Kheops (2551-2528)
By far the most renowned king of the Old Kingdom is Kheops, the builder of the great pyramid in Giza.
Kheops Quick Facts
ChronologyDynasty: 4th
Predecessor: Snofru
Successor: Djedefre
Highest Year: 13th Cattle Count
Reign: 2551 - 2528 BC.Family
Father: Snofru
Mother: Hetepheres I
Wives: Henutsen (?), Meretites
Children: Djedefre, Hetepheres II, Horbaf, Hordjedef, Kawab, Khamernebti I, Khefren, Khufu-khaf I, Meresankh II
Biography of Kheops
Kheops is the second and, as the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza also the most famous king of the 4th Dynasty.
Kheops was the son of Snofru and Hetepheres I. He at least had two wives, probably even as much as four, with whom he had several children.
Queen Meretites is often assumed to have bore him Kawab, Hordjedef, Hetepheres II and Meresankh II.
With a queen whose name is only attested in Late Dynastic documents, Henutsen, Kheops probably had Re-khaf (the later king Khefren) and Khufu-khaf I as children.
Other children of Kheops are Re-djedef, who would succeed Kheops as Djedefre, Horbaf
and Khamernebti I.
According to Manetho and Herodotos, Kheops would have ruled for 63 years. The Turin Canon, however, only notes 23 years for the successor of Snofru. Although the name of the king on this line is missing, it does apply to Kheops, being Snofru’s successor.
The highest known year reference of Kheops' reign is the year of the 13th cattle count. This means that Kheops must have ruled for at least 14 years, if the cattle counts were held every year, to 27 years, if the cattle counts were always held every two years. The mention of a year of the 17th cattle count may be based on a faulty reading.
Like his father, Kheops seems to have been intent on establishing a more or less permanent military presence in the Sinai, probably to prevent the Bedouins from interrupting the work in the turquoise mines. An inscription in Aswan demonstrates Kheops’ interest in this region as well, as it was the main quarry of the granite needed to build his pyramid. A stela found near Abu Simbel and some fragments of an alabaster object found in Byblos, indicate some commercial activity with Nubia and Palestine.
Kheops built his funerary monument away from his predecessor’s. Building activity was moved from Dashur to Giza, to the North of the capital Memphis. There he built the monument that has made him one of the most famous kings of the Ancient Egyptian history:
the Great Pyramid of Giza.
A view on the Great Pyramid of Giza, Kheops' funerary monument.
Herodotos’ account of many thousands of slaves labouring for 20 years to build this monument, is now seen as incorrect. It is now accepted that the harder labour, such as moving and placing the granite and calcite blocks, was done by farmers during the annual 4-month inundation of the Nile. Recent discoveries have shown that they were housed and paid and that they were even buried near the pyramid of the king, so that they could be part of the king’s eternal life after death.
Herodotos, however, did not invent Kheops’ bad reputation. This had, in fact, become part of the Egyptian tradition centuries before this Greek traveller visited Egypt. The Middle Kingdom story recorded on the Westcar Papyrus, which shows Snofru as a wise and kind man, has been seen to describe Kheops as a cruel ruler, with no respect for life who would have a prisoner decapitated as part of a magical demonstration.
Pyramid Complex at Giza
Air view on the Great Pyramid and the Queens' Pyramids next to it.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 109.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 109.
Location
After his predecessor and father Snofru had chosen Dashur, on the southernmost edge of the Memphite necropolis, to build not one but two pyramids, Kheops moved north, to Giza, for his own funerary monument. His was the first of three royal pyramid complexes erected at this site: his son and second successor Khefren, and his grandson, Mykerinos, would both follow in his footsteps.
The move north, away from Dashur and towards the northern edge of the Memphite necropolis, may seem surprising at first. A lot of the material that was used to build the pyramids at Giza, however, was quarried on site, making it an ideal location for a project as ambitious as Kheops' funerary monument. The resources at Dashur may perhaps have been deemed exhausted for this project.In addition, a pyramid complex was much more than just a funerary monument for a king, or a testimony for his megalomania, as has often been assumed. It was also an important economic centre, housing priests and servants, controlling the flow of goods from the many royal estates to the temples.
Or Kheops might have preferred to built his monument at a site that had not yet been used before, just like his father did when he abandoned Meidum for Dashur.
Structure
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 109.
The pyramid complex of Kheops marks a further evolution in the building of pyramids and related temples. All the elements that would become traditional for future generations, were already present:
The pyramid itself
A small satellite pyramid, uncharacteristically located at the southeast corner of the pyramid, rather than along the southern face
Subsidiary pyramids believed to have been built for several of Kheops' queens, including, perhaps, his mother, Hetepheres I
A small Mortuary Temple in the east
A Valley Temple, now mostly lost
A causeway, now mostly lost, connecting the Valley Temple with the Mortuary Temple.
Several pits (once) containing boats that the deceased king would need for his daily transportation in the afterworld, or that were used for the royal burial
Mortuary and Valley Temple
Mortuary Temple The funerary chapels that Snofru built to the east of his pyramids, was extended into a small, squarish Mortuary Temple.
Unfortunately, this temple has been almost entirely destroyed over time, which makes it hard to identify the different elements that originally made up the temple. The general shape of the temple, however, does make it clear that this was just an intermediate monument between the funerary chapels of Snofru, and the traditional mortuary temple, as it would be defined just one generation later, during the reign of Khefren.
A floor made in basalt is one of the few things that remains of Kheops' Mortuary Temple.
The Mortuary Temple was entered via a doorway in the eastern wall. Sockets in the basalt pavement mark the location of megalithic granite pillars that once surrounded an open court. Beyond the open court, there was an inner sanctuary, but no trace of a false door or perhaps a statue of the king, have been found.
Valley Temple Only a vague outline of both the 739.8m long causeway and of the Valley Temple now remain.Boat Pits
Several long and narrow pits were found south and east of the king's pyramid, north of the causeway and between the queens' pyramids as well. Some pits were found to contain the dismantled remains of the boats which were presumably used in the king's last journey, his burial.One boat, buried in one of the southern pits, has been rebuilt and can now be seen in the Boat Museum, next to the king's pyramid. The reassembled boat, made of cedar wood that was imported from the Lebanon, measures 43.3m in length. Its prow and stern were shaped like papyrus stalks.
The reassembled funerary boat of Kheops, now in a museum next to the Great Pyramid.
The other southern boat pit was examined in the 1980s and was also found to contain a dismantled boat, which was left in situ. Contrary to the eastern pits, the two southern pits are located outside of the now lost enclosure wall that marked the boundaries of the pyramid complex. This seems to imply that the boats of the eastern pits may once have been part of the deceased king's funerary cult, for his transportation in the hereafter, while the southern boats were not.The southern pits also differ from the eastern pits, in that they were rectangular rather than boat-shaped. The fact that they were dismantled is seen as an indication that they had been part of the royal funeral. Any objects that participated in the royal funeral were considered improper for further use and appear to have been ritually taken apart, as opposed to destroyed, and buried. If this also applies to the two boats in the southern pits, then we may well have here the two boats that once carried the mortal remains of the king, along with some of the objects that he would need in his afterlife, to their final resting place.Titulary of Kheops
Horus Name
Hr mDdw
Horus, the one who hits
Hr mDd
Horus, the one who hits
- mDd r nb.tj
The one who hits for the Two Ladies - nsw bi.tj mDd nb.tj
The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, who hits (for) the Two Ladies
- bik.wj nbw(.wj)
The two falcons are golden - bik.wj nbw(.wj)
The two falcons are golden
- xwfw
Kheops - xfw
Kheops - Xnmw-xfw
Khnum-khufu
- xfw
Kheops - xfwf
- Kheops
Africanus: Suphis (I)
Eusebius: Suphis
Alternative names in modern-day literature
Khufu, Chufu, Khoufou, Choufou, Cheops, Chéops, Khéops
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