy, as Egyptology authority Joyce Tyldesley recounts in her

2003 book, Pyramids: The Real Story Behind Egypts Most Ancient Monuments:

In fact, there is no contemporary evidence to suggest that Khufu ever opposed his

people, but then, leaving his prodigious building achievements aside, there is

virtually no evidence of his reign, good or bad.

Still others, such as William R. Fix, question the validity of the Fourth Dynasty as a

whole, in his 1978 book, Pyramid Odyssey:

There are just not enough historical markers for anyone to describethat era. There is no clear and solid evidence of any kind that there

was a pyramid building 4th Dynasty King called KhufuThe entirepattern of evidence suggests, on the contrary, that if there ever was a

King Khufu he lived long after the Pyramid was built and was named

after the pyramid not the other way around.


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So, it appears that the Fourth Dynasty is historically ambiguous, especially as it

pertains to the elusive pharaoh, Khufu. Might his real identity not be as iron-clad as

previously thought? While speculation to this effect is in order, there is ample

evidence to suggest that Khufu was the king we thought he was. For a start, the Giza

plateau is speckled with his name, as catalogued by the American Egyptologist

George Andrew Reisner (1867 1942) during the early part of the last century, as arelands further afield, such as the Dakhla Oasis in the Sahara, where an inscription bears

evidence of the duration of Khufus reign.

Khufu's name enclosed in a serekh, as found in the distant Dakhla Oasis

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Cults of Khufu appear shortly after his death and succeeding Dynasties paid homage

to him for 2,500 years. As a result of the adoration bestowed upon the king, it is

believed that his relics, i.e. statues and reliefs, were looted or relocated and are now

lost from history. If true, this would explain the conspicuous lack of artefacts that

have survived and help answer the burning question; where is the physical evidence

of Khufus legacy?

Khufu and the Man Behind the Oath of Protection
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The belief that Khufu is who we think he is remains the favoured theory, and

justifiably so, for Occams Razor - the adage that the simplest explanation is most

likely correct - suggests he was a Fourth Dynasty king. While this is entirely

reasonable, I believe there are other possibilities that deserve consideration, especially

in light of the evidence or, should I say, lack thereof?

The 13th century Franciscan Friar and Philosopher, William Ockham

Egyptologists tell us that Khufus full name was "Khnum-Khufu", meaning "the god

Khnum protects me. The phrase is intriguing, for it sounds less like a name and more

like a spell or oath of protection. In reality, it is both; a theophoric name, Greek for

"bearing a deity, or the practice of embedding a god in a childs name in order to

secure protection from the deity. Egyptologist, Wallis Budge, discusses the Khnum

quandary in Volume II of his 1912 book, The Gods of The Egyptians: The name of

Khnemu is connected with the root Khnem, to join, to unite, and with Khnem, to

build; astronomically the name refers to the conjunction of the sun and moon atstated times of the year, and we know from the texts of all periods that Khnemu was

the builder of the gods of men. Serendipitously, Budges analysis seems eerily

appropriate for a king who created the greatest monument in history.

The representation of Khufus Royal Name, meaning Protected by Khnum


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So, who exactly was Khnum? As god of the source of the River Nile, Khnum was one

of the earliest Egyptian deities and, by definition, a god of the south, where he was

associated with Amun and Osiris. The Osiris association is not surprising, for Khnum

is depicted with a rams head, which sometimes resembles the head of a bull, andeach were potent symbols of procreation in ancient times, as was Osiris. Khnum was

the creator god, and afforded each new life a fixed number of years, called that which

is ordained, giving rise to the modern notion of Fate.

The Ram-headed god, Khnum

Khnums many titles included Divine Potterand Lord of Created Things fromHimself, due to the fact that he used a potters wheel to construct childrens bodies

from clay. Khnums work was considered complementary with that of the Memphite

God Ptah, who similarly sported ram horns and fashioned new bodies for the souls of

the dead in the underworld; each was believed to be carrying out the orders of the

god, Thoth. His primary cult was centred on the ancient island of Abu, known today

as Elephantine - site of the first city, according to Egyptian mythology - and it was

here that he formed a triad with his wife, the goddesses Satis, and their daughter

Anuket.

Satis was an early deity of war, hunting, and fertility, as well as the goddess of theinundation of the River Nile. Her daughter, Anuket, was known as the goddess of the


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River Nile itself and became known as the Eye of RA, which later evolved into the

Eye of Horus. Curiously, Satis is also associated with the planet Sirus, whose

heliacal rising signaled the annual flooding of the River Nile, an event that is entirely

consistent with the roles of Khnum, Satis and Anuket; a trinity that appears to have

been worshipped long before the Fourth Dynasty, possibly back to pre-dynastic times.

It is also interesting that at Elephantine we have the famous 'Famine Stele', which

contains instructions for the construction of pyramids, given by Khnum, in a dream by

the Third Dynasty King Zoser, who commissioned his official Imhotep to build the

first Egyptian pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. The stele depicts the trinity of

Khnum, Satis and Anuket receiving offerings from Zoser, who has been informed that

Khnum is angry and has inhibited the flow of the River Nile. Upon learning this,

Zoser commissions offerings to Khnum and re-establishes Khnum's temple at

Elephantine and then dreams that Khnum will end the drought. The story is

fascinating, for it confirms the importance of Khnum as early as the Third Dynasty, as

well as how he is associated with the construction of sacred structures, such as

pyramids.

Temple of Khnum at Elephantine, where his cult

originated and detail from the Famine Stele on

Elephantine; proof of Khnums importance prior to

Khufu

Over time, Khnum grew tired of his procreation responsibilities and placed a potters

wheel in each womans womb, so they may bear children without his help, thus

allowing him to focus on maintaining the energy life force, not creating it. Still,

Khnum created all other deities, and was an extremely important god within theEgyptian pantheon. Barbara Watterson reflects on Khnum in her 1984 book, Gods of


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Ancient Egypt: The most famous scene of Khnum in this role is found in the Templeof Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri, where he is shown modelling the queen and her ka on

his potters wheel. We will return to Hatshepsut and her association with Khnum

shortly, for it is important to our understanding of Khufus possible identity.

Khnum at his potters wheel www.ultimateutopia.co.uk

Khufu appears to have been worshipped throughout Egypt, not just at Giza. For

instance, his cartouche is found on a relief in the pyramid of Amenemhat I, the first

ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty. This period is known as the Middle Kingdom (2040 BC

and 1640 BCE) and the cult of Khnum-Khufu dedicated its most famous sanctuary at

Esna, built by the Romans in the first century AD! The question remains; why was a

pharaoh whom Herodotus found to be loathed, venerated at all, let alone 2,000 years

after his death?

Clearly, the custom of paying homage to the god who creates life and watches over

young children was not unique to the Fourth Dynasty, and this is understandable, for

naming a child after Khnum would have been a sensible precaution; an honour that

parents bestow to the powerful deity in exchange for the childs protection and well-

being. So, why would this tradition cease or be short lived? On the contrary, onewould expect it to endure, if not strengthen, over the years. In ancient Egypt, children
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were often named Khnum-khufwy, meaning Khnum is my Protector. Might Khufu

have been an oath of protection bestowed by Sneferu on his favoured child, and, if so,

has that childs real name been obscured over time? And might Khufus poor standing

with the people of Egypt, as recounted by Herodotus, be attributed to the deeds

performed by the god Khnum, rather than a historical figure whose identity has, at

best, blurred over time?

French physicist and mathematician, Andre Pochan, discusses the association of

Khufu and Khnum Khufu in his 1968 book, Chronology of Egypt, and takes the

notion further, adding that the Great Pyramid was the Solar Temple of Khnum, and

that the re-occurrence of Khufu alongside Khnum-Khufu is reflective of a battle

between rival religious factions, with Khufu being the usurper and Khnum-Khufu

being the choice of the traditionalists. The argument is interesting, and supports the

notion that the cult of Khufu the god is what is being honoured at Giza, and

elsewhere, not an individual.

Where the name Khufu has been etched in the archaeological record, we often findKhnum-Khufu and this has given rise to considerable debate amongst scholars. A

possible explanation is that the concept of a cartouche, or the oblong enclosure

containing the hieroglyphic representation of a royal name, had only been introduced

by Sneferu, at the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty. As far as I am aware, there are no

earlier references to Khnum-Khufu and Khufu before the Fourth Dynasty. Might the

practice of including a gods name in a cartouche have been an early rendition of the

evolving cartouche protocol?

Egyptologist, James P Allen, offers an intriguing and relevant insight in his book,

Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs

(2000): Of the five royal titularies it was the throne name, also referred to as

prenomen, and the "Son of Re" titulary, the so-called nomen, i.e., the name given at

birth, which were enclosed by a cartouche. The name given at birth; in the early

Fourth Dynasty, might that have included the name of the creator god, Khnum? This

prompts the question, could the precursor to the cartouche - the Horus Name, or the

incarnation of god on earth - shed further light on Khufus true identity?

Khufu in the Archaeological Record

For the pharaoh who constructed the most famous monument of the ancient world,

few - if any - images remain. Conventional thinking suggests they were looted or

removed out of reverence and then lost, or reused elsewhere; or, alternatively, they

never existed in the first place. The most convincing evidence for their existence was

found in Khufus Mortuary Temple. Here, Reisner discovered what appeared to be

ruined statues of Khufu, albeit with only the feet remaining, while other damaged

reliefs bearing Khufus name only serve to portray fragmented images of a faceless

king. These tantalising, incomplete carvings do nothing to divulge the personality of

the king, and while today we can stare into the eyes of Khafre in the form of his

famous diorite statue, in Khufu's case we have no defining image and his identity

seems instead to be shrouded in mystery and intrigue.


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Mortuary Temples were standard components of all large scale pyramids and were

used to commemorate the deceased pharaoh, and it is in these temples that that statues

of other Fourth Dynasty pharaoh's have been discovered, suggesting that Reisner may

have correctly identified the remnants of a once equally grand statue of Khufu that

was irrevocably damaged in antiquity.

Regal statues of King Khafre (left) builder of the 2nd

pyramid at Giza, and Menkaure (with his Queen)

builder of the 3rd pyramid at Giza. Did similar statues

of Khufu ever exist or were they destroyed - as

damaged reliefs and statue bases discovered by Reisner

in the ruins of the Great Pyramid's Mortuary Templemay suggest?

Bizarrely, the sole surviving statuette of the king is a miniature, 3-inch ivory figurine,

discovered in Abydos in 1903 by the famed English Egyptologist, Flinders Petrie.

And even that is shrouded in controversy, for the body of the statue, which bears

Khufus Horus Name, was discovered without its head, prompting Petrie to stop all

excavations until it was discovered in the rubble a few weeks later.

Just why it took an entire team of workers several weeks to sift through the sand tolocate the head has never really made sense, and only Petries stellar reputation


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prevented further speculation on the authenticity of the hugely significant find. Petrie

would have, undoubtedly, been aware of the significance of his discovery; he had

uncovered the worlds first - and to this day only - statue of the king who built the

Great Pyramid.

William Matthew Flinders Petrie: The Father of Egyptian Archaeology'

However, upon closer inspection, Khufus faded Horus Name looks indistinguishablefrom the Horus Names of other pharaohs. Of equal concern is the fact that Horus

Names were only used as the primary identifier of royalty in the First, Second and

Third Dynasties (and again in the early Eleventh Dynasty) before being transformed

into the cartouche in the Fourth Dynasty by Sneferu, Khufus father. Although Horus

Names continued to be used in conjunction with other naming conventions, by the

time of Khufu, the cartouche had become the primary identifier of the pharaoh.

In reality there were five primary names for a king: (1) the Horus Name: the oldest

naming convention, depicting the kings name inside a niche faade of the palace,

representing the gods name on earth; (2) the Nebty Name: the name representing the

two Ladies" or goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt; (3) the Golden Horus Name:the two golden falcons, unframed, like the Horus Name, believed to represent the


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kings initiation name; (4) the Throne Name: Khnum-Khufu in the case of Khufu,

written inside a cartouche and represented with an ideogram of a Bee; and (5) the

Nomen, or Birth Name: (Knhum)-Khufu in the case of Khufu, preceded by the phrase

son of Ra. The incarnations of the kings royal name are confusing, as is the fact that

Manetho refers to Khufu as Suphis, and the Kings Lists show Khufu or Khufuf, while

Khufus alternative names down through history include Khuf, Chufu, Khoufou,Cheops and Kheops.

The Horus Name of Khufu

With such complexity, one must be careful in drawing conclusions. However, it is fair

to inquire why, by the onset of the Fourth Dynasty, and especially by the time of

Khufu its 2nd pharaoh a Horus Name and not a cartouche would have been used

to portray the royal name of the most important king of the Dynasty? And lastly,

Abydos, the location where the statue was discovered, only really became a cult

centre of Osiris and Isis from the end of the Old Kingdom (not its beginning, which

Khufus reign represents), so the likelihood of an effigy of the king being found there,

although entirely plausible given Abydoss special status as a religious centre, is not

as tidy as it might otherwise be.


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The 3-inch statue of Khufu discovered headless by Petrie in Abydos

www.khufu.dk

Remarkably, the 3-inch ivory statue is all that remains of an Egyptian king who ruled

for over two decades and who built the greatest monument of his or any other day.

Other images have been thought to represent the great king, such as a giant head, now

in the Brooklyn Museum, and a miniature head in a museum in Munich. However, all

that links these images with Khufu is their stylistic similarity to the headless statue

Petrie found in Abydos; no cartouche, Horus Name or identifier suggests Khufu. So,

the evidence is rather underwhelming, to say the least. Are there lost Khufu artefacts

waiting to be discovered? One thing for certain is that the evidence, like our

understanding, needs re-examining.

Other, non-image bearing objects have been attributed to Khufu, such as an artefact

known as the "Ring of Cheops", which was thought to have belonged to the king, as it

bears his cartouche, but is now believed to have been the possession of a priest from a

25th Dynasty (760 BC to 656 BC) cult that worshipped Khufu at Giza. This raises the

question: was this cult venerating the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid, or the god

of the River Nile, the bringer of the life-giving inundation, who was also the protector

of children? Disappointingly, even objects that contain the Kings cartouche do not

bring us closer to understanding his true identity. So where does that leave us?
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Vyses discovery has undergone much scrutiny, and many have accused him of

forging the cartouches in order to lay claim to the proof that Khufu built the Great

Pyramid; after all, masons marks were painted, not etched, and could be easily

recreated. However, while the quarry marks match others at Giza and appear to be

authentic, the silver bullet that exonerates Vyse is the fact that Khufus cartouche

actually spans the side of a wedged pyramid block, and thus could not have beenadded after the pyramids construction. So, why was a cartouche of Khufu painted in

such an invisible place? Clearly, the only plausible explanation is that the marks were

painted before the stone was mobilized. The matter remains a mystery, but of more

relevance to our discussion is the presence of Khufus cartouche next to that of

Khnem-Khufu inside the Great Pyramid.

The two names appear together over and over again as far away as the Sinai - and

the dilemma perplexed even the likes of Petrie, whose comments on the situation

reflect his own uneasiness about the implications:

'The only great royal inscription (of Khufu) is on the rocks of Sinai.There are two tablets: one with the name and titles of Khufu, the otherwith the king smiting an enemy, and the name Khnum-khufu. The name

is found in five places. The two names being placed in succession in

one inscription cannot be mere chance variants of the same. Eitherthey must be two distinct and independent names of one king, or else

two separate kings. If they were separate kings, Khnum-khufu musthave been the most important.'

Petries conclusion that Khnum-Khufu was the more important of the two is

interesting, for the name does not appear on any Kings Lists. So, what are we to

conclude? If Khufu was a nick-name or blessing given to Sneferus child in

exchange for the protection of the god, Khnum, why then is the gods name presented

in a cartouche? Surely, if it was the name of a co-regent, and not a god, then it would

appear on a Kings List somewhere.


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Radjedef and the Solar Boat at Giza

Radjedef (also known as Djedefre) was the son and successor of Khufu and the first

king to assume the title Son of Ra, as reflected in his name, meaning, "Enduring

like Re (Ra and Re being the same god). The conventional belief is that Radjedefsadoption of Re was due to the ever-increasing influence of the cult of the solar god,

Re. And sure enough, Radjedef was succeeded on the throne by Khafre and

Menkaure; kings and builders of the 2nd and 3rd pyramids at Giza, each of which

reflected the god Re in their name. Unlike Khafre and Menkaure, Radjedef /

Djedefre had no pyramid of his own at Giza. This is curious, as is the fact that Khufu

contains no reference to Ra, even though his solar boat pit appears to be an

extension of the solar cult.

An interesting aside with respect to the influence and/or origins of the solar cult of Ra,

is the notion proposed by John Ivimy in his 1974 book, The Sphinx and the

Megaliths: In the ancient Egyptian myth, RA the sun god himself was born anewevery morning from an egg. Ivimy argues that the hundreds of egg-shaped stonecircles in the United Kingdom, which appear to date from the same period as the cult

of Ra, may represent the spread - or origin - of the god known as Ra; a god

synonymous with Khnum. What makes the theory intriguing is the fact that Khnum is

frequently portrayed with an egg; fitting imagery for a creator god, indeed.

Radjedefs mother is unknown, but suspected to be one of Khufus minor wives, as it

is believed he was required to marry his half-sister, Hetepheres II, in order to lay

claim to the throne. Radjedef is said to have ruled 8 years, according to the Turin

Kings List, and 11, according to a cattle count inscribed on a masonry block that

covered Khufu's southern boat pits. This is an extremely important discovery, and one

that those responsible for framing our understanding of Egyptian history were not

privy to, for Khufus solar boat pit was not discovered until 1954, and, by this time,

Khufu had been irrefutably linked with the pyramid, without the insight that this new

evidence provides.

Miroslav Verner, a Czech Egyptologist and author of the respected book, The

Pyramids, comments on the significance of the solar boat discovery: In this context,the attribution of just a single inscription and what is more, the only one with a date

on all the blocks from the boat pit to somebody other than Djedefra does not seem

very plausible. So what does this tell us? The 43-metre long cedar wood ship wasfound dismantled in 650 parts in a huge pit, and nowhere did it reference Khufu; only

Radjedef. Again we ask, how would this information have shaped the thinking of the

formative researchers of the day - Petrie, Vyse, Resiner, Budge and others - if it had

been uncovered before the quarry marks were discovered in the obscure reaches of the

Great Pyramid and before Petrie found the headless statue in Abydos?


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Khufus reconstructed Solar Boat - Giza

Radjedef is not attributed with a pyramid at Giza, although he is credited with

building one at Abu Roash, five miles to the north. Interestingly, the pyramid is nowthought to have risen higher than all others (although its size was comparable to the

third pyramid at Giza), due to the elevated location where it was constructed. Today,

the pyramid lies in ruins, and until recently was believed to have been abandoned -

unfinished, as it were. However, recent work by a Franco-Swiss team of

Egyptologists, as cited by Verner, confirms that the pyramid was, in fact, fully

finished, albeit severely plundered in antiquity. Its association with Radjedef,

however, is every bit as tenuous as Khufus link with the Great Pyramid.


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The remains of what some believe to be Radjedefs burial chamber at Abu Roash

Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, studied Radjedefs pyramid at Abu Roash in his book,

The Complete Pyramids, and concluded that pyramids of the older Djoser style(i.e. the Third Dynasty King who built what is now regarded as the prototype to all

subsequent Egyptian pyramids; the step pyramid at Sakarra) were orientated north-

south, and, from the time of the later Meidum Pyramid onward (which is attributed to

Radjedefs grandfather, Sneferu), were aligned east-west. Lehner and others believe

that Radjedef departed from the style of the day and returned to an earlier blueprint

when he constructed his pyramid at Abu Roash, for it clearly has a north-south

alignment.


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The layout of Radjedefs Pyramid at Abu Roash

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Further, Lehner states: From Sneferu to Khufu we have seen a continual striving tobuild chambers higher in the pyramid body. Djeddfre returned to the earlier concept

and began his substructure as a colossal pit in the ground. Why would a king,whose adoption of Re was a departure in religious philosophy and one which was

embraced by his successors, each of whom adopted the pyramid conventions of the

day, return to an earlier blueprint of pyramid design?

I believe that the answer to this question has to do with the fact that there is no realproof that any Fourth Dynasty pharaoh built anything more than mastabas or small

satellite pyramids that served as adjuncts to existingpyramids. In my opinion, the

Fourth Dynasty pharaohs were simply restoring them. How else could Sneferu, for

instance, have constructed three gargantuan pyramids in his lifetime? Why would

Khufu refer to the Great Pyramid as the House of Isis, if it was really his pyramid,

and why, in the Westcar Papyrus, does he continually ask for help in locating various

treasures buried at Giza if, in fact, its monuments were founded in the Fourth Dynasty

his era?

One has to also ask why Shepseskaf, the last pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, would be

buried in a mastaba and not a pyramid like other pharaohs, or at least according to

Egyptologists. And then there is the brother of Radjedef, Prince Chufu Chaf, the heir
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to the throne, who built a mastaba while his brother was king. After Radjedefs death,

the Prince changed his name to Khafra, and the second pyramid at Giza is attributed

to him. So, why was he building a mastaba for himself if he knew, or even suspected,

that he could ascend to the throne and build such an enormous pyramid?

The reality is that mastaba building was at its peak in the Fourth Dynasty, and thehighest concentration was found in and around Giza, as if the royals and dignitaries

buried in them were seeking eternal glory by associating themselves with the majesty

that existed since before they were born; pyramids that were built by their ancestors.

Concentration of Mastabas at Giza; real tombs occupied by real royalty

Another fascinating element of Khufus reign is the Inventory Stela, which was found

in a Giza temple dedicated to one of his daughters. The stela unequivocally states that

Khufu was aware that the nemes (head) of the sphinx had been badly damaged by

lightning in the past, as well as the fact that he was building his own temple near to

the house of the sphinx, thus reinforcing the fact that the sphinx was already there,

and that the head of the sphinx had been damaged, and, by all indications, was in need

of restoration.


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This brings up an interesting question; might the repaired head of the sphinx be that of

Radjedef? The resemblance has been noted by many, including a New York detective

who specializes in identification techniques and who, in 1966, reported that the head

did not resemble Khufu (not that he had much to go on), but did, in fact, bear a

striking resemblance to Radjedef. The head of Radjedef may or may not resemble the

face of the sphinx. What we do know is that Radjedef was ambitious, as indicated bythe belief that he murdered his own brother and stole his wife, in order to gain

ascension to the throne, and then broke from tradition and solidified the emergent

solar cult of Ra. Might he also have re-carved the damaged sphinx in his image?

The head of Radjedef (discovered at Abu Roash) and the head of the sphinx

I believe the evidence for Khufu and his association with the Great Pyramid is

inconclusive and would not stand up in a modern court of law. So, what conclusions

can we draw? There are several alluring possibilities, in addition to those already

stated. For instance, Khufus reign varies from 23 years (Turin Kings List) to 63 years

(Manetho), while his successor, Radjedef, reigned for only 8 years (Turin Kings List),

or 11, according to the cattle count discovered in Khufus solar boat pit. Could the

two men have been one and the same person? What if Khufu / Khnum-Khufu were

merely an oath of protection granted to Sneferus son and his real name was

misconstrued by later generations? What if that child was Radjedef, the overseer of

the Fourth Dynasty pyramid restoration (not construction) at Giza and at nearby Abu

Roash? And what if he, at or around the time of his 30-year Sed Festival - or thesymbolic death of the existing king and celebration of his continued reign - confirmed

the veneration of Re by having the sphinx re-carved in his image and by stepping out

of the title of Khufu?

Khufu is the Fourth Dynasty king who has generated the strongest legacy over time -

not Radjedef - even if he is remembered as a tyrant. Why might this be? If we

consider for a moment that Khufu is a variant of Khnum-Khufu, and that Khnum was

the god of the River Nile, responsible for the yearly inundation and the well-being of

children, then would Khufu not be remembered as a tyrant if, as a god (i.e. Khnum),

he had forsaken his people with drought and plague? Might such confusion have

arisen over hundreds and in the case of Herodotus, thousands - of years, especiallysince Giza was once governed by a Dynasty that introduced the veneration of the god,


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Khnum? Serendipitously, the name of the Great Pyramid, when written in a

cartouche, is Aakhu-t Khufu, meaning The Horizon of Khufu, and what could be a

more appropriate name for a pyramid that looks out over the River Nile and the

domain of the god, Khnum / Khufu.

Was Khufu a Woman?

There is another candidate for the historical Khufu; a woman. As incredible as it

sounds, the Cairo museum contains a statue, which unambiguously depicts Khufu as a

young girl, yet nobody seems to take notice of this peculiar detail. The image in

question is that of the dwarf, Seneb, and his wife, the Princess Sentyotes: an

influential office-holder of established royal blood; an esteemed lady of the court and

priestess. Dwarfs were revered in Dynastic Egypt, as they were believed to have been

the result of inbreeding performed to propagate a royal bloodline; a condition known

as achondroplasia dwarfism.

Few dwarfs were as revered as much as Seneb, an official who, by convention, dates

from the Sixth, or even the Fifth Dynasty, although his exact date is uncertain, and, I

will argue, possibly earlier. Senebs tomb was discovered near the western cemetery

at Giza - not far from the Great Pyramid - by German Egyptologist, Herman Junker,

who noted Senebs many titles, including prophet of Khufu, overseer of the palace

dwarfs, chief of the royal wardrobe and priest of Khufu and Radjedefs funerary

cults. In other words, he was the death priest of two Fourth Dynasty pharaohs: Khufu

and his successor, Radjedef. Senebs importance is also reflected in a relief from his

tomb that depicts him being carried in a palanquin, a carried chair that is reserved for

important officials. Additionally, we also learn that he owned 10,105 oxen, 10,000

cows, 12,017 jackasses, 10,200 she-asses, 10,205 rams and 10,013 sheep; another

indication of his exalted status in Egyptian society.


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Seneb, his wife and children Cairo Museum

The exquisitely carved statue depicts Seneb sitting cross-legged next to his wife, with

two children positioned where his adult-size legs would be, had he not been a dwarf.

The children are identified by vertical, not horizontal, cartouches, a convention used

to indicate that the individuals named in the cartouche were alive, not deceased, at the

time. In this instance, the cartouches reveal that the children are none other than

Khufu and his son and successor, Radjedef. However, what is curious, and I believelargely unaccounted for, is that as young children, Radjedef is clearly depicted with a

penis, while Khufu is shown with a vagina. This is frequently explained by the theory

that Seneb was honouring the two Fourth Dynasty pharaohs by naming his children

after them. Although the statue was inscribed with One known by the King, and

depicts Seneb in the great palace, what precedent would have enabled the offspring

of a dwarf - no matter how revered - to be depicted in a cartouche, for this was a

privilege reserved for royalty?


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A close-up of the sculpted genitalia of Radjedef (left) and Khufu (right)

Intriguingly, on Senebs right leg is the inscription, He who pleases his majestyeveryday. Might Seneb have lived in the Fourth Dynasty, as his titles suggest, andnot two Dynasties later, as a high official of the Sixth Dynasty King, Pepi II; a king

who ruled for 94 years, longer than any known monarch in history? References to

Pepi II in Senebs tomb have led to speculation that Seneb was of his court. Might

Pepi II have been venerating Khufu, as part of the popular Cult of Khufu that hadformed, and might his interest in Seneb have come from his own fascination with

dwarfs? Might the majesty referred to on Senebs inscription have been Khufu?

This possibility is reinforced by a letter that the young Pepi II wrote to one of his

court, an explorer called Harkhuf, who had discovered a dwarf in a land called Lyam.

The letter clearly reflects Pepi IIs enthusiasm for dwarfs:

Come north to the Palace at once! Drop everything - hurry and bring

that pygmy you have brought, alive, happy and well, for the divine

dances, to gladden the heart, to delight the heart of the king who lives

for ever! When he goes down with you onto the boat, get trusty men tostand around him on the gangplank - don't let him fall in the water!When he goes to bed at night, get trusty men to lie all round him in his

hammock. Inspect him ten times a night! My Majesty longs to see this

pygmy more than all the treasures of Sinai and Punt!

Might Pepi IIs curiosity with dwarfs stem from the cult of Khufu and the important

role that Seneb had in Khufus court?

What conclusions can we draw from the fact that the alleged builder of the Great

Pyramid is depicted with a vagina and not a penis? Returning to Occams Razor,

would we not conclude that Khufu may have been a woman? Further evidence of this

hypothesis is suggested by Khnums most celebrated scene at the temple of Egypts


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famed king, the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1458

BCE. A 2009 National Geographic article by historian, Chip Brown, comments:

In reliefs at Hatshepsut's mortuary temple, she spun a fable of heraccession as the fulfilment of a divine plan and declared that her

father, Thutmose I, not only intended her to be king but also was ableto attend her coronation. In the panels the great god Amun is shownappearing before Hatshepsut's mother disguised as Thutmose I. He

commands Khnum, the ram-headed god of creation, who models theclay of mankind on his potter's wheel: "Go, to fashion her better than

all gods; shape for me, this my daughter, whom I have begotten."

Unlike most contractors, Khnum gets right to work, replying: "Herform shall be more exalted than the gods, in her great dignity of

King. On Khnum's potter's wheel, little Hatshepsut is depictedunmistakably as a boy.

So, here we have a king, proven by archaeology to be a woman, yet portrayed intemple reliefs as a boy, and a male king in Khufu, who is depicted as a young girl.

Interestingly, Khnum appears to represent a form of male / female dualism, for the

source of the River Nile that he represents is feminine by nature. Could Khnum have

represented a form of inverse dualism? A more likely explanation is that Hatshepsut

was projecting a male effigy to her people out of respect for the dynastic heritage that

preceded her, but what about Khufu?

Linguistically, there are some interesting occurrences of the name Khufu, as well as

words beginning with the letters Kh. For instance, Khu refers to the name of the

Egyptian peacock and is the symbol for a heron. Additionally, in the journey of Osiris

in the sixth section of the Duat, the letters refer to spirit souls. The hieroglyphic

Khu is also the symbol of a spirit and refers to the four supports of heaven.

Furthermore, William Cooper informs us in his 1991 book, Behold a Pale Horse,

that: The ancient Egyptian word for pyramid was KHUTI, meaning glorious light.

We find several occurrences of the letters Kh around the time of the Fourth Dynasty.

Take, for instance, Khufu-Ankh, chief of the singers and flutists in the royal court,

who was buried in his lavishly adorned mastaba at Giza. There was also Khentkawes,

a royal lady who dates to the same period as Radjedef. Like Khufu, her name starts

with Kh, which stands for Sieve, according to Egyptologist, Wallis Budge, who

published the hieroglyphic symbols and their meanings in his 1910 book,; EgyptianLanguage. The symbol, which resembles a circle enclosed with horizontal lines, is

often mistaken for the symbol RA, a circle solidly shaded, creating confusion and

mistranslation in more faded inscriptions. Her peculiar stone-cut tomb is located in a

place of honour near the sphinx, and a pyramid was built in her honour at Abu Sir.

Khentkawes was an important lady and believed to be the mother of two kings,

although their identity remains uncertain.

Final Thoughts


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At the end of the day, our understanding of individuals and their complex

relationships nearly 5 millennia ago, must be subject to a large dose of caution, and

humility, especially in Egypt, where two-thirds of the country remains covered in

sand and completely unexcavated, and where ninety nine percent of what we believe

to be true comes from one percent of the population, royalty. And, even then, what we

think we know is based on what this privileged few, mostly men, wanted us tobelieve, as portrayed on the walls of their temples and tombs.

Many disciplines, such as science, mathematics and physics, have developed, revised,

and, in some instances, completely reinvented themselves over a span of thousands of

years. Egyptology, on the other hand, is in its infancy, having existed for only two

centuries. Why, then, can we not continue to evolve our understanding of its most

iconic figures or, at the very least, question them; such as Khufu, the would-be author

of the worlds most famous signature the Great Pyramid?

- Andrew Gough

Acknowledgements

To Ingrid, my amazing seer and teacher, Mark Foster, for his

invaluable guidance, expertise and reason, Philip Gardiner, for being

so generous and providing opportunity, Kathleen McGowan, for her

trust, friendship and relentless encouragement, Filip Coppens, for his

valuable perspective and advice, Lynn Picknett, for her special

friendship, boundless insight and humor, Beth Johnson, for all of her

assistance and her watchful eye, Patrice Chaplin for letting me bore her

to tears about Khufu on a regular basis, and Lori Paras, for her

continued support and vision.

Thank you!

who was khufu - by andrew gough

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