King Khufu is considered one of the most powerful kings who ruled Egypt during the old kingdom period. He succeeded his father king Snefru on the throne of Egypt and became the 2nd king of the 4th dynasty, Khufu’s mother was Queen Hetepheres to whom he built a small pyramid beside his great pyramid in Giza. He ruled Egypt from 2589 B.Cto 2566 B.C. His full name was Khnum-Khufu, Which means “God Khnum Protects Me.” Khnum was the ancient Egyptian ram-headed deity of creation, water, and fertility.
Khufu (2609 BC – 2584 BC)
Cheops is the Greek name of the Pharoah which is adopted by the English man, who could not pronounce the ancient Egyptian name, and the Arabs called Khufu which is closer to his full name Khnum-Khufwy in ancient Egypt, which means ‘god Khnum protects me’. He is the son of the founder of The fourth dynasty Sneferu, when building the pyramids reached the peak of excellence and perfection that could not be repeated by the short successors of the 5th dynasty like king Unas. Khufu`s mother is famous Queen Hetepheres, we found her funeral equipment in a burial shaft next to her son’s pyramid in Giza and we can see a lot of that as well as the queen’s sarcophagus in the Egyptian Museum today. King Khufu is believed to have had three wives. He is famous for building the Great Pyramid at Giza that you can explore during the tour to Giza Pyramids, it’s considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world and the only wonder still standing till now, but apart from this, we don`t know much about him. The only surviving statue for him, ironically, the smallest piece of Egyptian royal sculpture ever discovered: a 7.5 cm (3 inches) high ivory statue found at Abydos.
Traditionally, twenty-three years of reign have been attributed to him although many experts, based on the vastness of his ambitious building program, believe that he reigned much longer; for his part, Herodotus claims that his reign lasted fifty years.
Best Works of King Khufu: It can be difficult to imagine such an immense structure; the fact that the whole of London’s parliament and Saint Paul’s Cathedral could be contained there comfortably may perhaps help you get an idea. Napoleon Bonaparte, the passionate admirer of Egyptian antiquities, was so impressed by his visit to the plateau of Giza that (thanks to the help of his mathematicians) he was able to officially announce that in the three pyramids there was enough stone to build a three-meter high wall that surrounded the whole territory of France.
The Great Pyramid is, among all, the one aligned most precisely. It is clear that the orientation had to be very important for engineers and supervisors. However, we do not know for sure if such precision was a practical response to the Bent Pyramid in Dahshur and Meidum accidents, or if at the base there was simply a religious need that made it necessary to exactly align the funeral chamber (and consequently the body of the deceased pharaoh). In any case, whatever the reasons, the final result leaves no room for doubt. The sides of the pyramid of Cheops are oriented almost exactly to the north, while the pyramids that would later have been built, first by his son Chephren and then by his grandson Mycerinus, would have been aligned with each other and with respect to the elements of the complex of the Great Pyramid which is a must-see site during your trip to Egypt.
Here, Cheops was to be buried for eternity in his Aswan red granite sarcophagus. However, some Egyptologists believe that all three rooms were part of the original plan; in particular, the “Queen’s Chamber” would have served as a serdab room, in which a statue of the late pharaoh was to serve as a substitute for his body. Five rooms were built above the “King’s Chamber” to lighten the structure, an innovation that served to distribute the load of the pyramid that would otherwise have overloaded the ceiling of the burial chamber.
Visit the Great Pyramid of Khufu and many other exciting places in the historical city of Cairo during a lot of Egypt tours and Egypt Travel Packages and Egypt day tours if you stay in Cairo you can have one of the full Cairo Day tours otherwise of you have a short time you can book a trip from Cairo day tours from airport like:
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