KING CHEFREN
Chephren was a son of King Cheops and Queen Henutsen and the brother and successor of Djedefre. KING CHIEFREN had several wives and he had at least 12 sons and 3 or 4 daughters.
Queen Meresankh III was the daughter of Kawab and Hetepheres II and therefore a niece of Khafre. She was the mother of Khafre’s sons Nebemakhet, Duaenre,
Niuserre and Khentetka, and a daughter named Shepsetkau. Queen Khamerernebty I was Menkaure’s mother and his main queen Khamerernebty II.
Hekenuhedjet was a wife of Khafre. She is mentioned in the grave of her son Sekhemkare.
Persenet may have been a wife of Khafre based on the location of her grave. She was Nikaure’s mother.
Khafre’s other children are known, but no mothers have been identified. Further sons are Ankhmare, Akhre, Iunmin and Iunre. Two other daughters, Rekhetre and Hemetre, are also known.
Khafre is said to have ruled for about 25 years.
The Egyptian name of the pyramid was “Chiefren is Great”. The pyramid has a daughter pyramid, labeled GIGI a. It is not clear who was buried there. Sealings have been found of the eldest son of a king of his body etc. and the Horus name of Khafre.
The Pyramid of Khafre is the second tallest and second largest of the ancient Egyptian pyramids of Giza. And he built it next to his father’s. The pyramid has a base of 215.5 m and rises to a height of 136.4 meters.
It is made of limestone blocks weighing more than 2 tons each. The slope of the pyramid rises at an angle of 53° That makes it steeper than that of his father King Cheops which has an angle of 51°.
Khafre’s pyramid sits on bedrock 10 m higher than Cheop’s pyramid, making it appear larger. The pyramid was probably opened and robbed during the First Intermediate Period.
During the Nineteenth Dynasty, the overseer of temple construction took stones to build a temple in Heliopolis for Ramesses II.
Arab historian Ibn Abd al-Salam mentioned that the pyramid was opened in 1372 AD. On the wall of the burial chamber there is an Arabic graffiti that probably dates from the same period.
It is not known when the rest of the casings were robbed; they were probably still in place by 1646, when John Greaves, professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford in his Pyramidographia, wrote that although the stones were not laid as large or regularly as at Cheop’s pyramid, the surface is quite smooth and egaal was free from violations of inequalities, except in the south.
The pyramid was first explored in modern times by Giovanni Belzoni on March 2, 1818, when the original entrance was found on the north side. Belzoni hoped to find an intact burial,
but the room was empty except for an open sarcophagus and its broken lid on the floor. The first complete exploration was conducted by John Perring in 1837. In 1853,
Auguste Mariette partially excavated the Valley Temple of Khafre and in 1858, he discovered the first diorite statue of Khafre.
Like the Great Pyramid, a rock protrusion was used at the core. Due to the slope of the plateau, the northwest corner was cut 10 m from the bedrock and the southeast corner was built up.
The pyramid is made up of horizontal strips. The stones at the bottom are very large, but as the pyramid rises,
the stones become smaller and become only 50 cm thick at the top. The tracks are rough and irregular for the first half of the altitude,
but a narrow band of regular masonry is evident in the center of the pyramid. In the northwest corner of the pyramid,
the rock was formed in steps. Enclosure stones cover the top third of the pyramid,
but the pyramidion and part of the top are missing.
The bottom layer of casing stones was made of pink granite, but the rest of the pyramid was encased in Tura Limestone.
Close examination shows that the corner edges of the remaining formwork stones are not completely straight, but are offset by a few millimeters.
A Pyramid Temple has been built at the east corner of the pyramid. This temple was built to nourish the late king after his death,
so that the soul could live on. The temple is oriented east-west. The walls of the building were made of limestone, grading to fine limestone. Inside, the buildings are made of granite. Today the Pyramid Temple has become a ruin.
It could be entered via a Causeway leading from the valley temple, which could furthermore be entered from (then) the Nile.
After the corridor one entered an open area with columns.
Finally, one arrived at another open space with a view of five statues of the king. Finally they arrived in the holy of holies. Where one could place offerings for the king.
The Valley Temple of Khafre was located close to the Nile in the time of the 4th Dynasty and would have stood right next to the Sphinx Temple.
Inscriptions from the entrance have been found mentioning Hathor and Bubastis. Blocks have been found showing the partial remains of an inscription bearing the Horus name of Khafre. Mariette discovered statues of Khafre in 1860.
Several were found in a pit in the floor and were headless. But other complete images were also found. The Dal temple had 2 entrances guarded by 2 sphinxes.
The Valley Temple of Khafre is one of the best preserved temples from the Old Kingdom. In 1869 it was dug out of the sand and used to celebrate the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal
