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What's in a Name?

© JMCC1 - Statue of Khufu

Known by many names, Khufu, whose full name was Khnum-Khufwy, means "Khnum Protects Me." Khnum was the ancient Egyptian ram-headed god of procreation, water and fertility. The Greeks gave Khufu the name "Cheops" and he is probably best known throughout history by this name.

King Khufu is also known under his hellenized name Cheops (or Khêops).

The King and His Family

Khufu's father, Snefru, first king of the 4th dynasty, was granted kingship through marriage, instead of like most kings who were declared kingship through birthright. Khufu's mother was Queen Hetepheres, who was likely Snefru's half sister. Khufu married Queen Meritites and Queen Henutsen. It was Queen Merities (his principal wife) who gave birth to Khufu's heir to the throne, Prince Kawab. However, Prince Kawab died before Khufu and was never able to assume his kingship. It has been suspected that he was the victim of foul play, perhaps murdered by Djedefre, one of his brothers. Khufu had nine sons and fifteen daughters, and every one of them was somehow placed in the royal court with impressive positions.

A Famous Pharaoh and an Infamous King

Thousands of years after his reign, Khufu is widely believed to have been a cruel king to the Egyptian people. However, there is not a lot of evidence to support this. Rumors have existed for millennia that the king forced people as slaves to build his pyramid (The Great Pyramid of Giza) but there is evidence to suggest that the laborers not only called themselves "friends of Khufu" but they were also paid for their work. It is widely believed, however, that Khufu exchanged the life of a criminal to allow a magician to test his skills of resurrection. It is because of these rumors that Khufu is not just a famous pharaoh, but an infamous one, as well.

The Great Pyramid at Giza

Also known as the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the great pyramid is Khufu's best known legacy. It remains today as one of the seven wonders of the world. At the time and through the millennia, the remarkably advanced technology and insight lent to Egypt's reputation as being a highly sophisticated civilization to the rest of the world.

© schmaeche - The Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza

The Great Pyramid at Giza took approximately 20 years to build. It stood 480 feet tall, 31 of which have eroded since the time of the pharaoh. It remained the tallest man-made structure in the entire world for nearly 4,000 years. The pyramid's architect, Hemiunu, doubled as Khufu's vizier, which made Hemiunu the second most powerful man in Egypt at the time. Khufu believed the Great Pyramid was his stairway to heaven. The Great Pyramid was the first of its kind in that the sides were smooth, as opposed to having steps. Also, the sides perfectly correspond with the cardinal points of a compass. The north side faces the north, the east side faces the east, etc. It has been estimated that at least 2.3 million limestone stones were used in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Each of these 2.3 million limestones weighs between two and 15 tons.

© kairoinfo4u - Giza complex from the air

There are two entrance ways into the Great Pyramid. The original entrance is 55 feet above the ground and off center. The second was created by Arab soldiers who spent three months carving their way through the rock. This is known as the forced entrance.
Learn more about the Great Pyramid of Giza...
The Interior of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

The interior of the great pyramid of Khufu contains:

This illustration shows you how Khufu's Great Pyramid looks on the inside:

© Penn State University Library - The inside of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Abydos Boats

Dating back in time 5,000 years ago, the Abydos Boats were created. 14 vessels have been discovered at 60 to 80 feet in length. They were found in Abydos, Egypt, nearly eight miles from the Nile River. These boats are significant because they reveal ancient Egypt's truly advanced technology. These boats were intended to help the deceased king reach the afterlife. The Abydos Boats were actual boats that could hold up to 30 rowers and were likely painted yellow. The Abydos Boats served as the prototype for later actual and symbolic funerary boats for future kings.

© Benjamin - Khufu's Barge at Giza

Khufu created the most elaborate of the funerary boats. His ship, made of tamarix (salt cedar), is credited with being the most famous of these boats. This ship was fully intact at the time it was discovered. It had been sealed into a pit at the Great Pyramid at Giza around 2,500 BC. This ship was intended to carry Khufu to the Sun God, Ra, while together they sailed the heavenly Nile.

Quick Facts about Khufu

He is known best for his contribution to architecture through the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza.

Although it seems as though the Great Pyramid was built as a mortuary temple, Khufu's sarcophagus was found, but his mummified remains never have been.

Due to the enormity of the Great Pyramid, speculation exists today as to how it was built.

An ancient Egyptian cult worshiped Khufu as a God some 2,000 years after his reign.

Khufu, disdainful toward the gods, ordered the Egyptian temples shut down, but later apologized and had them reopened.

Khufu's ship measures 143 feet long and nearly 20 feet wide, and could sail today if placed in a body of water.

The only Khufu statue in existence is a three inch high ivory statue discovered at Abydos.

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King Khufu And The Great Pyramid | Cheops

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© JMCC1 - Statue of Khufu Known by many names, Khufu, whose full name was Khnum-Khufwy, means "Khnum Protects Me." Khnum was the ancient Egyptian ram-headed god of procreation, water and fertility. The Greeks gave Khufu the name "Cheops" and he is probably best known throughout history by this name.

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Egyptian Mummification

Egyptian embalmers were so skilled that people mummified four thousand years ago still have skin, hair and recognizable features such as scars and tattoos.

The word mummy comes from the Arabic mummiya, meaning bitumen or coal and every Egyptian, except the most abject criminal, was entitled to be embalmed and receive a decent burial.

The body was taken to the embalmers by the relatives, who then chose the method and quality of mummification. The best and most expensive methods were used on the wealthy, but there were cheaper alternatives for the poor.

The Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century BC, described the different methods
The Most Costly

1. Draw out the brain through the nostrils

2. Take out the whole contents of the belly, and clean the interior with palm-wine and spices.

3. Fill the belly with pure myrrh, cassia and other spices and sew it together again.

4. Cover up in natron for seventy days.

5. Wash the corpse and roll it up in fine linen.

Less Costly

1. Fill the belly with oil of cedar-wood using a syringe by the breech, which is plugged to stop the drench from returning back; it dissolves the bowels and interior organs.

2. After the appointed number of days with the natron treatment the cedar oil is let out and the corpse is left as skin and the bones.

3. Returned the corpse the family.

For the Poor

1. Cleanse out the belly with a purge.

2. Keep the body for seventy days of natron treatment.

3. Return the corpse to the family.

Canopic Jars

Except for the heart, which was needed by the deceased in the Hall of Judgment, the embalmers removed all of the internal organs from the body. These were placed into four vases, called Canopic Jars. The lids formed the shape of the Four Sons of Horus. The liver was associated with Imset who was depicted with a human head. The lungs were associated with Hapi who was depicted with a baboon's head. The stomach was associated with Duamutef with the head of a jackal. The intestines and viscera of the lower body was associated with the falcon headed Kebechsenef.

Natron

Natron is a naturally occurring white, crystalline mineral salt which absorbs water from its surroundings. It was mined from dry lake beds and used in the mummification process to soak up water from the body.

After seventy days in natron the dried out and shriveled body was washed and rubbed with oil and fragrant spices. The inside was packed with cloth before being wrapped in linen. The face was painted to make it look lifelike and the hair neatly arranged.

The chief embalmer, dressed as Anubis (god of embalming), would bless the diseased and priests said prayers to help the dead person on his way into the next world. Finally, the body was wrapped in linen bandages which were soaked in resin and magical amulets were placed within the bandages as symbols of power, protection, and rebirth. The body was then returned to the relatives who placed it in a wooden coffin.

Coffins and Sarcophagi

A coffin is the rectangular or anthropoid (human shaped) container that held the mummified body. The sarcophagus was the stone or wooden outer container which held the coffin or coffins.
Coffins were often decorated both on the inside and outside in a variety of styles. Some have been found with images of food offerings on the inside to sustain the deceased. The exterior of many Sarcophagi are painted with eyes on the side that faced east because it was believed that the dead person could look out at the world and see the rising sun.

This Lecture by Egyptologist Robert Brier, known as "Mr. Mummy," one of the world's foremost experts on mummies.

Brier is the first person in 2,000 years to mummify a human cadaver using the exact techniques of the ancient Egyptians. As Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Long Island University, Brier has conducted pioneering research in mummification practices and has investigated some of the world's most famous mummies.

A short animation about the Getty Museum's Romano-Egyptian mummy Herakleides.

Dr Zahi Hawass explains Ancient Egyptian Mummy Recipe. An Old Kingdom mummy found quite by accident in a tomb at Saqqara.

Get Karnak Great Court for FREE

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Egyptian embalmers were so skilled that people mummified four thousand years ago still have skin, hair and recognizable features such as scars and tattoos. The word mummy comes from the Arabic mummiya, meaning bitumen or coal and every Egyptian, except the most abject criminal, was entitled to be embalmed and receive a decent burial.

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Sneferu’s Pyramids

The fourth-dynasty king, Sneferu 2686 – 2667 BC, was the first to create the pyramid shape that we all recognize and associate with Egyptian architecture. He built three pyramids in all—but the first two were glorious failures.

Medum pyramid surrounded by rubble – The Bent Pyramid – The Red Pyramid.

His first, the pyramid at Medum, began as a step pyramid and was then modified to form the first true pyramid. But it was unstable and the limestone blocks began to slip. Soon, work on it was abandoned. King Sneferu then moved to Dahshur and built a second pyramid, which we now know as the “Bent Pyramid” because its upper part rises at a shallower angle of incline than the lower part.

The Bent Pyramid was originally planned as a true pyramid, but the corners were built on unstable ground and the walls of the burial chambers inside began to crack and shift inward. Of necessity, the building’s geometry was altered at a point just above half its height. The angle of incline was decreased from 54º 31’ 13’’ to 43º 21’. This was probably done to alleviate the stresses in the lower part of the pyramid and make it stronger. But the bent pyramid was never used. Instead, Sneferu began a third pyramid about a mile way. This one is called the red pyramid because of the red limestone blocks used in its construction. It became the world’s first successful true pyramid.

With the red pyramid, Sneferu set the standard for all true pyramids to come. He included aboveground burial chambers, a mortuary temple, and a causeway leading down to a valley temple. This was the model followed by his son, Khufu, wh built the first and largest pyramid at Giza. The Giza pyramids were erected on a rocky plateau on the west bank of the Nile in northern Egypt and were connected, by covered causeways, to mortuary temples in the valley below the plateau. These temples had landing stages which were linked to the Nile by a canal. In ancient times they were included among the Seven Wonders of the World.

Pyramids of Giza

Khufu – 2575-2566 BC

The largest of the three pyramids at Giza, known as the Great Pyramid, is truly an astonishing work of engineering. It was built over a twenty year period. Some believe that it was built by slaves, but this is not true. One hundred thousand people worked on the great structure for three months of each year, during the Nile’s annual flood when it was impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed. The pharaoh provided good food and clothing for his workers, and was kindly remembered in folk tales for many centuries.

The sides are oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass and the length of each side at the base is 755 feet (230.4 m). The faces rise at an angle of 51º 52’ and their original height was 481 feet (147 m). (They currently rise 451 feet [138 m].) It was constructed using around 2,300,000 limestone blocks, each weighing an average of 2.5 tons. Some blocks weigh as much as 16 tons. For centuries, the Great Pyramid was encased in smooth limestone, but this was plundered in our era to build Cairo.

Khafre 2558–2532 BC

Khufu’s son, Khafre (also known as Chephren). His pyramid, on a nearby site at Giza, appears taller than his father’s, but this is an illu¬sion; it is built on higher ground and was in fact, origi¬nally at 447 .5 feet (136.4 m), 33.5 feet (10.2 m) shorter than the Great Pyramid.

Khafre’s pyramid retains some of its original limestone casing at the apex, and so it is possible to imagine how the pyramids might have ap¬peared in antiquity. Khafre also built the Great Sphinx, which is 66 feet high (20 m) and 240 feet long (73 m) and is part of Khafre’s pyramid complex. It represents Ra-Harakhte, the sun god, as he rises in the east at dawn but the face of the Sphinx is a portrait of Khafre himself, and is contemporary with his pyramid. It was carved from an outcropping of limestone left after quarrying the stone for his father’s pyramid.

Unfortunately, the great sphinx has deteriorated over the millennia and was extensively renovated in ancient times. More recently it was mutilated by the Sultan Mohammed an-Nasir in AD 1300; and lost its nose in 1798, when Napoleon’s soldiers used it for target practice.

There have recently been a number of speculative theories concerning the age of the Great Sphinx, but no material evidence exists to suggest that its history should be revised.

Menkaura 2532-2503 BC

Khafre’s son, Menkaura built the third pyramid at the Giza necropolis (cem¬etery). With an original height of 228 feet (70 m), it is less than half the height of the pyramid built by his grandfather, Khufu. The lower layers consist of red granite from Aswan and the upper courses were originally made of gleaming white limestone.

Pyramid List

Although pyramid-building in stone continued until the end of the Old Kingdom, the pyramids of Giza were never surpassed in their size and the technical excellence of their construction. New Kingdom ancient Egyptians marvelled at their predecessors monuments, which were then well over a thousand year old.

Pyramids were built during the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC) but these consisted of a mud brick core with a stone skin and are now mere piles of rubble.

There are over 100 recorded pyramids in Egypt most of which belong to minor royalty or have no known owners. They required an enormous investment in resources and stood out in the landscape as easy pray to the robbers. The last royal pyramid was built by the first king of the 18th dynasty Ahmose 1550-1525 BC but, after that, the Egyptians ceased building these majestic burial structures for all time.

Saqqara

Djoser 2667-2648 bc

Sekhemkhet 2648-2640 bc

Teti 2345-2323 bc

Userkaf 2494-2487 bc

Djedkara 2414-22375 bc

Unas 2375-2345 bc

Pepy I 2321-2287 bc

Merenra 2287-2278 bc

Pepy II 2278-2184 bc

Khendjer 13th Dynasty

Meidum
Sneferu 2613-2589 bc

Sneferu’s first pyramid

Dahshur

Sneferu 2613-2589 bc

The Bent Pyramid &

the Red Pyramid

Amenemhet II 1922-1878 bc

Amenemhet II 1922-1878 bc

Senusret III 1874-1855 bc Amenemhet III 1855-1808 bc

Abu Roash

Djedefra 2566-2558 bc

Giza

Khufu 2589-2566 bc

Khafra 2558-2532 bc

Menkaura 2532-25o3 bc

Zawiyet el-Aryan

Two unfinished pyramids

Abusir

Sahura 2487-2475 bc

Neferirkara 2475-2455 bc

Raneferef 2448-2445 bc

Nyuserra 2445-2421 bc#

Mazghuna

Two pyramids – owners unknown

Lisht

Amenemhat I 1985-1955 bc

Senursret I 1965-1920 bc

Hawara

Amenemhat III 1855-1808 bc

Lahun

Senusret II 1880-1874 bc

BBC documentary – how the great pyramid was built.

The mystery of Egyptian cult temples explained, illustrated with videos, photos, drawings and 30 highly detailed computer generated reconstructions.

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Pyramids of Giza including a map and Pyramid List

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Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh who lived between roughly 1343 and 1323 B.C. Often called the "boy-king," he ascended the throne at around the age of 10.

Credit: Horemweb | Wikimedia.

Among the world's most famous curses is the "Curse of the Pharaoh," also known as King Tut's Curse. Ever since King Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, stories circulated that those who dared violate the boy king's final resting place faced a terrible curse.

Though not as dramatic as a murderous mummy, it is widely claimed that many people associated with opening the tomb fell soon victim to the curse, dying under mysterious circumstances. The legend gained traction because a few of the people who were involved in finding the tomb did, in fact, die not long after it was opened.

The highest profile death associated with the curse is probably that of George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, a British aristocrat and amateur Egyptologist who helped finance the search. His death on March 25, 1923 - a year after the tomb was opened - is widely regarded as mysterious, but, in fact, he suffered from poor health before he arrived in Cairo, and in any event died from a decidedly mundane mosquito-carried disease. The idea of a curse was promoted by no less a prominent person than Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who also wrote a book explaining that fairies were real).

There were many dozens of people connected in some way to opening Tutankhamun's tomb (ranging from security guards to archaeologists), and out of that many people some unexpected deaths would be expected by random chance. In his book "An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural," investigator James Randi notes that "the average duration of life for ... those who should have suffered the ancient curse was more than twenty-three years after the 'curse' was supposed to become effective. Carnarvon's daughter died in 1980, a full fifty-seven years later. Howard Carter, who not only discovered the tomb and physically opened it, but also removed the mummy of Tutankhamun from the sarcophagus, lived until 1939, sixteen years after that event."

Not only did Carter live to a fairly ripe age of 64 before succumbing to cancer, but Sgt. Richard Adamson, a member of Carter's team who guarded the burial chamber round the clock for seven years and was the European closest to Tutankhamun's remains, lived for another 60 years until his death in 1982. And he is not alone; Randi notes, "This group died at an average age of seventy-three plus years, beating the actuarial tables for persons of that period and social class by about a year. The Curse of the Pharaoh is a beneficial curse, it seems." [ Photos: The Life and Death of King Tut]

So where did the curse come from? According to Randi, "When Tut's tomb was discovered and opened in 1922, it was a major archaeological event. In order to keep the press at bay and yet allow them a sensational aspect with which to deal, the head of the excavation team, Howard Carter, put out a story that a curse had been placed upon anyone who violated the rest of the boy-king." Carter did not invent the idea of a cursed tomb, but he did exploit it to keep intruders away from his history-making discovery.

In fact, the tombs of all royalty - not just Tutankhamun's - were said to have exactly the same "curse" and had been opened with no resulting evil effects. Howard Carter was far from alone in making an effort to scare away potential grave robbers with the threat of supernatural wrath. Indeed, a famous writer offered a very similar curse:

Good frend, for Iesus sake forebeare
To digge the dust encloased heare.
Bleste be ye man [that] spares these stones,
And curste be he [that] moves my bones."

"Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones": This is William Shakespeare's epitaph, dating back to 1616. Though the world's best-known dramatist, Shakespeare was not being dramatic when he wrote these words. Instead, he was trying to prevent something unsavory that neither his fame nor fortune could deter: his corpse being dug up by grave robbers. These "anatomists" did not covet the Bard's body out of spite or malice but instead wanted it for the sake of science, to sell to doctors for medical use in schools.

Shakespeare was only one of many at the time concerned about post-mortem theft; grave robbing was quite common during Shakespeare's time and long before. Whether Howard Carter, King Tut, or William Shakespeare truly believed in curses is irrelevant; the important thing is that those who might disturb their graves believe in them. And it worked: nearly a century after Tut's tomb was opened, many people still believe in it.

Benjamin Radford, M.Ed., is Deputy Editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and author of seven books including Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries.

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Among the world's most famous curses is the "Curse of the Pharaoh," also known as King Tut's Curse. Ever since King Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, stories circulated that those who dared violate the boy king's final resting place faced a terrible curse.