The only known sculpture of Khufu, it stands three inches tall and is carved from ivory.
Khufu is best known by his Greek name “Cheops” (the Greeks tacked an ‘s’ onto the end of names ending with a vowel, i.e. “Yeshua” becomes “Jesus” in Greek). He is the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty according to Manetho. He is generally thought to have ascended the throne around 2550 BC and to have reigned for either 47 years (Manetho) or 23 years (Turin Papyrus). These dates should be lowered by about 150 years if the short chronology is adopted. In either case, the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt was contemporary with the Early Dynastic III in Mesopotamia. Khufu’s father, Sneferu, was a famous pyramid builder credited with building no less than three pyramids, each impressive in its own right.
This pharaoh is supposed to have built three pyramids in his lifetime. One can see a progression in these pyramids from a stepped pyramid to a true pyramid. The Bent Pyramid represents one of the great engineering failures of all time. Having begun with too steep an incline, the builders were forced to radically reduce the slope half way through.
Despite the impressiveness of Sneferu’s pyramids, they pale in comparison with the Great Pyramid of Khufu, whose magnificence earned it a place among the Seven Wonders of the World. Khufu was suceeded by his two sons, Djedefre and Khafre, and by his grandson, Menkaure, the son of Khafre. Khafre and Menkaure would also build pyramids on the Giza plateau next to Khufu’s. They are collectively known as the Pyramids of Giza.
Statuette
While excavating a temple at Kom El Sultan, in north Abydos, one of Sir Flinders Petrie’s workmen discovered an ivory statuette in a storeroom. A hieroglyphic inscription on the throne identified the seated figure as Khufu. Unfortunately, the head of the statue was broken off during excavations. Knowing that it must have been discarded in the waste heap next to the excavation site, Petrie had his workmen sift the waste heap for three weeks until the head was found! The loss of the head would have been a great loss indeed since this ivory statuette is the only known sculptural representation of Khufu. Although very small, the sculptor nevertheless captures remarkably fine details, such as the shape of the ear and the nose.
Character
Fine modeling of the face of Khufu.
Despite his reputation as Egypt’s greatest pyramid builder, Khufu was not remembered kindly by future generations of Egyptians. The Greek historian, Herodotus, having traveled to Egypt in the 5th century BC, relates the following tale.
The king, having succeeded to the throne,
…plunged into all manner of wickedness. He closed the temples, and forbade the Egyptians to offer sacrifice, compelling them instead to labour, one and all, in his service… A hundred thousand men laboured constantly, and were relieved every three months by a fresh lot.”1Book II, 124
Herodotus had an ear for a good story and was all to ready to pass along some scurrilous piece of gossip with the disclaimer, “I can only repeat the account which was given to me.” Thus he tells how Khufu, running short on money, forced his daughter to work in a brothel to fund his pyramid. Obviously, this could not have been sufficient to fund the immense labor expenses involved, which in any case, must have caused some resentment among the local populace, the prospect of dallying with the king’s daughter notwithstanding. As Samuel warned the Israelites centuries later, the corvee has always been the prerogative of kings.
These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” (1 Sam. 8:11-18 ESV)
The Egyptians would no doubt add pyramids to this list. These magnificencent structures represents the final and complete transformation of Egypt into a land ruled by one man whose power to mobilize the vast resources at his disposal was absolute. If the prophets of Israel and Judah had a tradition of criticizing their rulers, and even the institution of kingship itself, there is no indication that such thoughts ever entered into the minds of Egyptians.
Herodotus, G. Rawlinson.
The Histories.
New York: Everyman/Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Petrie, Flinders.
Abydos. Part II vols.
London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1903. Link