Khufu

Khufu was the second king of the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. We know very little about him, even though he built the most famous tomb in the ancient world, "The Great Pyramid", one of the seven wonders of the world.

He ruled for 23 years after the reign of his father Snefru. His real name was Khnum-Khufwy, which means "the god Khnum protects me", and Khufu was his nickname.

Khufu planned that his son Kawab would be his heir. Kawab was a scribe and he wanted to be like his grandfather Senefru who was known as a wise king. But Kawab died during the reign of his father.

Khufu's mother was Queen Hetep-heres I. Khufu married Queen Merey-it-es. He also married Queen Henutsen.

After the death of Khufu, the royal family was divided into three branches. The first was headed by Khufu's main queen who was the mother of DjedefHor and Buefre. The second was headed by the mother of DjedefRe who took the throne after his father and ruled for eight years. The third branch was headed by the mother of Khafre.

The most important achievement of Khufu was building the great pyramid at Giza plateau. There were 13 tombs attached to his pyramid. The royal family was buried in tombs and pyramids to the east and the officials were buried to the west of the pyramid. The building of pyramyds was designed in his reign and continued to be used until the end of the Old Kingdom.

The The Great Pyramid can provide us with important insights into the reign of Khufu. From the political side, it shows how Khufi controlled the wealth and the population of the country. He organized households all over Egypt into building the pyramid, and providing the king with food (grain and beer), and with laborers. This organization reveals that the pyramid was the main project of the nation.

The great pyramyd demonstrates the Egyptian achievements in science, astronomy, art, and math which were necessary for the building of that great tomb.

The pyramid project involved tremendous organization of the work-force, and food, water, and beer supplies. Recently, we discovered the site of the town of the pyramid builders. The discovery includes the support facilities, houses and cemeteries of the workers who created the pyramid.

The name of Khufu an his pyramid is always attached to a popular notion that the pyramid was built by slaves. But that was not true, because the workers built their own tombs near the pyramid of Khufu, and prepared their tombs forever like nobles and officials. They were also paid by the king, or worked instead of paying tax. Finally, slaves could have built a building larger than Khufu's pyramid, but could never created such an innovative work like the Great Pyramid. This pyramid indicates that they were proud to build the tomb of their great god.

The Westcar Papyrus that dates to the Middle Kingdom has stories about Khufu. The Egyptians described him sitting with his family listening to stories about their ancestors and the miracles that happened in the past. They