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190-781: Khufu or Cheops (died c. 2566 BC) was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty , in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC ). 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. The only completely preserved portrait of
380-639: A ceramic glaze known as faience , which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a full system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian - Akkadian civilization of Mesopotamia and of ancient Elam . The third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped
570-469: A corvée system. Artists and craftsmen were of higher status than farmers, but they were also under state control, working in the shops attached to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient Egypt, known as the "white kilt class" in reference to the bleached linen garments that served as a mark of their rank. The upper class prominently displayed their social status in art and literature. Below
760-417: A nomarch , who was accountable to the vizier for his jurisdiction. The temples formed the backbone of the economy. Not only were they places of worship , but were also responsible for collecting and storing the kingdom's wealth in a system of granaries and treasuries administered by overseers , who redistributed grain and goods. Much of the economy was centrally organized and strictly controlled. Although
950-523: A pharaoh , who ensured the cooperation and unity of the Egyptian people in the context of an elaborate system of religious beliefs . The many achievements of the ancient Egyptians include the quarrying , surveying , and construction techniques that supported the building of monumental pyramids , temples , and obelisks ; a system of mathematics , a practical and effective system of medicine , irrigation systems, and agricultural production techniques,
1140-468: A "daughter of God") with the help of a " pseudo-genealogical " title of his mother ( z3t-nṯr-nt-ẖt.f ) to establish his lineage and thus his claim to rule." Hetepheres could therefore have been a "concubine" without any claim to queen status or a relative of Snofru. In this context, it should also be understood that it was necessary for Khufu "to have his mother's tomb placed in his pyramid complex at Giza, concealing his actual biological origins and lacking
1330-426: A 2.10 m high and 1.67 m deep niche was reached in the west wall. This closed off a 92 cm × 67 cm area containing a horned skull and three bull leg bones wrapped in a decaying reed mat. In addition, there were two wine jars and a limestone, which Rowe believes was used for the ritual breaking of the bull's skull, a piece of silver, and some fragments of basalt and charcoal. These form an offering associated with
1520-444: A balanced relationship between people and animals was an essential element of the cosmic order; thus humans, animals and plants were believed to be members of a single whole. Animals, both domesticated and wild , were therefore a critical source of spirituality, companionship, and sustenance to the ancient Egyptians. Cattle were the most important livestock; the administration collected taxes on livestock in regular censuses , and
1710-607: A brief but spirited resurgence in the economy and culture, but in 525 BC, the Persian Empire, led by Cambyses II , began its conquest of Egypt, eventually defeating the pharaoh Psamtik III at the Battle of Pelusium . Cambyses II then assumed the formal title of pharaoh, but ruled Egypt from Iran, leaving Egypt under the control of a satrap . A few revolts against the Persians marked the 5th century BC, but Egypt
1900-462: A chamber that still contains large parts of the queen's burial objects. The organic material of the finds had already decomposed, leaving only dust and tiny fragments. Through painstaking work, many of the objects could be reconstructed. The tomb became famous for the style and richness of the royal grave furnishings. It is the best-preserved tomb of a queen of the Old Kingdom. However, the tomb
2090-710: A confident, eloquent style. The relief and portrait sculpture of the period captured subtle, individual details that reached new heights of technical sophistication. The last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom, Amenemhat III , allowed Semitic -speaking Canaanite settlers from the Near East into the Delta region to provide a sufficient labor force for his especially active mining and building campaigns. These ambitious building and mining activities, however, combined with severe Nile floods later in his reign, strained
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#17327647905682280-542: A cornerstone in the history of human civilization. Nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the arid climate of Northern Africa had become increasingly hot and dry, forcing the populations of the area to concentrate along the river region. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times,
2470-633: 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 protect me". 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) . The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: Khnum-khuf and Khufu . The first (complete) version clearly exhibits Khufu's religious loyalty to Khnum,
2660-509: A historical fact. Mark Lehner argues against Reisner's theory that it is not plausible that the tomb of Hetepheres was moved to Giza as a precaution against further looting of the original tomb at Dahshur. Moreover, a tomb could hardly have been kept secret during the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Furthermore, a tomb without a superstructure contradicts the ideas of the afterlife at that time. It can also be assumed that
2850-421: A kindly expression—the clear result of idealistic motivations; they are not based on reality. The appearance of Khufu on the ivory statue instead looks like the artist did not care very much about professionalism or diligence. He believes Khufu himself would never have allowed the display of such a comparatively sloppy work. And finally, Hawass also argues that the sort of throne the figurine sits on does not match
3040-424: 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. Instead of the spouse's title, Hetepheres bore only
3230-401: A knife with a wooden handle. Numerous seal fragments bearing the name of Khufu indicate that he commissioned the tomb furnishings. Numerous seal fragments bearing Khufu's name indicate that he commissioned the tomb furnishings. The tomb of Hetepheres provides a large corpus of ceramic vessels in a well-dated context, making it particularly valuable for archaeological analysis. It complements
3420-576: A large-scale building campaign to promote the god Amun , whose growing cult was based in Karnak . They also constructed monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. The Karnak temple is the largest Egyptian temple ever built. Around 1350 BC, the stability of the New Kingdom was threatened when Amenhotep IV ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical and chaotic reforms. Changing his name to Akhenaten , he touted
3610-408: A lion goddess (possibly Bastet or Sekhmet ). On her feet two figures of childlike kings are preserved. While the right figurine can be identified as king Khufu by his Horus name, the left one depicts king Pepy I of 6th dynasty , called by his birth name. The figurines of Pepy were added to the statue groups in later times, because they were placed separately and at a distance from the deity. This
3800-811: A number of foreign powers, including the Hyksos , the Nubians , the Assyrians , the Achaemenid Persians , and the Macedonians under Alexander the Great . The Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom , formed in the aftermath of Alexander's death, ruled until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra , it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province . Egypt remained under Roman control until 642 AD, when it
3990-576: A period of economic and cultural renaissance known as the Middle Kingdom . The kings of the Middle Kingdom restored the country's stability and prosperity, thereby stimulating a resurgence of art, literature, and monumental building projects. Mentuhotep II and his Eleventh Dynasty successors ruled from Thebes, but the vizier Amenemhat I , upon assuming the kingship at the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty around 1985 BC, shifted
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#17327647905684180-508: A piece of papyrus or an ostracon . A combination of favorable geographical features contributed to the success of ancient Egyptian culture, the most important of which was the rich fertile soil resulting from annual inundations of the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians were thus able to produce an abundance of food, allowing the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits. Land management
4370-689: A queen who established herself as pharaoh, launched many building projects, including the restoration of temples damaged by the Hyksos, and sent trading expeditions to Punt and the Sinai. When Tuthmosis III died in 1425 BC, Egypt had an empire extending from Niya in north west Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia , cementing loyalties and opening access to critical imports such as bronze and wood . The New Kingdom pharaohs began
4560-608: A rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis , and Kushites threatened from the south. Around 727 BC the Kushite king Piye invaded northward, seizing control of Thebes and eventually the Delta, which established the 25th Dynasty . During the 25th Dynasty, Pharaoh Taharqa created an empire nearly as large as the New Kingdom 's. Twenty-fifth Dynasty pharaohs built, or restored, temples and monuments throughout
4750-662: A series of vassals who became known as the Saite kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty . By 653 BC, the Saite king Psamtik I was able to oust the Assyrians with the help of Greek mercenaries, who were recruited to form Egypt's first navy . Greek influence expanded greatly as the city-state of Naucratis became the home of Greeks in the Nile Delta. The Saite kings based in the new capital of Sais witnessed
4940-676: A suitable burial place with his predecessor". Furthermore, the title "Head of the Slayers of the House of Acacia" attests to Hetepheres' function in the death cult of a king. This refers to Snofru, which also shows that she survived him. Roman Gundacker concludes that she "could not have been buried anywhere else but in Giza." Nevertheless, she may have had a tomb in Dahshur or Meidum that corresponded to her position before Khufu became king. However, by
5130-430: A third wooden stick inlaid with a pattern of Min emblems. The gold casing of one of the walking sticks could be reconstructed to a length of 102 cm. The grave furnishings included around eight other wooden caskets with linen, pottery, stone vessels, clay seals, and flints . There were also two groups of tools lying around, probably left by the workers, including chisels, bones made into tools, copper utensils, and
5320-480: A throne with a short backrest, at the left side of his knees the Horus-name Medjedu is preserved, and, at the right side, a fragment of the lower part of the cartouche name Khnum-Khuf is visible. Khufu holds a flail in his left hand and his right hand rests together with his lower arm on his right upper leg. The artifact was found in 1903 by Flinders Petrie at Kom el-Sultan near Abydos. The figurine
5510-470: A yellowish liquid consisting of a 3 percent caustic soda solution. This contained the canopic jar containing Hetepheres organs . In the center of the lid was a loam seal that secured a cord around the chest. The seal was protected by a small perforated ceramic lid. The clay surface was badly damaged. It certainly mentioned the "mortuary of Khufu", as did the other seals found in the tomb. The 177.8 cm long and 97 cm wide bed (JE 53261) slopes from
5700-513: Is an Ancient Egyptian shaft tomb at Giza. It is part of the Eastern Cemetery of the Great Pyramid of Giza (Necropolis G 7000) and is located near the northeast corner of the northern pyramid of Queen G I-a . The Egyptian queen Hetepheres I was the mother of Khufu and probably the wife of Sneferu . The tomb was discovered in 1925 by the staff of Egyptologist George Andrew Reisner . A shaft, more than 27 meters deep, leads to
5890-549: Is depicted as inquisitive, reasonable and generous: He accepts Dedi's outrage and his subsequent alternative offer for the prisoner, questions the circumstances and contents of Dedi's prophecy and rewards the magician generously after all. The contradictory depiction of Khufu is the subject of great dispute between Egyptologists and historians to this day. Especially earlier Egyptologists and historians such as Adolf Erman , Kurt Heinrich Sethe and Wolfgang Helck evaluated Khufu's character as heartless and sacrilegious . They leaned on
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6080-461: 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. At Wadi Maghareh in
6270-497: Is inconsistent with a typical statue group of the Old Kingdom—normally all statue groups were built as an artistic unit. The two statue groups are similar to each other in size and scale but differ in that one lion goddess holds a scepter. The excavators point out that the statues were restored during the Middle Kingdom, after they were broken apart. However, it seems that the reason for the restoration lay more in an interest in
6460-477: Is no archaeological proof of that. The inner corridors and chambers have walls and ceilings made of polished granite, one of the hardest stones known in Khufu's time. The mortar used was a mixture of gypsum , sand, pulverized limestone and water. The original entrance to the pyramid is on the northern side. Inside the pyramid are three chambers: at the top is the burial chamber of the king (the king's chamber ), in
6650-417: Is possible that they were originally stored in the box. The canopy must have formed a space in which the bed and perhaps other furniture were placed, perhaps for privacy or protection from insects. The gold casing was mainly decorated with mat patterns, except for the smooth surface of the bars and the inside of the door frame, which were inscribed with the title and name of Snofru. The objects lying around to
6840-767: Is presented there in a conflicting way: 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. Khufu's name 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
7030-412: The 13th dynasty talking about Khufu is the famous Papyrus Westcar , where king Khufu witnesses a magical wonder and receives a prophecy from a magician named Dedi . Within the story, Khufu is characterised in a difficult-to-assess way. On one hand, he is depicted as ruthless when deciding to have a condemned prisoner decapitated to test the alleged magical powers of Dedi. On the other hand, Khufu
7220-531: The Amarna Period . Around 1279 BC, Ramesses II , also known as Ramesses the Great, ascended the throne, and went on to build more temples, erect more statues and obelisks, and sire more children than any other pharaoh in history. A bold military leader, Ramesses II led his army against the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh (in modern Syria ) and, after fighting to a stalemate, finally agreed to
7410-508: The Egyptian climate was much less arid than it is today . Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates . Foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs, and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl . Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated . By about 5500 BC , small tribes living in
7600-501: The Great Kenbet , over which the vizier or pharaoh presided. Plaintiffs and defendants were expected to represent themselves and were required to swear an oath that they had told the truth. In some cases, the state took on both the role of prosecutor and judge, and it could torture the accused with beatings to obtain a confession and the names of any co-conspirators. Whether the charges were trivial or serious, court scribes documented
7790-915: The Mouseion . The Lighthouse of Alexandria lit the way for the many ships that kept trade flowing through the city—as the Ptolemies made commerce and revenue-generating enterprises, such as papyrus manufacturing, their top priority. Hellenistic culture did not supplant native Egyptian culture, as the Ptolemies supported time-honored traditions in an effort to secure the loyalty of the populace. They built new temples in Egyptian style, supported traditional cults, and portrayed themselves as pharaohs. Some traditions merged, as Greek and Egyptian gods were syncretized into composite deities, such as Serapis , and classical Greek forms of sculpture influenced traditional Egyptian motifs. Despite their efforts to appease
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7980-496: The Near East . The New Kingdom pharaohs established a period of unprecedented prosperity by securing their borders and strengthening diplomatic ties with their neighbours, including the Mitanni Empire, Assyria , and Canaan . Military campaigns waged under Tuthmosis I and his grandson Tuthmosis III extended the influence of the pharaohs to the largest empire Egypt had ever seen. Between their reigns, Hatshepsut ,
8170-584: The Nile . They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the western desert to the west, and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East to the east. The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse selection of material goods, reflective of the increasing power and wealth of the elite, as well as societal personal-use items, which included combs, small statuary, painted pottery, high quality decorative stone vases , cosmetic palettes , and jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also developed
8360-467: The Nubians to the south of Egypt, but failed to defeat the Hyksos. That task fell to Kamose's successor, Ahmose I , who successfully waged a series of campaigns that permanently eradicated the Hyksos' presence in Egypt. He established a new dynasty and, in the New Kingdom that followed, the military became a central priority for the kings, who sought to expand Egypt's borders and attempted to gain mastery of
8550-655: The Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age , the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age , or the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age . Ancient Egypt reached the pinnacle of its power during the New Kingdom, ruling much of Nubia and a sizable portion of the Levant . After this period, it entered an era of slow decline. During the course of its history, ancient Egypt was invaded or conquered by
8740-606: The Persians and was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. The administration established by Alexander's successors, the Macedonian Ptolemaic Kingdom , was based on an Egyptian model and based in the new capital city of Alexandria . The city showcased the power and prestige of Hellenistic rule, and became a centre of learning and culture, that included the famous Library of Alexandria as part of
8930-593: The Pyramids of Giza since 1905. On February 2, 1925, while the photographer of the American team was looking for a suitable place to take good pictures on the east side of Khufu's Pyramid , a leg of the camera tripod slipped into an unusual crevice in the rock, which turned out to be the hidden mouth of a shaft and a staircase. Reisner was in the United States at the time. After two weeks of removing debris from
9120-553: The Sinai a rock inscription depicts Khufu with the double crown. Khufu sent several expeditions in an attempt to find turquoise and copper mines. Like other kings, such as Sekhemkhet , Sneferu and Sahure , who are also depicted in impressive reliefs there, he was looking for those two precious materials. Khufu also entertained contacts with Byblos . He sent several expeditions to Byblos in an attempt to trade copper tools and weapons for precious Lebanon cedar wood. This kind of wood
9310-619: The Thirtieth , proved to be the last native royal house of ancient Egypt, ending with the kingship of Nectanebo II . A brief restoration of Persian rule, sometimes known as the Thirty-First Dynasty , began in 343 BC, but shortly after, in 332 BC, the Persian ruler Mazaces handed Egypt over to Alexander the Great without a fight. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt with little resistance from
9500-549: The Wadi Natrun for mummification , which also provided the gypsum needed to make plaster. Ore-bearing rock formations were found in distant, inhospitable wadis in the Eastern Desert and the Sinai, requiring large, state-controlled expeditions to obtain natural resources found there. There were extensive gold mines in Nubia , and one of the first maps known is of a gold mine in this region. The Wadi Hammamat
9690-451: The chaff from the grain, and the grain was then ground into flour, brewed to make beer, or stored for later use. The ancient Egyptians cultivated emmer and barley , and several other cereal grains, all of which were used to make the two main food staples of bread and beer. Flax plants, uprooted before they started flowering, were grown for the fibers of their stems. These fibers were split along their length and spun into thread, which
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#17327647905689880-581: The composite bow and the horse-drawn chariot . After retreating south, the native Theban kings found themselves trapped between the Canaanite Hyksos ruling the north and the Hyksos' Nubian allies, the Kushites , to the south. After years of vassalage, Thebes gathered enough strength to challenge the Hyksos in a conflict that lasted more than 30 years, until 1555 BC. The kings Seqenenre Tao II and Kamose were ultimately able to defeat
10070-480: The pyramidion and the limestone casing are completely lost due to stone robbery. The lack of the casing allows a full view of the inner core of the pyramid. It was erected in small steps by more or less roughly hewn blocks of dark limestone. The casing was made of nearly white limestone. The outer surface of the casing stones were finely polished so the pyramid shimmered in bright, natural lime-white when new. The pyramidion might have been covered in electrum , but there
10260-523: The vizier and his court for redress. Although slaves were mostly used as indentured servants, they were able to buy and sell their servitude, work their way to freedom or nobility, and were usually treated by doctors in the workplace. Both men and women had the right to own and sell property, make contracts, marry and divorce, receive inheritance, and pursue legal disputes in court. Married couples could own property jointly and protect themselves from divorce by agreeing to marriage contracts, which stipulated
10450-410: The 27th year of Khufu's reign and describe how the central administration sent food and supplies to the sailors and wharf workers. The dating of these important documents is secured by phrases typical for the Old Kingdom period, as well as the fact that the letters are addressed to the king himself, using his Horus name. This was typical when the king in question was still alive; when the ruler was dead he
10640-572: The Assyrians. The effects of external threats were exacerbated by internal problems such as corruption, tomb robbery, and civil unrest . After regaining their power, the high priests at the temple of Amun in Thebes accumulated vast tracts of land and wealth, and their expanded power splintered the country during the Third Intermediate Period. Following the death of Ramesses XI in 1078 BC, Smendes assumed authority over
10830-476: The Christian emperor Theodosius introduced legislation that banned pagan rites and closed temples. Alexandria became the scene of great anti-pagan riots with public and private religious imagery destroyed. As a consequence, Egypt's native religious culture was continually in decline. While the native population continued to speak their language , the ability to read hieroglyphic writing slowly disappeared as
11020-435: The Delta, seized control of Egypt and established their capital at Avaris , forcing the former central government to retreat to Thebes . The king was treated as a vassal and expected to pay tribute. The Hyksos ('foreign rulers') retained Egyptian models of government and identified as kings, thereby integrating Egyptian elements into their culture. They and other invaders introduced new tools of warfare into Egypt, most notably
11210-453: The Egyptians, the Ptolemies were challenged by native rebellion, bitter family rivalries, and the powerful mob of Alexandria that formed after the death of Ptolemy IV . In addition, as Rome relied more heavily on imports of grain from Egypt, the Romans took great interest in the political situation in the country. Continued Egyptian revolts, ambitious politicians, and powerful opponents from
11400-504: The Greeks towards the Egyptians, some traditions such as mummification and worship of the traditional gods continued. The art of mummy portraiture flourished, and some Roman emperors had themselves depicted as pharaohs, though not to the extent that the Ptolemies had. The former lived outside Egypt and did not perform the ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship. Local administration became Roman in style and closed to native Egyptians. From
11590-458: The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, daughter of Horus, entrusted with the affairs of Imat, the one for whom the word was created, daughter of God, Hetepheres". The wooden construction was held together with leather straps and copper-coated pegs. Palm-shaped finials were attached to the ends of the supporting poles. The dismantled parts of a gilded wooden frame of a baldachin (JE 57711) lay partly on
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#173276479056811780-545: The Late Period, the worship of the gods in their animal form was extremely popular, such as the cat goddess Bastet and the ibis god Thoth , and these animals were kept in large numbers for the purpose of ritual sacrifice. Egypt is rich in building and decorative stone, copper and lead ores, gold, and semiprecious stones. These natural resources allowed the ancient Egyptians to build monuments, sculpt statues, make tools, and fashion jewelry . Embalmers used salts from
11970-452: The Late Period. There is also evidence to suggest that elephants were briefly used in the Late Period but largely abandoned due to lack of grazing land. Cats , dogs, and monkeys were common family pets, while more exotic pets imported from the heart of Africa, such as Sub-Saharan African lions , were reserved for royalty. Herodotus observed that the Egyptians were the only people to keep their animals with them in their houses. During
12160-525: The Near East made this situation unstable, leading Rome to send forces to secure the country as a province of its empire. Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30 BC, following the defeat of Mark Antony and Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) in the Battle of Actium . The Romans relied heavily on grain shipments from Egypt, and the Roman army , under
12350-569: The Nile valley had developed into a series of cultures demonstrating firm control of agriculture and animal husbandry , and identifiable by their pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in upper (Southern) Egypt was the Badarian culture , which probably originated in the Western Desert ; it was known for its high-quality ceramics, stone tools , and its use of copper. The Badari
12540-474: The Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal. During this period, the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom. Egypt's far-reaching prestige declined considerably toward the end of the Third Intermediate Period. Its foreign allies had fallen under the Assyrian sphere of influence, and by 700 BC war between
12730-522: The Old Kingdom, and provided both honey and wax. The ancient Egyptians used donkeys and oxen as beasts of burden , and they were responsible for plowing the fields and trampling seed into the soil. The slaughter of a fattened ox was also a central part of an offering ritual. Horses were introduced by the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period . Camels, although known from the New Kingdom, were not used as beasts of burden until
12920-405: The Old Kingdom. Under the direction of the vizier , state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield , drafted peasants to work on construction projects, and established a justice system to maintain peace and order. With the rising importance of central administration in Egypt, a new class of educated scribes and officials arose who were granted estates by
13110-512: The Ruler ", to defend against foreign attack. With the kings having secured the country militarily and politically and with vast agricultural and mineral wealth at their disposal, the nation's population, arts, and religion flourished. In contrast to elitist Old Kingdom attitudes towards the gods, the Middle Kingdom displayed an increase in expressions of personal piety. Middle Kingdom literature featured sophisticated themes and characters written in
13300-499: The administration, aside from the royal high priestesses, apparently served only secondary roles in the temples (not much data for many dynasties), and were not so probably to be as educated as men. The head of the legal system was officially the pharaoh, who was responsible for enacting laws, delivering justice, and maintaining law and order, a concept the ancient Egyptians referred to as Ma'at . Although no legal codes from ancient Egypt survive, court documents show that Egyptian law
13490-557: The ancient Egyptians did not use coinage until the Late period , they did use a type of money-barter system, with standard sacks of grain and the deben , a weight of roughly 91 grams (3 oz) of copper or silver, forming a common denominator. Workers were paid in grain; a simple laborer might earn 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 sacks (200 kg or 400 lb) of grain per month, while a foreman might earn 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 sacks (250 kg or 550 lb). Prices were fixed across
13680-463: The ancient Greek traditions of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, who described an exaggerated negative character image of Khufu, ignoring the paradoxical (because positive) traditions the Egyptians themselves had always taught. Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeast Africa . It was concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River , situated within
13870-425: The armchairs (JE 53263) originally had its back to the alabaster sarcophagus. Except for the seat and back, it was completely covered in gold. The natural wood panels could be reconstructed from the gold covering. The front supports of the armrests show a simple mat pattern. The armrests are made of three papyrus stems bound together. The feet are shaped like a lion's paws. Since the front legs are 28 cm higher than
14060-421: The arrangement of all the tomb furnishings. Although reconstructions of fragments are part of the daily work of archaeologists and many Egyptologists, this reconstruction is a particularly outstanding achievement. On March 3, 1927, after the entire chamber had been cleared, the eagerly awaited opening of the sarcophagus took place in the presence of a prestigious society. But the excavators were disappointed: it
14250-473: The artistic styles of any Old Kingdom artifact. Old Kingdom thrones had a backrest that reached up to the neck of the king. But the ultimate proof that convinces Hawass about the statue being a reproduction of much later time is the Nehenekh flail in Khufu's left hand. Depictions of a king with such a flail as a ceremonial insignia appear no earlier than the Middle Kingdom . Zahi Hawass therefore concludes that
14440-454: The back legs, which are 26 cm high, the seat slopes slightly backward. The legs are also quite deep and the seat is very wide and deep. Overall, the frame is 79.5 cm high, 71 cm wide, and 66 cm deep. The more valuable of the two chairs (temp. reg. 22.2.60) was irretrievably destroyed and could only be partially reconstructed. The position of the very fragmentary lion's feet indicates that it originally stood at right angles to
14630-434: The bed, although it has shrunk to about one-sixth of its original volume. It is 99 cm long, 53.5 cm wide and 52 cm high. The wooden construction was gilded at all corners and decorated with geometric reliefs. The seat could be pulled out to allow the queen to stretch her legs. On both sides of the backrest, at the height of the armrests, was the following inscription in gold hieroglyphics on black ebony: "Mother of
14820-445: The box. On both sides, there is an inscription in hieroglyphics. On the left side, it reads: "Mother of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Hetepheres" and on the right side: "Box with bracelets". Below the inscription on the right side, a scribe has written the word "bracelets" in black ink, perhaps during an inspection of the tomb equipment. The large chest also contained a copper wash jug and basin, two stone vessels, two clay vessels,
15010-422: The camp [...]'." On April 18, 1927, the 2.2-ton sarcophagus was recovered, and on May 21, the walled niche containing the intact canopic chest was opened. It was only after 25 years of painstaking reconstruction work that the entire tomb was published. The grave has no superstructure. A twelve-step staircase 55 cm wide leads up to the shaft, first open over a length of 3.4 m, then a further 95 cm into
15200-466: 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. The following list presents family members, which can be assigned to Khufu with certainty. Parents: Spouses: Brothers and sisters: Sons of Khufu: Daughters: Grandchildren: Nephews and nieces: It is still unclear how long exactly Khufu ruled over Egypt. Dates from Khufu's final years suggest that he
15390-410: The complaint, testimony, and verdict of the case for future reference. Punishment for minor crimes involved either imposition of fines, beatings, facial mutilation, or exile, depending on the severity of the offense. Serious crimes such as murder and tomb robbery were punished by execution, carried out by decapitation, drowning, or impaling the criminal on a stake. Punishment could also be extended to
15580-539: The complete or partially preserved cartouches with the name Khufu or Khnum-Khuf remain. One of the fragments, that of a small seated statue, shows the legs and feet of a sitting king from the knuckles downward. To the right of them the name ...fu in a cartouche is visible, and it can easily be reconstructed as the cartouche name Khufu . Two further objects are on display at the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim . These are also made of alabaster . One of them shows
15770-530: The contemporary territory of modern-day Egypt . Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology ) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under pharaoh or king Menes (often identified with Narmer ). The history of ancient Egypt unfolded as a series of stable kingdoms interspersed by periods of relative instability known as "Intermediate Periods". The various kingdoms fall into one of three categories:
15960-505: The control of a prefect appointed by the emperor, quelled rebellions, strictly enforced the collection of heavy taxes, and prevented attacks by bandits, which had become a notorious problem during the period. Alexandria became an increasingly important center on the trade route with the orient, as exotic luxuries were in high demand in Rome. Although the Romans had a more hostile attitude than
16150-426: The corpus from the mastaba tombs which Reisner used to classify the pottery of the Old Kingdom. In the tomb of Hetepheres, he identified a total of 281 ceramic vessels, which he classified into 17 types. A total of 39 stone vessels were also found, all made of alabaster . Only one of the 26 larger vessels had been polished, while the others had only been smoothed. The 13 small cosmetic vessels were better treated, but
16340-401: The country and recorded in lists to facilitate trading; for example a shirt cost five copper deben, while a cow cost 140 deben. Grain could be traded for other goods, according to the fixed price list. During the fifth century BC coined money was introduced into Egypt from abroad. At first the coins were used as standardized pieces of precious metal rather than true money, but in
16530-403: The country's economy. Regional governors could not rely on the king for help in times of crisis, and the ensuing food shortages and political disputes escalated into famines and small-scale civil wars. Yet despite difficult problems, local leaders, owing no tribute to the king, used their new-found independence to establish a thriving culture in the provinces. Once in control of their own resources,
16720-429: The court or to King Snofru and only came into their possession after his reign, and on the other hand, more recent objects whose date of manufacture falls into the reign of Khufu and thus presumably belonged to the household of Hetepheres as the king's mother. It remains unclear to what extent furniture and other grave goods were made specifically for the tomb. The uninscribed alabaster sarcophagus (JE 51899) stood on
16910-421: The criminal's family. Beginning in the New Kingdom, oracles played a major role in the legal system, dispensing justice in both civil and criminal cases. The procedure was to ask the god a "yes" or "no" question concerning the right or wrong of an issue. The god, carried by a number of priests, rendered judgement by choosing one or the other, moving forward or backward, or pointing to one of the answers written on
17100-574: The delivered goods. The papyri also mention a certain harbour at the opposite coast of Wadi al-Jarf, on the western shore of the Sinai Peninsula, where the ancient fortress Tell Ras Budran was excavated in 1960 by Gregory Mumford. The papyri and the fortress together reveal an explicit sailing route across the Red Sea for the very first time in history. It is the oldest archaeologically detected sailing route of Ancient Egypt. According to Tallet,
17290-519: The earliest known depiction of royal warfare: the scene is called "archers prepare", since it shows archers drawing their bows. And a fourth example shows the king with the double crown impaling a hippopotamus. At the Wadi Maghareh in Sinai a rock inscription contains Khufu's names and titles and reports: " Hor-Medjedu, Khnum-Khuf, Bikuj-Nebu , the great god and smiter of the troglodytes , all protection and life are with him". The work-off of
17480-411: The early modern period by Europeans and Egyptians has led to the scientific investigation of Egyptian civilization and a greater appreciation of its cultural legacy. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history. The fertile floodplain of the Nile gave humans the opportunity to develop a settled agricultural economy and a more sophisticated, centralized society that became
17670-400: The east wall of the burial chamber, one meter behind the entrance. It measures 2 m × 85 cm with a height of 80 cm. The lid is 5 cm thick on the outside, but this is due to a 5 cm wide and 4 cm deep projection that held it in place. The ends of the lid had two protruding handles. The excavators found that a metal tool had been used along the top edge of the box to pry open
17860-572: The economy and precipitated the slow decline into the Second Intermediate Period during the later Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties. During this decline, the Canaanite settlers began to assume greater control of the Delta region, eventually coming to power in Egypt as the Hyksos . Around 1785 BC, as the power of the Middle Kingdom kings weakened, a Western Asian people called the Hyksos , who had already settled in
18050-460: The existence of a pyramid above G I-x. In addition, the generally assumed marriage relationship between Hetepheres and Snofru cannot be proven, although seal impressions in the tomb of Hetepheres I show a close relationship to the kings Snofru and Khufu. The important title of the King's Wife ( ḥmt-nswt - hemet-nisut) is not documented for her. Instead, she bears other important titles, including
18240-409: The famous Great Sphinx of Giza . It is a 241 ft × 66.6 ft (73.5 m × 20.3 m) large limestone statue in the shape of a recumbent lion with the head of a human, decorated with a royal Nemes headdress. The Sphinx was directly hewn out of the plateau of Giza and originally painted with red, ochre, green and black. To this day it is passionately disputed as to who exactly gave
18430-424: The fertile delta region, as well as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant . The increasing power and wealth of the kings during the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos, which were used to celebrate the deified king after his death. The strong institution of kingship developed by the kings served to legitimize state control over
18620-407: The figurine was possibly made as an amulet or lucky charm to sell to pious citizens. Deitrich Wildung has examined the representation of Nubian features in Egyptian iconography since the predynastic era and has argued that Khufu had these specific, Nubian features and this was represented in his statues. Excavations at Saqqara in 2001 and 2003 revealed a pair of terracotta statues depicting
18810-524: The financial obligations of the husband to his wife and children should the marriage end. Compared with their counterparts in ancient Greece, Rome, and even more modern places around the world, ancient Egyptian women had a greater range of personal choices, legal rights, and opportunities for achievement. Women such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VII even became pharaohs, while others wielded power as Divine Wives of Amun . Despite these freedoms, ancient Egyptian women did not often take part in official roles in
19000-423: The first documented title of "Daughter of God" ( z3t-nṯr - sat-netjer) with the addition of "of his body" ( nt-ẖt.f - net-chet.ef). Peter Jánosi therefore suggests that Khufu's accession to the throne may not have been legitimate: "This strange title and the absence of the ḥmt-nswt title suggest that Khufu was not a direct descendant of Snofru and that he traced his lineage back to a divine lineage (son of
19190-562: The first known planked boats, Egyptian faience and glass technology, new forms of literature , and the earliest known peace treaty , made with the Hittites . Ancient Egypt has left a lasting legacy. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities were carried off to be studied, admired or coveted in the far corners of the world. Its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for millennia. A newfound respect for antiquities and excavations in
19380-613: The first recorded peace treaty , around 1258 BC. Egypt's wealth, however, made it a tempting target for invasion, particularly by the Libyan Berbers to the west, and the Sea Peoples , a conjectured confederation of seafarers from the Aegean Sea . Initially, the military was able to repel these invasions, but Egypt eventually lost control of its remaining territories in southern Canaan , much of it falling to
19570-426: The first, facing the entrance, with its back to the bed and the palanquin. The latter was decorated not only with a simple gilding, but also with inlays of different colors. The armrests were each decorated with a Horus falcon standing on a palm tree with outstretched wings. The back was decorated with the standards of the goddess Neith . The wood of the palanquin (JE 52372) is even better preserved than that of
19760-427: The floodwaters had receded, the growing season lasted from October to February. Farmers plowed and planted seeds in the fields, which were irrigated with ditches and canals. Egypt received little rainfall, so farmers relied on the Nile to water their crops. From March to May, farmers used sickles to harvest their crops, which were then threshed with a flail to separate the straw from the grain. Winnowing removed
19950-417: The following centuries international traders came to rely on coinage. Egyptian society was highly stratified, and social status was expressly displayed. Farmers made up the bulk of the population, but agricultural produce was owned directly by the state, temple, or noble family that owned the land. Farmers were also subject to a labor tax and were required to work on irrigation or construction projects in
20140-416: The footboard is the only part that is decorated with alternating inlaid feathers and rosettes in the typical blue-green and black colors. The feet, in the shape of the lion's legs, face the headboard and are attached to the sides with thin leather cords. The headboard, decorated with gold and silver, was kept in a golden box. The furniture included two armchairs whose wood had completely disintegrated. One of
20330-443: The gilded furniture that had once been placed there. It was clear from the discovery that this was not an undisturbed burial, as ceramics were smashed and linen was scattered about. On March 12, Reisner ordered the chamber closed again until he returned to Egypt. It was not reopened until January 21, 1926, under his direction. Over 321 working days, the young Dows Dunham , in particular, meticulously recorded every object. The work
20520-486: The goddess, than in a royal cult around the king figures: their names were covered with gypsum . The Palermo Stone reports on its fragment C-2 the creation of two oversize standing statues for the king; one is said to have been made of copper, the other of pure gold. Furthermore, several alabaster and travertine fragments of seated statues, which were found by George Reisner during his excavations at Giza, were once inscribed with Khufu's full royal titulary. Today,
20710-412: The government, who relied on a bureaucracy of officials to manage his affairs. In charge of the administration was his second in command, the vizier , who acted as the king's representative and coordinated land surveys, the treasury, building projects, the legal system, and the archives . At a regional level, the country was divided into as many as 42 administrative regions called nomes each governed by
20900-520: The harbor could also have been one of the legendary high sea harbours of Ancient Egypt, from where expeditions to the infamous gold land Punt had started. The only three-dimensional depiction of Khufu that has survived time nearly completely is a small and well restored ivory figurine known as the Khufu Statuette . It shows the king with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt . The king is seated on
21090-517: The head is assigned to Khufu as well as to king Huni . A similar object is on display at the State Collection of Egyptian Art in Munich . The head is made of limestone and is comparatively small at only 5.7 cm. Khufu is depicted in several relief fragments found scattered in his necropolis and elsewhere. All reliefs were made of finely polished limestone. Some of them originate from
21280-542: The head of a cat goddess (most probably Bastet or Sekhmet). The position of her right arm suggests that the bust once belonged to a statue group similar to the well-known triad of Mycerinus. Several statue heads might have belonged to Khufu. One of them is the so-called "Brooklyn head" of the Brooklyn Museum in New York City . It is 54.3 cm large and made of pink granite . Because of its chubby cheeks
21470-403: The headboard to the footboard from a height of 35.5 cm to 21.5 cm at the footboard. Except for the feet and the lying surface, the wooden bed is covered with gold leaf. As was customary in ancient Egypt, it did not have a headboard, but a wooden panel at the foot end, which was attached to the bed frame by two copper -covered wooden pegs in recesses also covered with copper. The inside of
21660-413: The introduction of the grave goods. At a depth of 27.42 m, the shaft leads to the 1.92 m high entrance to the burial chamber. This leads 5.22 m to the south, with a varying width of 2.67 to 2.77 m. Directly behind the entrance, in the northwest corner, there is a 1.21 m deep and 1.40 m × 1.60 m large depression in the floor, which has been filled with debris and dust. This means that the original height of
21850-411: The king in payment for their services. Kings also made land grants to their mortuary cults and local temples , to ensure that these institutions had the resources to worship the king after his death. Scholars believe that five centuries of these practices slowly eroded the economic vitality of Egypt, and that the economy could no longer afford to support a large centralized administration. As the power of
22040-590: 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. Everything known about Khufu comes from inscriptions in his necropolis at Giza and later documents. For example, Khufu is the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus from the 13th dynasty . Most documents that mention king Khufu were written by ancient Egyptian and Greek historians around 300 BC. Khufu's obituary
22230-411: The king offering to a deity. It is possible that the lack of this special depiction influenced later ancient Greek historians in their assumptions that Khufu could have actually closed all temples and prohibited any sacrifice. The pyramid complex of Khufu was erected in the northeastern section of the plateau of Giza. It is possible that the lack of building space, the lack of local limestone quarries and
22420-593: The kingdom's capital to the city of Itjtawy , located in Faiyum . From Itjtawy, the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty undertook a far-sighted land reclamation and irrigation scheme to increase agricultural output in the region. Moreover, the military reconquered territory in Nubia that was rich in quarries and gold mines, while laborers built a defensive structure in the Eastern Delta, called the " Walls of
22610-528: The kings diminished, regional governors called nomarchs began to challenge the supremacy of the office of king. This, coupled with severe droughts between 2200 and 2150 BC, is believed to have caused the country to enter the 140-year period of famine and strife known as the First Intermediate Period. After Egypt's central government collapsed at the end of the Old Kingdom, the administration could no longer support or stabilize
22800-507: The land, labor, and resources that were essential to the survival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization. Major advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during the Old Kingdom , fueled by the increased agricultural productivity and resulting population growth, made possible by a well-developed central administration. Some of ancient Egypt's crowning achievements, the Giza pyramids and Great Sphinx , were constructed during
22990-410: The lid, and fragments of the top edge were found along the wall side, in a box filled with linen in the south corner of the tomb, and along the south wall of the tomb. These were the first indications that the contents of the coffin had been disturbed, and indeed it was found empty. The alabaster canopic chest (JE 52452) stood in a recess in the west wall. It was set deep into the recess and sealed by
23180-403: The lid. The wood is lined inside and out with ribbed gold leaf and matted patterns on the edges. The silver bracelets are inlaid with carnelian , lapis lazuli , and turquoise . Stylized butterflies with outstretched wings form the decoration. Originally, 20 bracelets were lined up on the two cylinders of the box, divided into groups of ten. The lid has a small ivory knob in the center to open
23370-449: The limestone walls of the harbor, mentions the head of the royal scribes controlling the exchange of goods: Idu . Khufu's cartouche name is also inscribed on some of the heavy limestone blocks at the site. The harbor was of strategic and economic importance to Khufu because ships brought precious materials, such as turquoise, copper and ore from the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. The papyri fragments show several storage lists naming
23560-497: The long line of kings from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today. He began his official history with the king named "Meni" (or Menes in Greek), who was believed to have united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt . The transition to a unified state happened more gradually than ancient Egyptian writers represented, and there is no contemporary record of Menes. Some scholars now believe, however, that
23750-482: The loosened ground at Dahshur forced Khufu to move north, away from the pyramid of his predecessor Sneferu. Khufu chose the high end of a natural plateau so that his future pyramid would be widely visible. Khufu decided to call his pyramid Akhet-Khufu (meaning "horizon of Khufu"). The Great Pyramid has a base measurement of ca. 750 x 750 ft (≙ 230.4 x 230.4 m ) and today a height of 455.2 ft (138.7 m). Once it had been 481 ft (147 m) high, but
23940-464: The mid-first century AD, Christianity took root in Egypt and it was originally seen as another cult that could be accepted. However, it was an uncompromising religion that sought to win converts from the pagan Egyptian and Greco-Roman religions and threatened popular religious traditions. This led to the persecution of converts to Christianity, culminating in the great purges of Diocletian starting in 303, but eventually Christianity won out. In 391,
24130-454: The middle is the statue chamber (erroneously called the queen's chamber ), and under the foundation is an unfinished subterranean chamber ( underworld chamber ). Whilst the burial chamber is identified by its large sarcophagus made of granite, the use of the "queen's chamber" is still disputed—it might have been the serdab of the Ka statue of Khufu. The subterranean chamber remains mysterious as it
24320-528: The mythical Menes may have been the king Narmer , who is depicted wearing royal regalia on the ceremonial Narmer Palette, in a symbolic act of unification. In the Early Dynastic Period, which began about 3000 BC, the first of the Dynastic kings solidified control over lower Egypt by establishing a capital at Memphis , from which he could control the labor force and agriculture of
24510-477: The name of Khufu, used by Josephus , is Σόφε , Sofe ( / ˈ s ɒ f i / , SOF -ee ). (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 ( Arabic : سوريد ) or Salhuk (سلهوق). The royal family of Khufu was quite large. It is uncertain if Khufu
24700-444: The necropolis are archaeologically attested. Ten of them were already serving during the late 4th dynasty (seven of them were royal family members), 28 were serving during the 5th dynasty and 29 during the 6th dynasty. This is remarkable: Khufu's famous (step-)father Sneferu enjoyed "only" 18 mortuary priesthoods during the same period of time, even Djedefra enjoyed only 8 and Khaefra enjoyed 28. Such mortuary cults were very important for
24890-405: The nobility were the priests, physicians, and engineers with specialized training in their field. It is unclear whether slavery as understood today existed in ancient Egypt; there is difference of opinions among authors. The ancient Egyptians viewed men and women, including people from all social classes, as essentially equal under the law, and even the lowliest peasant was entitled to petition
25080-682: The north, while a rival clan based in Thebes , the Intef family , took control of Upper Egypt in the south. As the Intefs grew in power and expanded their control northward, a clash between the two rival dynasties became inevitable. Around 2055 BC the northern Theban forces under Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II finally defeated the Herakleopolitan rulers, reuniting the Two Lands. They inaugurated
25270-676: The northern part of Egypt, ruling from the city of Tanis . The south was effectively controlled by the High Priests of Amun at Thebes , who recognized Smendes in name only. During this time, Libyans had been settling in the western delta, and chieftains of these settlers began increasing their autonomy. Libyan princes took control of the delta under Shoshenq I in 945 BC, founding the so-called Libyan or Bubastite dynasty that would rule for some 200 years. Shoshenq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions. Libyan control began to erode as
25460-661: The objects found are now on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo . The objects bear both the inventory numbers JE ( Journal d'Entrée du Musée ) and RT ( Registre Temporaire ). Smaller pieces and faithful copies of larger objects can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (MFA). Roman Gundacker divides the grave goods into two groups based on the inscriptions: On the one hand, those objects that originally belonged only to
25650-477: The order to build it: the most probable candidates are Khufu, his elder son Djedefra and his younger son Khaefra. One of the difficulties of a correct attribution lies in the lack of any perfectly preserved portrait of Khufu. The faces of Djedefre and Khaefra are both similar to that of the Sphinx, but they do not match perfectly. Another riddle is the original cultic and symbolic function of the Sphinx. Much later it
25840-528: The previously obscure sun deity Aten as the supreme deity , suppressed the worship of most other deities, and moved the capital to the new city of Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna ). He was devoted to his new religion and artistic style . After his death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned and the traditional religious order restored. The subsequent pharaohs, Tutankhamun , Ay , and Horemheb , worked to erase all mention of Akhenaten's heresy, now known as
26030-621: The provinces became economically richer—which was demonstrated by larger and better burials among all social classes. In bursts of creativity, provincial artisans adopted and adapted cultural motifs formerly restricted to the royalty of the Old Kingdom, and scribes developed literary styles that expressed the optimism and originality of the period. Free from their loyalties to the king, local rulers began competing with each other for territorial control and political power . By 2160 BC, rulers in Herakleopolis controlled Lower Egypt in
26220-399: The pyramid. On the eastern side, directly in front of the pyramid, Khufu's mortuary temple was built. Its foundation was made of black basalt , a great part of which is still preserved. Pillars and portals were made of red granite and the ceiling stones were of white limestone. Today nothing remains but the foundation. From the mortuary temple a causeway 0.43 miles long once connected to
26410-474: The pyramid. Remarkable is the so-called Grand Gallery leading to the king's chamber: It has a corbelled arch ceiling and measures 28.7 ft (8.7 m) in height and 151.3 ft (46.1 m) in length. The gallery has an important static function; it diverts the weight of the stone mass above the king's chamber into the surrounding pyramid core. Khufu's pyramid was surrounded by an enclosure wall, with each segment 33 ft (10 m) in distance from
26600-492: The relief is similar to that of king Snefru. In one scene king Khufu wears the double-crown; nearby, the depiction of the god Thoth is visible. In another scene, close by, Khufu wears the Atef -crown while smiting an enemy. In this scene the god Wepwawet is present. None of the numerous relief fragments shows king Khufu offering to a god. This is remarkable, since reliefs of Sneferu and those of all kings from Menkaura onward show
26790-449: The rock chamber of G 7000x. On the other hand, it can be argued that such an important utensil as the canopic jar would hardly be left behind when moving to a new tomb. It is also possible that the tomb was reused as an old 3rd Dynasty tomb with an existing alabaster sarcophagus and canopic jar under Khufu to temporarily store the mummy of Hetepheres. The canopic jar contained the entrails of an original burial, while Hetepheres' canopic jar
26980-402: The rock. It meets the shaft at a depth of 3 m. The mouth of the shaft measures 1.75 m (north-south) × 2.37 m (east-west). The width soon narrows to between 1.35 m and 1.55 m. At the upper edge of the shaft, incisions were found for beams, which were probably used to lower the sarcophagus. Recesses were made in the walls of the shaft to allow the workers to climb up and down. At a depth of 7.47 m,
27170-718: The role of the Egyptian temple priests and priestesses diminished. The temples themselves were sometimes converted to churches or abandoned to the desert. In the fourth century, as the Roman Empire divided, Egypt found itself in the Eastern Empire with its capital at Constantinople . In the waning years of the Empire, Egypt fell to the Sasanian Persian army in the Sasanian conquest of Egypt (618–628). It
27360-442: The room was probably 3.16 m, which would have provided enough space for the baldachin . Above the sarcophagus, a 40 cm deep cut in the rock runs from the ceiling 95 cm downward for a length of 2.60 m. This cut was partially filled with stone rubble when the chamber was used in its present state. Another cut, 75 cm deep and 2.76 m long, contained the canopic jar and was carefully sealed with masonry and plaster. Most of
27550-603: The ruined pyramid temple and the destroyed causeway, where they once covered the walls completely. Others were found re-used in the pyramid necropolis of king Amenemhet I at Lisht and at Tanis and Bubastis . One of the relief fragments shows the cartouche of Khufu with the phrase: "Building of the sanctuaries of the gods". Another one shows a row of fat oxen decorated with flowers—they were prepared as sacrifices during an offering procession. The guiding inscription calls them "the surroundings of Tefef serve Khufu", "beautiful bulls of Khufu" and "bawling for Khufu". A third one shows
27740-476: The sarcophagus and partly between the coffin and the east wall. As the wood rotted, the gold coating fell onto the pottery in this area. The box for the canopy (JE 72030) stood on the western edge of the coffin lid and disintegrated in situ. However, the inlaid decoration was found intact and in its original arrangement, allowing the reconstruction of the facade. Each of the long sides bears an inscription, separated into two mirror-image parts by two representations of
27930-399: The sarcophagus closed again to hide the fact that the body was missing. To give his mother a more secure resting place, Khufu had a secret tomb built for her in Giza near his pyramid. All of her tomb furnishings were moved from her old tomb to her new tomb, where they remained until they were discovered. This interpretation goes far beyond the archaeological facts, but it was already considered
28120-471: The sarcophagus was opened by skilled personnel, as grave robbers would probably have simply smashed it to pieces. The circumstances suggest a hasty burial, for example after the unexpected death of the queen, rather than an orderly reburial. Mark Lehner thought it possible that the Queen Mother died at a time when the three Queen Pyramids were not yet completed. The circumstances of her death meant that
28310-469: The season Shemu (our spring-early summer). The Royal Canon of Turin from the 19th Dynasty , gives 23 years of rulership for Khufu. 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. There are only a few hints about Khufu's political activities within and outside Egypt. Within Egypt, Khufu
28500-588: 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 Χέοψ , Khéops or Cheops ( / ˈ k iː ɒ p s / , KEE -ops , by Diodorus and Herodotus ) and less well known under another Hellenized name, Σοῦφις , Súphis ( / ˈ s uː f ɪ s / , SOO -fis , by Manetho ). A rare version of
28690-491: The shaft and stairs, the archaeologists discovered the entrance to the burial chamber, which had been closed since ancient times. On March 8, 1925, Alan Rowe, the deputy director of the Archaeological excavation , opened the chamber for the first time. It was full of piled things. The organic materials had already decayed, leaving only dust and tiny fragments. The entire floor of the room was filled with gold plates from
28880-537: The site was quickly abandoned and then forgotten over time. In 1954, French scholars François Bissey and René Chabot-Morisseau re-excavated the harbour, but their works were brought to an end by the Suez Crisis in 1956. In June 2011, an archaeological team led by French Egyptologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, organized by the French Institute of Oriental Archeology ( IFAO ), restarted work at
29070-405: The site. Among other material, a collection of hundreds of papyrus fragments were found in 2013 dating back 4500 years. The papyrus is currently exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo . The Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass called this ancient papyrus “the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century.” Ten of these papyri are very well preserved. The majority of these documents date to
29260-402: The size of a herd reflected the prestige and importance of the estate or temple that owned them. In addition to cattle, the ancient Egyptians kept sheep, goats, and pigs. Poultry , such as ducks, geese, and pigeons, were captured in nets and bred on farms, where they were force-fed with dough to fatten them. The Nile provided a plentiful source of fish . Bees were also domesticated from at least
29450-450: The south of the first chair all rested on a layer of rotten wood. On top of these objects were pieces of beadwork, inlays, and gold leaf. These could be reconstructed as a lid and a large wooden chest (temp. reg. 22.2.60), which originally contained all the objects lying around. The contents of the large chest included a small box of bangles (JE 53265–81; MFA 47.1699). It is 33.7 cm wide, 41.9 cm long and 21.8 cm high including
29640-461: The southeast corner of Khufu's pyramid. Close behind the queens' pyramids G1-b and G1-c, the cult pyramid of Khufu was found in 2005. On the southern side of the Great Pyramid lie some further mastabas and the pits of the funerary boats of Khufu. On the western side lies the West Cemetery , where the highest officials and priests were interred. A possible part of Khufu's funerary complex is
29830-535: The state's economy, because for the oblations special domains had to be established. A huge number of domains' names are attested for the time of Khufu's reign. However, by the end of the 6th dynasty the number of domains abated quickly. With the beginning of the 7th dynasty no domain's name was handed down any more. At Wadi Hammamat a rock inscription dates back to the 12th dynasty . It lists five cartouche names: Khufu, Djedefra, Khafra, Baufra and Djedefhor . Because all royal names are written inside cartouches, it
30020-613: The statuette is contemporary, but some scholars, such as Zahi Hawass , think that it was an artistic reproduction of the 26th dynasty . He argues that no building that clearly dates to the Fourth Dynasty was ever excavated at Kom el-Sultan or Abydos. Furthermore, he points out that the face of Khufu is unusually squat and chubby and shows no emotional expression. Hawass compared the facial stylistics with statues of contemporary kings, such as Sneferu, Khaefra and Menkaura. The faces of these three kings are of even beauty, slender and with
30210-553: The surface of several of them had been damaged by moisture. The tomb furnishings of Hetepheres have some special features: George Andrew Reisner was also known in Egyptological circles as a reader of detective novels. The discovery of the tomb of Hetepheres allowed him to solve a "case" himself. He assumed that Hetepheres had survived her husband Snofru. After her death, her son Khufu first had her buried near Snofru in Dahshur. Shortly after her burial, tomb robbers broke into
30400-435: 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
30590-417: The tomb and stole the mummy because of its rich furnishings and gold trappings, but had fled before taking the rest of her treasures. Khufu was likely informed of the situation, but Reisner speculated that in order to avoid the wrath of the king, a clever minister concealed the fact that the mummy had been stolen, and instead told Khufu that her mummy was still safely inside the sarcophagus. The minister then had
30780-447: The tomb furnishings had to be hastily prepared. Lehner considered a pit carved into the rock south of G I-a and east of G 7000x, which he called G I-x, to be the unfinished entrance to a pyramid that was never built. According to this, G 7000x and G I-x were part of the same unfinished tomb complex of Queen Hetepheres I. At a later date, the mummy was moved to a new tomb complex with new tomb furnishings. Her original grave goods were left in
30970-403: 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
31160-494: The two states became inevitable. Between 671 and 667 BC the Assyrians began the Assyrian conquest of Egypt . The reigns of both Taharqa and his successor, Tanutamun , were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians, against whom Egypt enjoyed several victories. Ultimately, the Assyrians pushed the Kushites back into Nubia, occupied Memphis, and sacked the temples of Thebes . The Assyrians left control of Egypt to
31350-399: The valley and surrounding desert regions, the early development of an independent writing system , the organization of collective construction and agricultural projects, trade with surrounding regions, and a military intended to assert Egyptian dominance. Motivating and organizing these activities was a bureaucracy of elite scribes , religious leaders, and administrators under the control of
31540-560: The valley temple. The valley temple was possibly made of the same stones as the mortuary temple, but since even the foundation is not preserved, the original form and size of the valley temple remain unknown. On the eastern side of the pyramid lies the East Cemetery of the Khufu necropolis, containing the mastabas of princes and princesses. Three small satellite pyramids, belonging to the queens Hetepheres ( G1-a ), Meritites I ( G1-b ) and possibly Henutsen ( G1-c ) were erected at
31730-416: The vulture goddess Nekhbet . The canopy could be disassembled relatively quickly and reassembled at another location by inserting the poles through the copper-plated pegs into the copper recesses. Hangers were attached to the top of the frame at regular intervals on all four sides, apparently for attaching curtains to the inside of the canopy and a cloth to cover them. No remains of the curtains were found. It
31920-468: The wall plaster. It rested on a small wooden sled from which the runners could be identified, but the sled was too poorly preserved for reconstruction. The square chest is 48.2 cm wide and 35 cm high. The lid has two small protruding handles and rests flat on the chest without any protrusion. The interior is divided by narrow walls into four compartments 26.2 cm deep. One contained decomposed organic matter, and three about 5 cm deep contained
32110-436: The wooden headrest with gold and silver overlay (JE 53262), a wooden box with a calcite ointment jar (JE 52373), gold and silver plates, razors and other gold and copper cosmetic items, and ivory bracelets. To the west of the chest was another group of fragments that could be assembled into a tubular leather case (JE 89619) with metal-studded discs at the top and bottom. It contained two long sticks with ribbed gold casings and
32300-519: Was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate . The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture . The predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. With resources to spare, the administration sponsored mineral exploitation of
32490-549: Was a notable source of granite, greywacke , and gold. Flint was the first mineral collected and used to make tools, and flint handaxes are the earliest pieces of evidence of habitation in the Nile valley. Nodules of the mineral were carefully flaked to make blades and arrowheads of moderate hardness and durability even after copper was adopted for this purpose. Ancient Egyptians were among the first to use minerals such as sulfur as cosmetic substances. Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I The tomb of Hetepheres I (also G 7000x )
32680-428: 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. In 1925 the tomb of queen Hetepheres I , G 7000x , 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
32870-437: Was addressed by his cartouche name or birth name. One document is of special interest: the diary of Merer , an official involved in the building of the Great Pyramid. Using the diary, researchers were able to reconstruct three months of his life, providing new insight into the everyday lives of people of the Fourth Dynasty. These papyri are the earliest examples of imprinted papyri ever found in Egypt. Another inscription, found on
33060-542: Was also the beginning of trade with Mesopotamia , which continued into the early dynastic period and beyond. Over a period of about 1,000 years, the Naqada culture developed from a few small farming communities into a powerful civilization whose leaders were in complete control of the people and resources of the Nile valley. Establishing a power center at Nekhen (in Greek, Hierakonpolis), and later at Abydos , Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along
33250-603: 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. Several papyrus fragments, known as the Diary of Merer , were found at Khufu's harbor at Wadi al-Jarf . They log
33440-423: Was based on a common-sense view of right and wrong that emphasized reaching agreements and resolving conflicts rather than strictly adhering to a complicated set of statutes. Local councils of elders, known as Kenbet in the New Kingdom, were responsible for ruling in court cases involving small claims and minor disputes. More serious cases involving murder, major land transactions, and tomb robbery were referred to
33630-500: Was called Heru-im-Akhet ( Hârmachís ; "Horus at the horizon") by the Egyptians and Abu el-Hὀl ("father of terror") by the Arabians . It might be that the Sphinx, as an allegoric and mystified representation of the king, simply guarded the sacred cemetery of Giza. Khufu possessed an extensive mortuary cult during the Old Kingdom . At the end of 6th dynasty at least 67 mortuary priests and 6 independent high officials serving at
33820-421: Was crucial in ancient Egypt because taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person owned. Farming in Egypt was dependent on the cycle of the Nile River. The Egyptians recognized three seasons: Akhet (flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The flooding season lasted from June to September, depositing on the river's banks a layer of mineral-rich silt ideal for growing crops. After
34010-425: Was dangerous: a stone fell from the ceiling of the chamber and Dunham escaped unharmed only because he was wearing a helmet. In addition to Reisner and Dunham, Noel Wheeler was also involved in emptying the chamber. This work resulted in a total of 1701 manuscript pages of plans and notes and 1057 photographs. This made it possible to determine the original position of the disintegrated objects and also to reconstruct
34200-625: Was empty. Lindon Smith, who participated in the opening, reported: "When [the lid] was lifted high enough for me to look inside, I saw to my great dismay that the Queen was not inside - the sarcophagus was empty! I turned to Reisner and said in a louder voice than I intended, 'George, it's a dud! Then the Minister of Public Works asked, 'What is a dud? Reisner rose from his box and said, 'Gentlemen, I'm afraid Queen Hetepheres will not grant an audience. Then he added: 'Mrs. Reisner will serve refreshments in
34390-477: Was essential for building large and stable funerary boats and indeed the boats discovered at the Great Pyramid were made of it. New evidence regarding political activities under Khufu's reign has recently been found at the site of the ancient port of Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea coast in the east of Egypt. The first traces of such a harbour were excavated in 1823 by John Gardner Wilkinson and James Burton , but
34580-541: Was followed by the Naqada culture : the Naqada I ( Amratian ), the Naqada II ( Gerzeh ), and Naqada III ( Semainean ). These brought a number of technological improvements. As early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia , used to shape blades and other objects from flakes . Mutual trade with the Levant was established during Naqada II ( c. 3600–3350 BC ); this period
34770-484: Was found headless; according to Petrie, it was caused by an accident while digging. When Petrie recognized the importance of the find, he stopped all other work and offered a reward to any workman who could find the head. Three weeks later the head was found after intense sifting in a deeper level of the room rubble. Today the little statue is restored and on display in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo in room 32 under its inventory number JE 36143 . Most Egyptologists believe
34960-411: Was left unfinished. A tight corridor heading south at the western end of the chamber and an unfinished shaft at the eastern middle might indicate that the subterranean chamber was the oldest of the three chambers and that the original building plan contained a simple chamber complex with several rooms and corridors. But for unknown reasons the works were stopped and two further chambers were built inside
35150-577: Was never able to overthrow the Persians until the end of the century. Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire . This first period of Persian rule over Egypt, also known as the Twenty-Seventh Dynasty , ended in 402 BC, when Egypt regained independence under a series of native dynasties. The last of these dynasties,
35340-418: Was not dug up. The alabaster sarcophagus was found empty, but the sealed canopic jar containing the entrails was still intact. No satisfactory explanation has yet been found for these findings. It was certainly not the Queen Mother's regular tomb. It may have been a hidden grave (cachette) to protect her from grave robbers, or an emergency grave. George Andrew Reisner had been leading excavations around
35530-435: Was often believed that Baufra and Djedefhor once had ruled for short time, but contemporary sources entitle them as mere princes. Khufu's attendance roll call in this list might indicate that he and his followers were worshipped as patron saints. This theory is promoted by findings such as alabaster vessels with Khufu's name found at Koptos , the pilgrimage destination of Wadi Hammamat travellers. A literary masterpiece from
35720-476: Was then recaptured by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (629–639), and was finally captured by Muslim Rashidun army in 639–641, marking the end of both Byzantine rule and of the period typically considered Ancient Egypt. The pharaoh was the absolute monarch of the country and, at least in theory, wielded complete control of the land and its resources. The king was the supreme military commander and head of
35910-399: Was transported with the mummy to her new tomb. This tomb could have been the northern side Pyramid G I-a. The attribution of the two depressions to one and the same tomb remains highly speculative. The plan of the substructure of the alleged pyramid complex G I-x and G 7000x would be fundamentally different from those of other queen pyramids of this period. Furthermore, there is no evidence for
36100-420: Was used to weave sheets of linen and to make clothing. Papyrus growing on the banks of the Nile River was used to make paper. Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots, close to habitations and on higher ground, and had to be watered by hand. Vegetables included leeks, garlic, melons, squashes, pulses, lettuce, and other crops, in addition to grapes that were made into wine. The Egyptians believed that
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