The pyramid of Chephren, which is actually three meters lower than that of his father’s, having been built on a higher plateau gives the illusion of being taller, today it is the only one to still retain part of the original white limestone coating. Discover more with Cairo Top Tours!
Khafre: He is the second reigning son of King Cheops who returned to Giza Necropolis to build the second biggest pyramid there that you can view it fully from various angles during the tour to Giza Pyramids, this gigantic structure is unfortunately overshadowed by the work of his father.
King Chephren built his pyramid respectively smaller than the great pyramid of Cheops on the same plateau where the 4th dynasty kings constructed such unprecedented Architectural marvels that even their short successors weren’t able to repeat.
King Chephren of the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt ruled after his elder brother Djedefre, who built his pyramid in Abo Rawash apparently around 2570 B.C.
He assumed power for more than twenty years ( almost 26 years ) and was succeeded by his son the builder of the last pyramid in Giza, Mycerinus.
The Greek historian and archeologist Manetho stated that Khafre was shortly succeeded by a Pharaoh called Bikheris, but not much information is known about this monarch. There is no inscriptions or mention in the Westscar papyrus to tell us more about Khafre’s successor. however, several artifacts discovered recently certify that Menkaure was the direct successor of his father.
Khafre is well-known also as Khefren, or Chephren, which is a corruption of the ancient Egyptian name of the Pharaoh by Greeks who found it difficult to use the Egyptian word to say the king’s name, the Greek name was adopted by the English man subsequently.
During the reign of Chephren, a sculpture made significant progress, so that although many of his statues have already been recycled in antiquity, we still have several images of this powerful and self-confident ruler. However, it is thanks to the face of the sphinx that Chephren is universally known. The sphinx, with its lion body and man’s head, that was supposed to depict the symbols of royalty and the sun, was carved into the living rock to stand guard along the ramp leading to the pyramid of Khafre, he was known to be a firm ruler. He closed down many of the temples of Egypt, following the trend started by his father King Cheops.
The pyramid of Chephren was destined to be the last of the great pyramids. His son and heir, Mycerinus, was satisfied with a decidedly less imposing construction; his pyramid is about a tenth of that of his grandfather and is only 66 meters high.
You can explore Giza pyramids and the sphinx during Egypt tours and the Pyramids Tour from Cairo Airport.
Visit the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the pyramid of king Chephren, the Sphinx as well as 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:
– Giza Pyramids Camel Ride.
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