title: Stephenson 2-18

text: The distance of Stephenson 2-18 has been stated to have a relative uncertainty greater than 50%, and the radius of could possibly be an overestimation because the largest stellar radii predicted by stellar evolutionary theory is estimated to only be roughly . Luminosity estimates for the star are uncertain as well, as another estimate of the luminosity gave a value of .


title: Stephenson 2-18

text: The star's doubtful membership, uncertain distance and differing radial velocities compared to the rest of the stars in Stephenson 2 have caused some authors to consider the star as a red supergiant unrelated to Stephenson 2 or any of the red supergiant clusters at the base of the Scutum–Centaurus Arm.


title: Stephenson 2-18

text: Based on current stellar models and theories on stellar evolution, Stephenson 2-18 is said to be on the edge of shedding its outer layers, after which it may evolve towards hotter temperatures (blueward) into a luminous blue variable or a Wolf–Rayet star.


title: Voice type

text: A voice type is a group of voices with similar vocal ranges, capable of singing in a similar tessitura, and with similar vocal transition points ("passaggi"). Voice classification is most strongly associated with European classical music, though it, and the terms it utilizes, are used in other styles of music as well.


title: Voice type

text: A singer will choose a repertoire that suits their voice. Some singers such as Enrico Caruso, Rosa Ponselle, Joan Sutherland, Maria Callas, Jessye Norman, Ewa Podleś, and Plácido Domingo have voices that allow them to sing roles from a wide variety of types; some singers such as Shirley Verrett and Grace Bumbry change type and even voice part over their careers; and some singers such as Leonie Rysanek have voices that lower with age, causing them to cycle through types over their careers. Some roles are hard to classify, having very unusual vocal requirements; Mozart wrote many of his roles for specific singers who often had remarkable voices, and some of Verdi's early works make extreme demands on their singers.


title: Voice type

text: Many different voice types are used in vocal pedagogy in a variety of voice classification systems. Most of these types, however, are grouped into seven major voice categories that are, for the most part, acknowledged across the major voice classification systems. Women are typically divided into three groups: soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto. Men are usually divided into four groups: countertenor, tenor, baritone, and bass. When considering the pre-pubescent voice, an eighth term, treble, is applied. Within each of these major categories, subcategories identify specific vocal qualities such as coloratura facility and vocal weight to differentiate between voices. The vocal range of classical performance covers about five octaves, from a low G (in scientific pitch notation) to a high G, although the extremes are rare. More commonly the range is from a low C to a high D. Any individual's voice can perform over a range of one and a half to more than two octaves. Vocal ranges are grouped into overlapping types that each span about two octaves. Many singers fall between groups and can perform some parts in either type.


title: Voice type

text: Soprano range: The soprano is the highest singing voice. The typical soprano voice lies between C (middle C) and C ("high C"). The low extreme for sopranos is roughly A (just below middle C). Most soprano roles do not extend above C although there are several standard soprano roles that call for D. At the highest extreme, some coloratura soprano roles may reach to G (the G above "high C").


title: Voice type

text: Soprano tessitura: The tessitura of the soprano voice lies higher than all the other voices except the sopranino. In particular, the coloratura soprano has the highest tessitura of all the soprano subtypes.


title: Voice type

text: Soprano subtypes: As with all voice types, sopranos are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of voice, and dexterity of the voice. Sopranos are often broken down into five subcategories: coloratura soprano, soubrette, lyric soprano, spinto soprano, and dramatic soprano.


title: Voice type

text: Two types of soprano especially dear to the French are the "Dugazon" and the "Falcon", which are intermediate voice types between the soprano and the mezzo-soprano. A "Dugazon" is a darker-colored soubrette. A "Falcon" is a darker-colored soprano drammatico.


title: Voice type

text: Mezzo-soprano range: The mezzo-soprano voice is the middle-range voice type for females; it lies between the soprano and contralto ranges, over-lapping both of them. The typical range of this voice is between A (the A below middle C) to A (two octaves higher). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to F (the F below middle C) and as high as C ("high C").


title: Voice type

text: Mezzo-soprano tessitura: Although this voice overlaps both the contralto and soprano voices, the tessitura of the mezzo-soprano is lower than that of the soprano and higher than that of the contralto.


title: Voice type

text: Mezzo-soprano subtypes: Mezzo-sopranos are often broken down into three subcategories: lyric mezzo-soprano, coloratura mezzo-soprano and dramatic mezzo-soprano.


title: Voice type

text: Contralto range: The contralto voice is the lowest female voice. A true operatic contralto is rare, so much so that often roles intended for contralto are performed by mezzo-sopranos. The typical contralto range lies between F (the F below middle C) to F (the second F above middle C). In the lower and upper extremes some contralto voices can sing from D (the D below middle C) to B (the second B-flat above), one whole step short of the soprano "high C".


title: Voice type

text: Contralto subtypes: Contraltos are often broken down into three subcategories: coloratura contralto, lyric contralto, and dramatic contralto. A soprano sfogato is a contralto who has an extended high range reaching the soprano "high C".


title: Voice type

text: While the countertenor is almost universally recognized as a voice category, it is not a voice type in the strictest sense. Except for a few very rare voices (such as the American male soprano Michael Maniaci or singers with a disorder such as Kallmann syndrome), countertenors generally sing in the falsetto register, sometimes using their modal voice for the lowest notes. The countertenor voice is therefore a product of the application of a specific technical approach, not the result of the biological factors which have long been credited with determining the other voice types included on this list. These factors include vocal-fold length, thickness, and other elements of laryngeal proportions. All countertenors, save those rare examples previously mentioned, also fall into the traditional male voice categories, such as tenor and bass.


title: Voice type

text: Countertenor range: The countertenor is the highest male voice. Many countertenor singers perform roles originally written for a castrato in baroque operas. Historically, there is much evidence that the countertenor, in England at least, also designated a very high tenor voice, the equivalent of the French "haute-contre". Until about 1830, all male voices used some falsetto-type voice production in their upper range. Countertenor voices span a broad range, covering E to E.


title: Voice type

text: Countertenors are often broken down into three subcategories: sopranist or "male soprano", the "haute-contre", and the castrato. The last actual castrato singer, Alessandro Moreschi, died in 1922.


title: Voice type

text: Tenor range: The tenor is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C (one octave below middle C) to C (one octave above middle C). The low extreme for tenors is roughly A (the second A-flat below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to F (the second F above middle C).


title: Voice type

text: Tenor tessitura: The tessitura of the tenor voice lies above the baritone voice and below the countertenor voice. The "Tenorino" has the highest tessitura of all the tenor subtypes.


title: Voice type

text: Tenor subtypes: Tenors are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of the voice, and dexterity of the voice. Tenors are often broken down into eight subcategories: "Tenorino", "tenore contraltino", "leggero" tenor or "tenore di grazia", lyric tenor, spinto tenor or "tenore spinto", dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and baritenor. Famous tenors include Enrico Caruso, Juan Diego Flórez, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras.


title: Voice type

text: Baritone range: The baritone voice is the middle-range voice type for males; it lies between the bass and tenor ranges, overlapping both of them. The typical baritone range is from A (the second A below middle C) to A (the A above middle C). A baritone's range might extend down to F (the second F below middle C) or up to C (one octave above middle C). The baritone voice type is the most common male voice.


title: Voice type

text: Baritone tessitura: Although this voice range overlaps both the tenor and bass ranges, the tessitura of the baritone is lower than that of the tenor and higher than that of the bass.


title: Voice type

text: Baritone subtypes: Baritones are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of the voice, and dexterity of the voice. Baritones are often broken down into nine subcategories: baryton-Martin, lyric baritone, bel canto or coloratura baritone, "kavalierbariton", heldenbaritone, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, "baryton-noble", and bass-baritone.


title: Voice type

text: Bass range: The bass is the lowest singing voice. The bass voice has the lowest tessitura of all the voices. The typical bass range lies between E (the second E below middle C) to E (the E above middle C). In the lower and upper extremes of the bass voice, some basses can sing from C (two octaves below middle C) to G (the G above middle C).


title: Voice type

text: Bass subtypes: Basses are often divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal color or timbre, the weight of the voice, and dexterity of the voice. Basses are often broken down into six subcategories: basso profondo, basso buffo, bel canto bass, basso cantante, dramatic bass, and bass-baritone.


title: Voice type

text: A human voice will alter as a person gets older. The vocal range and timbre of children's voices do not have the variety that adults' voices have. Both sexes before puberty have a similar vocal range and timbre because both groups have a similar larynx size and weight and a similar vocal cord structure and color. With the onset of puberty, women's, and particularly men's, voices alter as the vocal ligaments become more defined and the laryngeal cartilages harden. The height of the male larynx becomes much greater than in women. Size and development of adult lungs also changes physical capabilities of the voice. During puberty, the human voice is in an in-between phase where it is not quite a child's voice nor an adult one yet. This is not to suggest that the voice stops changing after puberty. Different singers will reach adult development earlier or later than others, and as stated above, there are continual changes throughout adulthood.


title: Voice type

text: Treble can refer to either a young female or young male singer with an unchanged voice in the mezzo-soprano range. Initially, the term was associated with boy sopranos but as the inclusion of girls into children's choirs became acceptable in the 20th century the term has expanded to refer to all pre-pubescent voices. The lumping of children's voices into one category is also practical, as boys and girls share a similar range and timbre.


title: Voice type

text: Most trebles have an approximate range from A (the A below middle C) to C ("top C") or above. For high notes see, for example, the treble solo at the beginning of Stanford's Magnificat in G, David Willcocks' descant to Mendelssohn's tune for the carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", and the even higher treble solo in the "Nunc dimittis" from Tippett's evening canticles written for St John's College, Cambridge. Many trebles are also able to reach higher notes by use of the whistle register but this practice is rarely called for in performance.


title: Voice type

text: Vocal pedagogues generally consider four main qualities of a human voice when attempting to classify it: vocal range, tessitura, timbre, and vocal transition points known as "passaggio". However, teachers may also consider physical characteristics, speech level, scientific testing, and other factors such as vocal register. Voice classification into the correct voice type is important for vocal pedagogues and singers as a guiding tool for the development of the voice.


title: Voice type

text: Misclassification of a singer's voice type is dangerous. It can damage the vocal cords, shorten a singing career, and lead to the loss of both vocal beauty and free vocal production. Some of these dangers are not immediate ones; the human voice is quite resilient, especially in early adulthood, and the damage may not make its appearance for months or even years. Unfortunately, this lack of apparent immediate harm can cause singers to develop bad habits that will over time cause irreparable damage to the voice. Singing outside the natural vocal range imposes a serious strain upon the voice. Clinical evidence indicates that singing at a pitch level that is either too high or too low creates vocal pathology. According to vocal pedagogue Margaret Greene, "The need for choosing the correct natural range of the voice is of great importance in singing since the outer ends of the singing range need very careful production and should not be overworked, even in trained voices." Singing at either extreme of the range may be damaging, but the possibility of damage seems to be much more prevalent in too high a classification. Medical evidence indicates that singing at too high of a pitch level may lead to the development of vocal disorders such as vocal cord nodules. Increasing tension on the vocal cords is one of the means of raising pitch. Singing above an individual's best tessitura keeps the vocal cords under a great deal of unnecessary tension for long periods of time, and the possibility of vocal abuse is greatly increased. Singing at too low a pitch level is not as likely to be damaging unless a singer tries to force the voice down.


title: Voice type

text: Many vocal pedagogues warn of the dangers of quick identification. Premature concern with classification can result in misclassification, with all its attendant dangers. Vocal pedagogue William Vennard has stated:


title: Voice type

text: Most vocal pedagogues believe that it is essential to establish good vocal habits within a limited and comfortable range before attempting to classify the voice. When techniques of posture, breathing, phonation, resonation, and articulation have become established in this comfortable area, the true quality of the voice will emerge and the upper and lower limits of the range can be explored safely. Only then can a tentative classification be arrived at, and it may be adjusted as the voice continues to develop. Many vocal pedagogues suggest that teachers begin by assuming that a voice is of a medium classification until it proves otherwise. The reason for this is that the majority of individuals possess medium voices and therefore this approach is less likely to mis-classify or damage the voice.


title: Voice type

text: Unlike other classification systems, choral music divides voices solely on the basis of vocal range. Choral music most commonly divides vocal parts into soprano, alto, tenor and bass (SATB). As a result, the typical chorus affords many opportunities for misclassification to occur. Since most people have medium voices, they are often assigned a part that is either too high or too low for them; the mezzo-soprano must sing soprano or alto and the baritone must sing tenor or bass. Either option can present problems for the singer, but for most singers there are fewer dangers in singing too low than in singing too high.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: "Over the Rainbow" is a ballad by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz", in which it was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: About five minutes into the film, Dorothy sings the song after failing to get Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and the farmhands to listen to her story of an unpleasant incident involving her dog, Toto, and the town spinster, Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton). Aunt Em tells her to "find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble". This prompts her to walk off by herself, musing to Toto, "Someplace where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain", at which point she begins singing.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Yip Harburg often worked in tandem, Harburg generally suggesting an idea or title for Arlen to set to music, before Harburg contributed the lyrics. For their work together on "The Wizard of Oz", Harburg claimed his inspiration was "a ballad for a little girl who... was in trouble and... wanted to get away from... Kansas. A dry, arid, colorless place. She had never seen anything colorful in her life except the rainbow". Arlen decided the idea needed "a melody with a long broad line".


title: Over the Rainbow

text: By the time all the other songs for the film had been written, Arlen was feeling the pressure of not having the song for the Kansas scene. He often carried blank pieces of music manuscript in his pockets to jot down short melodic ideas. Arlen described how the inspiration for the melody to "Over the Rainbow" came to him suddenly while his wife Anya drove:


title: Over the Rainbow

text: "I said to Mrs. Arlen... 'let's go to Grauman's Chinese ... You drive the car, I don't feel too well right now.' I wasn't thinking of work. I wasn't consciously thinking of work, I just wanted to relax. And as we drove by Schwab's Drug Store on Sunset I said, 'Pull over, please.' ... And we stopped and I really don't know why—bless the muses—and I took out my little bit of manuscript and put down what you know now as 'Over the Rainbow.'"


title: Over the Rainbow

text: The song was originally sung in A-flat major. Arlen later wrote the contrasting bridge section based on the idea of "a child's piano exercise".


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Italian newspaper "Il Messaggero" has noted a resemblance, both harmonic and melodic, between "Over the Rainbow" and the theme of the intermezzo (known as Ratcliff's Dream) of Pietro Mascagni's 1895 opera "Guglielmo Ratcliff".


title: Over the Rainbow

text: On October 7, 1938, Judy Garland recorded the song on the MGM soundstage with an arrangement by Murray Cutter. In September 1939, a studio recording of the song, not from the film soundtrack, was recorded and released as a single for Decca. In March 1940, that same recording was included on a Decca 78 four-record studio cast album entitled "The Wizard of Oz". Although this isn't the version that appeared in the film, Decca continued to release the "cast album" into the 1960s after it was reissued on disc, a 33-rpm album.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: The film version of "Over the Rainbow" was unavailable to the public until the soundtrack was released by MGM in 1956 to coincide with the television premiere of "The Wizard of Oz". The soundtrack version has been re-released several times over the years, including a deluxe edition by Rhino in 1995.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: After "The Wizard of Oz" appeared in 1939, "Over the Rainbow" became Garland's signature song. She performed it for thirty years and sang it as she had for the film. She said she wanted to remain true to the character of Dorothy and to the message of being somewhere over the rainbow.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: An introductory verse ("When all the world is a hopeless jumble...") that was omitted from the film is sometimes used in theatrical productions of "The Wizard of Oz" and is included in the piano sheet music from the film. It was used in versions by Tony Bennett, Al Bowlly, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Mandy Patinkin, Trisha Yearwood, Melissa Manchester, Hilary Kole, Jewel, and Norma Waterson. Judy Garland sang the introductory verse at least once, on a 1948 radio broadcast of "The Louella Parsons Show". Lyrics for a second verse ("Once by a word only lightly spoken...") appeared in the British edition of the sheet music.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: In March 2017, "Over the Rainbow" sung by Judy Garland was entered in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as music that is "culturally, historically, or artistically significant". The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) ranked it number one on their Songs of the Century list. The American Film Institute named it best movie song on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: "Over the Rainbow" was given the Towering Song Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was sung at its dinner on June 12, 2014, by Jackie Evancho. In April 2005, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring Yip Harburg that includes a lyric.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: It was sent as an audio wakeup call to astronauts aboard the STS-88 space shuttle mission on Flight Day 4, dedicated to astronaut Robert D. Cabana by his daughter Sara.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: According to his family, Gene Wilder died while listening to "Over the Rainbow" sung by Ella Fitzgerald, one of his favorite songs.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: The first German version in the English language was recorded by the Swing Orchestra Heinz Wehner (1908–1945) in March 1940 in Berlin. Wehner, at this time a well-known international German swing artist, also took over the vocals. The first German version in German language was sung by Inge Brandenburg (1929–1999) in 1960.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: On the album "Facing Future" (1993), Israel Kamakawiwoʻole included "Over the Rainbow" in a ukulele medley with "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. Kamakawiwoʻole called the recording studio at 3a.m. He was given 15 minutes to arrive by Milan Bertosa. Bertosa said, "And in walks the largest human being I had seen in my life. Israel was probably like 500 pounds. And the first thing at hand is to find something for him to sit on." A security guard gave Israel a large steel chair. "Then I put up some microphones, do a quick sound check, roll tape, and the first thing he does is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' He played and sang, one take, and it was over."


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Kamakawiwoʻole's version reached number 12 on the "Billboard" Hot Digital Tracks chart during the week of January 31, 2004 (for the survey week ending January 18, 2004). In the U.S., it was certified Platinum for 1,000,000 downloads sold. As of October 2014 it had sold over 4.2 million digital copies.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: In the UK his version was released as a single under the title "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". It entered the UK Official Singles Chart in April 2007 at number 68. In Germany, the single also returned to the German Singles Chart in September 2010. After two weeks on that chart, it received gold status for selling 150,000 copies. In October 2010, it reached number one on the German charts. In 2011 was certified 5× gold for selling over 750,000 copies. It stayed 12 non-consecutive weeks at the top spot and was the most successful single in Germany in 2010. In March 2010 it was the second best-selling download in Germany with digital sales between 500,000 and 600,000. In France, it debuted at number four in December 2010 and reached number one. In Switzerland, it received Platinum status for 30,000 copies sold.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Kamakawiwoʻole's version of "Over the Rainbow" has been used in commercials, films and television programs, including "50 First Dates", "Charmed", "Cold Case", "ER", "Finding Forrester", "Horizon", "Life on Mars", "Meet Joe Black", "Scrubs", "Snakes on a Plane", "Son of the Mask", and the television series "South Pacific". The Kamakawiwoʻole version was sung by the cast of "Glee" on the season one finale "Journey" and included on "," charting at number 30 in the UK, 31 in Canada and Ireland, 42 in Australia, and 43 in the U.S.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Eva Cassidy recorded a version of the song for "The Other Side" (1992). After her death in 1996, it was included on the posthumous compilation "Songbird" (1998). In December 2000, a clip of Cassidy performing the song was featured on the BBC2 program "Top of the Pops 2". Following the premiere, it became the program's most-requested video in history, and demand for the album soared after the clip was re-aired in January 2001. The song was subsequently released as a single the same month, on January 29.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: "Over the Rainbow" debuted at number 88 on the UK Singles Chart in February 2001 and climbed to number 42 in May, becoming Cassidy's first single to chart in the United Kingdom. In Scotland, it reached number 36, giving Cassidy her first top-40 single in that region. It was her highest-charting song in the United Kingdom until 2007, when "What a Wonderful World" reached number one. The song also reached number 27 in Ireland in December, becoming her only top-40 hit in that country.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Cassidy's recording was selected by the BBC for its "Songs of the Century" album in 1999. Her performance at Blues Alley appeared on the album "Simply Eva" (2011).


title: Over the Rainbow

text: On 3 December 2001, the British singer Cliff Richard recorded a cover of the mashup "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"/"What a Wonderful World" on his album "Wanted". At the time of release the official website for the album explained that it consisted of "hits Cliff's always 'Wanted' to record." The album is primarily made up of cover songs, including songs by artists such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Carole King and Tina Turner. The inspiration for the album came when Richard was sent a copy of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's recording of "Over the Rainbow" combined with "What a Wonderful World" weeks into the year 2000 and he knew immediately he wanted to record it.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: The mashup reggae-themed track with a lot of similarities to the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole arrangement was released as the debut single from the album "Wanted" and charted on the UK Singles Chart peaking at number 11 and stayed for 6 weeks in the British charts. Richard premiered it on the "Open House with Gloria Hunniford" on 6 November 2001. On the date of release of the single on 3 December 2001, he was invited to the ITV programme "This Morning" to perform it live. He also performed it at the Premier Christmas Spectacular at Methodist Westminster Central Hall in London on 14 December 2001.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Danielle Hope, the winner of the BBC talent show "Over the Rainbow", released a cover version of the song as a digital download on May 23, 2010, and a single on May 31, 2010. As it was recorded before a winner was announced, runners-up Lauren Samuels and Sophie Evans also recorded versions.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: American singer Ariana Grande released a version of the song on June 6, 2017, to raise money at her benefit concert One Love Manchester after 22 people were killed in the Manchester Arena bombing at Grande's concert on May 22, 2017.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: Grande sang the single for the first time on TV at the One Love Manchester benefit concert on June 4, 2017. It was then added to the setlist of the Dangerous Woman Tour.


title: Over the Rainbow

text: In July 2021, German musician, DJ and record producer Robin Schulz and the German DJ and producer Alle Farben released a mashup "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World" based on Kamakawiwoʻole's version and voice on Sony Music Entertainment, B1/Warner Music. The new remix version has charted in Germany, France and Belgium. A new official video was also released.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: An anime television series adaptation produced by Geno Studio aired with two seasons from April to December 2018. A third season aired from October to December 2020. A fourth season produced by Brain's Base premiered in October 2022. A live-action film adaptation has been announced. The manga has been licensed for an English-language release by Viz Media since 2016. The anime is licensed by Crunchyroll and Funimation.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: As of June 2022, "Golden Kamuy" had over 22 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. The manga won the 9th Manga Taishō in 2016 and the 22nd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2018.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: "Golden Kamuy" takes place in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War, primarily in Hokkaido and the surrounding regions, detailing the many real-life political, technological and cultural developments of the era; several key parts of the series, such as the character Hijikata Toshizō, are fictionalized versions of real-life people and events. Specific focus is given to the indigenous Ainu people and their culture, such as exploring their language and the way they respectfully use all parts of nature to thank the Kamuy that they believe provide them. Later parts of the story also explore the different subcultures within the Ainu, and the hardships they suffered by being caught in Japanese-Russian territorial conflicts. The plot also explores the severe struggles of soldiers and war veterans, with moral ambiguity, survivor's guilt, honour, penance and virtue ethics being common themes.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: The central MacGuffin comes from an in-universe tall tale of a gold discovery by a group of Ainu miners, said to have yielded 20 kan of gold that ended with one man murdering the others. Hiding the gold and racing to tell his comrades, the survivor was discovered and captured by Japanese authorities who falsely claimed his execution and hid him in Abashiri Prison, hoping to torture the location out of him. Hobbled and watched closely to stop him escaping or communicating with the outside world, the survivor tattooed many parts of a ciphered map onto his fellow prisoners, offering them a cut of the gold for sharing it with his comrades outside. Eventually recognizing but unable to read the code, the prison attempted to transport the tattooed men elsewhere, only for the convicts to overpower and kill their captors before scattering into the night.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: Saichi Sugimoto, a veteran of the Battle of 203 Hill, works as a panner in Hokkaido in order to provide for the widow of his dead comrade. Sugimoto is approached by a drunk old man, who tells him a dubious legend of gold that can only be found by following a map of tattoos, ones located on a group of convicts who escaped Abashiri Prison. Laughing off the story as a tall tale, Sugimoto wakes the next day to find the old man pointing his gun at him, apologizing for saying too much. Overpowering the old man, Sugimoto pursues him into the woods, only to find him disemboweled by a bear and with a large map tattoo across his chest, back and shoulders. Saved from the bear by a young Ainu girl named Asirpa, Sugimoto realizes the story is true and suggests they recover the Ainu gold together; Asirpa is uninterested in the gold but wants vengeance for her father, one of the Ainu miners who was betrayed.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: Examining the body, they realize the tattoos have seams, meaning that the prisoners were always intended to be murdered and skinned; due to her opposition to needless killing, Asirpa suggests they try to co-operate with prisoners they find by simply tracing their tattoos. Soon recruiting Shiraishi, an escape artist and tattooed convict, Sugimoto's group soon finds themselves in conflicts with First Lieutenant Tsurumi, the insane leader of the 7th Division, and Hijikata, who is touted as the last living samurai. Due to the significant allure of the gold, as well as the traitorous nature of multiple parties, each group routinely forms and betrays truces to prevent any one party collecting all tattoos and deciphering the map.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: Written and illustrated by Satoru Noda, "Golden Kamuy" was serialized in Shueisha's "seinen" manga magazine "Weekly Young Jump" from August 21, 2014, to April 28, 2022. Its 314 individual chapters were collected into thirty-one "tankōbon" volumes, released between January 19, 2015 and July 19, 2022.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: Viz Media announced that they licensed the manga at New York Comic Con 2016, and they have been releasing volumes in North America since June 2017.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: The anime television series adaptation is produced by Geno Studio. It is directed by Hitoshi Nanba and written by Noboru Takagi, with music by Kenichiro Suehiro, art direction by Atsushi Morikawa, and CG direction by Yuuko Okumura and Yasutaka Hamada. Kenichi Ohnuki is adapting the character designs for animation, while Koji Watanabe designs firearms, Shinya Anasuma designs the props, and Ryō Sumiyoshi designs the animals. The series' opening theme, "Winding Road", is performed by Man with a Mission, and the ending theme, "Hibana", is performed by The Sixth Lie. Like with the manga, Hiroshi Nakagawa, an Ainu language linguist from Chiba University, works on the anime as an Ainu language supervisor.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: The anime was announced in July 2017 in "Weekly Young Jump", and aired for twelve episodes starting from April 9 to June 25, 2018, on Tokyo MX, ytv, STV, and BS11. "Golden Dōga Gekijō", a series of 25-second animated shorts based on extras included in the "Golden Kamuy" manga volumes and "Weekly Young Jump", is directed by Kenshirō Morii and produced at DMM.futureworks and W-Toon Studio. It premiered online on April 16, 2018.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: At the conclusion of the first season broadcast, a second season was announced and aired from October 8 to December 24, 2018. The second season's opening theme, "Reimei", is performed by Sayuri and My First Story, and the ending theme, "Tokeidai no Kane", is performed by Eastern Youth.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: On July 7, 2019, it was announced that the series will receive a third season. On March 13, 2020, it was announced that the third season would premiere in October 2020. The season aired from October 5 to December 21, 2020, for 12 episodes. The third season's opening theme, "Grey," is performed by Fomare, and the ending theme "Yūsetsu", is performed by The Sixth Lie.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: On December 5, 2021, it was announced that the series will receive a fourth season. Brain's Base is producing the season, replacing Geno Studio. Shizutaka Sugahara is serving as the chief director, and Takumi Yamakawa is designing the characters. Noboru Takagi is returning to write the scripts. The season premiered on October 3, 2022. The opening theme, "Never Say Goodbye," is performed by ALI featuring Mummy-D, while the ending theme, "Subete ga Soko ni Arimasu You Ni," is performed by The Spellbound.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: The first season of the series was released across three DVD and Blu-ray volumes in Japan, starting in July 2018; they had originally been planned to release starting in June, but were delayed one month to allow for improvements to the footage compared to the TV broadcast version. The Japanese home video volumes include the "Golden Dōga Gekijō" YouTube shorts, including episodes that are exclusive to the video release. An original video animation (OVA) based on the manga's "Barato" arc was released on DVD in a bundle with the manga's 15th Japanese volume on September 19, 2018. A second OVA was released with the manga's 17th Japanese volume on March 19, 2019. A third OVA based on the manga's "Monster" arc was released with the manga's 19th Japanese volume on September 19, 2019. A fourth OVA based on the manga's "Shiton Animal Record" arc was bundled with the 23rd manga volume on September 18, 2020.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: The TV series is simulcast on Crunchyroll, and an English dub started streaming on Funimation starting on April 30, 2018. Crunchyroll streamed the third season in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Funimation streamed the third season with an English dub later.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: "Golden Kamuy" won the 9th Manga Taishō award in 2016. It was nominated for the 20th and 21st annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2016 and 2017; and won the 22nd in 2018 in the Grand Prize category. It was also nominated for the 40th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category; and for an Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia. It was ranked second in the 2016 edition of the "Kono Manga ga Sugoi!" list for male readers. The series won the Social Impact Award at the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2021. The series also won the Grand Prize at the 51st Japan Cartoonists Association Awards in 2022.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: The British Museum in London used an image of the character Asirpa to promote "", which ran from May 23 to August 26, 2019.


title: Golden Kamuy

text: "Golden Kamuy" had five million copies in print as of April 2018. It charted on the Oricon Japanese Comics Rankings for the week of April 18–24, 2016, with volume seven placing eighth place. As of June 2019, the manga had 10 million copies in circulation; over 17 million copies in circulation as of August 2021; over 18 million copies in circulation as of December 2021; and over 22 million copies in circulation as of June 2022.


title: Jessica Hahn

text: Jessica Hahn (born July 7, 1959) is an American model and actress. She accused televangelist Jim Bakker of rape while she was employed as a church secretary. She frequently appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s.


title: Jessica Hahn

text: Hahn first came to public attention following Jim Bakker's announcement on March 19, 1987, that he was stepping down as head of PTL Satellite Network and Heritage USA, pending the imminent disclosure of a sexual encounter between the two of them. According to Hahn, on the afternoon of December 6, 1980, when she was a 21-year-old church secretary, she was drugged and raped by Bakker and another preacher, John Wesley Fletcher. Hahn was given a $279,000 () pay-off for her silence, which was paid with PTL's funds to Hahn through Bakker associate Roe Messner. Bakker, who made all of the financial decisions for the PTL organization, allegedly kept two sets of books to conceal the accounting irregularities. Reporters from "The Charlotte Observer", led by Charles Shepard, investigated and published a series of articles regarding the PTL organization's finances. This precipitated Bakker's resignation and the publication of Hahn's claims. In his 1997 book, "I Was Wrong", Bakker disputed Hahn's account, claiming that he was "set up" and that the sex was consensual.


title: Jessica Hahn

text: After the public revelation of the Bakker scandal, Hahn posed nude for "Playboy" (November 1987, December 1987 and September 1988) and videos and appeared in several television shows, including "Married... with Children". She was also known for her frequent appearances on "The Howard Stern Show" throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s.


title: Jessica Hahn

text: Hahn was born in Massapequa, New York and graduated from Massapequa High School. She had a relationship with comedian Sam Kinison and appeared in his music video for "Wild Thing" in 1988. In 1991, she began a relationship with the co-creator of "Married...with Children", Ron Leavitt, which continued until his death in 2008.


title: Jessica Hahn

text: In December 2017, Hahn disclosed that she is married to Frank Lloyd (a film stuntman), is no longer active in show business, and lives on a ranch north of Los Angeles. Hahn remains a committed Christian.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: Chrisley Knows Best is an American reality television series that premiered on the USA Network on March 11, 2014. It revolves around the lives of Georgia real estate tycoon Todd Chrisley and his wealthy family. The show was filmed in Roswell and Alpharetta, suburbs of Atlanta, before moving primarily to Nashville during the fourth season. "Growing Up Chrisley", a spin-off focusing on Chase and Savannah Chrisley, premiered in 2019. In June 2022, Todd Chrisley and his wife Julie Chrisley were found guilty on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion and submitting false documents to banks to take out loans and fund their lavish lifestyle. In November 2022, the couple was sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison. The series was cancelled due to the scandal.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: The series was pitched to ten networks, nine of them made offers to buy it. USA Network picked up the series in December 2013. The series was executive produced by Adam Greener, Jim Sayer, and Stephanie Chambers. Maverick TV and All3Media America were the production companies behind the series. The series producers had access to the Chrisleys' schedule and decided which events to film. The family stated that being on television made them think twice before doing things, both on and off-camera. Julie said, "People are watching, people are looking at you. Whether that be good or bad, they're gonna catch it all."


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: On April 14, 2014, the USA Network ordered a 12-episode second season of "Chrisley Knows Best." At the time the series garnered more young viewers than any other original program on USA Network, with a median age of 36.5 years among viewers. The series aired its 100th episode in June 2018.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: On August 13, 2019, during the seventh season of the show, Todd and Julie were indicted by the Georgia Department of Revenue on multiple tax evasion and bank fraud charges. They turned themselves in on August 14 and were later released on a $100,000 bond. Despite the charges, the series was renewed for an eighth season. The couple settled the case with the Georgia Department of Revenue but still faced multiple federal charges including tax evasion. The federal trial began on May 17, 2022, and ended on June 7; they were convicted on each of the charges against them. On November 21, 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to 12 and 7 years in prison respectively. The series and a spin-off "Growing Up Chrisley", were cancelled. A handful of episodes from the previously-renewed tenth season which were filmed prior to the trial will air on USA Network in 2023.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: "Chrisley Knows Best" is broadcast on USA Network in the United States. In the UK, it airs on ITVBe. "Chrisley Knows Best" reruns can be seen on E!, USA Network, Bravo, and video on demand.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: In Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland the first two seasons can be streamed on Netflix. In the United States, all seasons of "Chrisley Knows Best" can be streamed on Hulu + Live TV and Peacock.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: "Chrisley Knows Best" received "mixed or average" reviews according to Metacritic, based on five reviews from the first two seasons. Tom Gliatto and Liza Hamm of "People" gave a positive review, saying "This is the best 'family' reality series since "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" or even "The Osbournes" from several centuries ago." Hillary Busis of "Entertainment Weekly" gave a mixed review, saying "If you can get past the canned lines and sub-sitcom storylines, the Chrisley crew can be fun".


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: Brian Lowry of "Variety" gave the show a mixed review, stating that it is "intended to elicit sniggering" regarding Todd Chrisley's "'flamboyant'" personality. In his review of the show's second season, Lowry described it as "a throwback that recycles old sitcom plots, under the guise of an unscripted series".


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: From 2015 to 2017, the series won the NATPE's Reality Breakthrough award for best docusoap. In 2016, it was nominated at the 22nd Critics' Choice Awards for "Best Unstructured Reality Series", but lost to "".


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: In July 2022, Matt Roush, a television critic for "TV Insider" publicly expressed his disgust over the show's return the previous month in light of Todd and Julie's recent criminal convictions.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: Todd was busy in 2015 developing a talk-show with USA Network; he mentioned early plans for a spin-off that would focus on Chase and Savannah.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: In August 2017, it was announced that USA Network had ordered a half-hour after show titled "According to Chrisley". "According to Chrisley" is hosted by Todd and features him "tackling the truth about marriage, parenting, sex and relationships." Each episode also features a member of the Chrisley family and a celebrity guest. The show premiered on September 12, 2017. It was cancelled after one season due to poor ratings.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: On October 3, 2017, USA Network's website launched "What's Cooking With Julie Chrisley", a 10-episode web series with Julie sharing her favorite recipes.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: In January 2019, it was announced that Chase and Savannah would star in their own spin-off titled "Growing Up Chrisley". The show follows the two as they "embark on a road trip from Nashville to Los Angeles to prove their independence". It premiered on April 2, 2019, on the USA Network. The second season of the show premiered on August 6, 2019. The third season premiered on E! August 12, 2021. The series was cancelled alongside "Chrisley Knows Best" in November 2022. The cancellation happened a month after "Growing Up Chrisley"'s fourth season aired.


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: In August 2018, iHeartRadio released the trailer and first episode of Todd and Julie's podcast titled "Chrisley Confessions."


title: Chrisley Knows Best

text: In May 2022, E! greenlit the dating series "Love Limo". It would have been hosted by Todd Chrisley, who also would have been the executive producer. On the show Chrisley would have tried to help single people form relationships through speed dating. In November 2022, the series was scrapped.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Randall Claude Weaver (January 3, 1948 – May 11, 2022) was an American survivalist, former Iowa factory worker, and self-proclaimed white separatist. He was a central actor in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff at his cabin near Naples, Idaho, that resulted in the deaths of his wife and son. Weaver was charged with murder, conspiracy, and assault as well as other crimes. He was acquitted of most of the charges, but was convicted of failing to appear in court on a previous weapons charge and sentenced to 18 months in prison. His family eventually received a total of $3,100,000 in compensation for the killing of his wife and son by federal agents.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Randy Weaver was born on January 3, 1948, to Clarence and Wilma Weaver, a farming couple in Villisca, Iowa. He was one of four children. The Weavers were deeply religious and had difficulty finding a denomination that matched their views; they often moved around among Evangelical, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches.


title: Randy Weaver

text: After graduating from Jefferson High School in 1966, he attended Iowa Central Community College before dropping out in 1968 after enlisting in the United States Army during the height of the Vietnam War and assigned to a Special Forces unit the Green Berets in a support role. He was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.


title: Randy Weaver

text: In 1970, Weaver returned to his hometown for a visit while on leave. During this leave, he first met his future wife, Victoria "Vicki" Jordison, introducing himself as "Pete", rather than his "hated" given name Randall. By the time he was honorably discharged from the military, he had attained the rank of sergeant.


title: Randy Weaver

text: A month after leaving the Army, Randy Weaver and Vicki Jordison married in a ceremony at the First Congregationalist Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in November 1971. After a semester at the University of Northern Iowa, Randy dropped out after finding well-paying work at a local John Deere factory. Vicki worked first as a secretary and then as a homemaker.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Partially as a result of reading the 1978 book "The Late Great Planet Earth," the couple began to harbor more fundamentalist beliefs, with Vicki believing that the apocalypse was imminent. To follow Vicki's vision of her family surviving the apocalypse away from what they saw as a corrupt civilization, the Weaver family moved to a property in remote Boundary County, Idaho, in 1983 and built a cabin there. They paid $5,000 in cash and traded their moving truck for the land, valued at $500 an acre.


title: Randy Weaver

text: In 1988, Weaver decided to run for county sheriff using the slogan "Get out of jail – free" and was adamant about his decision not to pay taxes.


title: Randy Weaver

text: While the Weavers subscribed to ideas that broadly fell under the category of Christian Identity, their beliefs were still different. Like many in that movement, Vicki Weaver developed a set of beliefs following Old Covenant Laws, and the family referred to God as Yahweh.


title: Randy Weaver

text: In 1989, Weaver met Kenneth Fadeley at an Aryan Nations meeting. Fadeley was actually an undercover ATF agent investigating the Aryan Nation complex under the alias "Gus Magisano". Weaver agreed to sell Fadeley two sawed-off shotguns. In December 1990, Weaver received felony weapons charges in connection with the 1989 transaction. During the initial encounter with Fadeley, the Weaver family relocated from a rental house to a cabin near Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in the Selkirk mountains. After charges were pressed against her husband, Vicki Weaver wrote to U.S. Attorney Maurice O. Ellsworth, addressing him as "Servant of the Queen of Babylon" and writing, "The stink of your lawless government has reached Heaven, the abode of Yahweh our Yashua", and "Whether we live or whether we die, we will not bow to your evil commandments."


title: Randy Weaver

text: At the time of the Ruby Ridge siege, the Weavers had four children: Sara, 16; Samuel, 14; Rachel, 10; and Elisheba, 10 months. Vicki homeschooled the children.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Ruby Ridge was the site of an 11-day siege in 1992 in Boundary County, Idaho, near Naples. It began on August 21, when deputies of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) initiated action to apprehend and arrest Randy Weaver under a bench warrant after his failure to appear on a firearms charge. He had attempted to sell a pair of illegal sawed-off shotguns to a federal informer within the Aryan Nation white supremacist group. Weaver refused to surrender and remained at home with his family and friend Kevin Harris. The Hostage Rescue Team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI HRT) became involved as the siege developed.


title: Randy Weaver

text: During the Marshals Service reconnoiter of the Weaver property, six Marshals encountered Harris and Sammy Weaver, Randy's 14-year-old son, in woods near the family cabin. A shootout took place. Marshals shot the Weaver's dog Striker, then shot Sammy Weaver in the back as he ran away, killing him. During the firefight, Harris shot Deputy U.S. Marshal William Francis Degan in the chest, resulting in Degan's death.


title: Randy Weaver

text: On August 22, 1992 FBI sniper/observers in the Hostage Rescue Team were dispatched to Ruby Ridge. The team used specified "Rules of Engagement" which allowed them to shoot any armed adult male exiting the cabin.


title: Randy Weaver

text: In the subsequent siege of the Weaver residence, led by the FBI, Weaver's wife Vicki was shot and killed by an FBI sniper while standing in her home holding her 10-month-old daughter. Harris was critically wounded and almost died during the subsequent standoff. Weaver was shot once; he was not holding a weapon at the time. All casualties occurred in the first two days of the operation. The siege and standoff were ultimately resolved by civilian negotiator Bo Gritz who was instrumental in getting Weaver to allow Harris to get medical attention. Harris surrendered and was arrested on August 30. Weaver and his three daughters surrendered the next day after being convinced by Gritz that there was no other sensible solution.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Weaver was charged with multiple crimes relating to the Ruby Ridge incident — a total of ten counts, including the original firearms charges. Attorney Gerry Spence handled Weaver's defense, and successfully argued that Weaver's actions were justifiable as self-defense. Spence did not call any witnesses for the defense, rather focusing on attacking the credibility of FBI agents and forensic technicians. The judge dismissed two counts after hearing prosecution witness testimony. The jury acquitted Weaver of all remaining charges except two, one of which the judge set aside. He was found guilty of one count, failure to appear, for which he was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was credited with time served plus an additional three months, and he was then released. Kevin Harris was acquitted of all criminal charges.


title: Randy Weaver

text: In August 1995, the US government avoided trial on a civil lawsuit filed by the Weavers by awarding the three surviving daughters $1,000,000 each, and Randy Weaver $100,000 over the deaths of Sammy and Vicki Weaver.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Weaver testified about his racial beliefs before a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee in 1995, saying, "I'm not a hateful racist as most people understand it. But I believe in the separation of races. We wanted to be separated from the rest of the world, to live in a remote area, to give our children a good place to grow up."


title: Randy Weaver

text: In 1995, Weaver was interviewed by "New York Times" reporter Ken Fuson and expressed regret about not appearing in court for his 1991 gun charge, saying "I'm not totally without fault in this."


title: Randy Weaver

text: In 1998, Weaver published "The Federal Siege at Ruby Ridge: In Our Own Words", which he partly sold in person at gun shows.


title: Randy Weaver

text: On June 18, 2007, Weaver participated in a press conference with tax protesters Edward and Elaine Brown on the front porch of their home in Plainfield, New Hampshire. He declared, "I ain't afraid of dying no more. I'm curious about the afterlife, and I'm an atheist."


title: Randy Weaver

text: Weaver's daughter Sara posted online that he had died on May 11, 2022, after being sick since at least mid-April. A cause of death was not given. He was 74 years old.


title: Randy Weaver

text: Randy Weaver and the siege at Ruby Ridge have been the focus of several documentaries including the following:


title: Khufu

text: Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented.


title: Khufu

text: The only completely preserved portrait of the king is a three-inch high ivory figurine found in a temple ruin of a later period at Abydos in 1903. All other reliefs and statues were found in fragments, and many buildings of Khufu are lost. Everything known about Khufu comes from inscriptions in his necropolis at Giza and later documents. For example, Khufu is the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus from the 13th dynasty.


title: Khufu

text: Most documents that mention king Khufu were written by ancient Egyptian and Greek historians around 300 BC. Khufu's obituary is presented there in a conflicting way: while the king enjoyed a long-lasting cultural heritage preservation during the period of the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom, the ancient historians Manetho, Diodorus and Herodotus hand down a very negative depiction of Khufu's character. Thanks to these documents, an obscure and critical picture of Khufu's personality persists.


title: Khufu

text: Khufu's name was dedicated to the god Khnum, which might point to an increase of Khnum's popularity and religious importance. In fact, several royal and religious titles introduced at this time may point out that Egyptian pharaohs sought to accentuate their divine origin and status by dedicating their official cartouche names to certain deities. Khufu may have viewed himself as a divine creator, a role that was already given to Khnum, the god of creation and growth. As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. Khufu's full name (Khnum-khufu) means "Khnum protect me". While modern Egyptological pronunciation renders his name as "Khufu", at the time of his reign his name was probably pronounced as "Kha(w)yafwi(y)", and during the Hellenized era, "Khewaf(w)".


title: Khufu

text: The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: "Khnum-khuf" and "Khufu". The first (complete) version clearly exhibits Khufu's religious loyalty to Khnum, the second (shorter) version does not. It is unknown as to why the king would use a shortened name version since it hides the name of Khnum and the king's name connection to this god. It might be possible though, that the short name wasn't meant to be connected to any god at all.


title: Khufu

text: Khufu is well-known under his Hellenized name , Khéops or Cheops (, , by Diodorus and Herodotus) and less well-known under another Hellenized name, , Súphis (, , by Manetho). A rare version of the name of Khufu, used by Josephus, is , Sofe (, ). Arab historians, who wrote mystic stories about Khufu and the Giza pyramids, called him Saurid () or Salhuk (سلهوق).


title: Khufu

text: The royal family of Khufu was quite large. It is uncertain if Khufu was actually the biological son of Sneferu. Mainstream Egyptologists believe Sneferu was Khufu's father, but only because it was handed down by later historians that the eldest son or a selected descendant would inherit the throne. In 1925 the tomb of queen Hetepheres I, "G 7000x", was found east of Khufu's pyramid. It contained many precious grave goods, and several inscriptions give her the title "Mut-nesut" (meaning "mother of a king"), together with the name of king Sneferu. Therefore, it seemed clear at first that Hetepheres was the wife of Sneferu, and that they were Khufu's parents. More recently, however, some have doubted this theory, because Hetepheres is not known to have borne the title "Hemet-nesut" (meaning "king's wife"), a title indispensable to confirm a queen's royal status. Instead of the spouse's title, Hetepheres bore only the title "Sat-netjer-khetef" (verbatim: "daughter of his divine body"; symbolically: "king's bodily daughter"), a title mentioned for the first time. As a result, researchers now think Khufu may not have been Sneferu's biological son, but that Sneferu legitimised Khufu's rank and familial position by marriage. By apotheosizing his mother as the daughter of a living god, Khufu's new rank was secured. This theory may be supported by the circumstance that Khufu's mother was buried close to her son and not in the necropolis of her husband, as it was to be expected.


title: Khufu

text: It is still unclear how long Khufu ruled over Egypt, because historically later documents contradict each other and contemporary sources are scarce. The Royal Canon of Turin from the 19th Dynasty however, gives 23 years of rulership for Khufu. The ancient historian Herodotus gives 50 years and the ancient historian Manetho even credits him 63 years of reign. These figures are now considered an exaggeration or a misinterpretation of antiquated sources.


title: Khufu

text: Sources contemporary to Khufu's time give three key pieces of information: One of them was found at the Dakhla Oasis in the Libyan Desert. Khufu's serekh name is carved in a rock inscription reporting the ""Mefat"-travelling in the year after the 13th cattle count under Hor-Medjedu". The second source can be found in the relieving chambers inside Khufu's pyramid above the burial chamber. One of these inscriptions according to Flinders Petrie mentions a workmen's crew named "friends of Khufu" alongside the note "in the year of the 17th cattle count", but it is questioned if the number of years points to a biennial cattle count, or if the number must be taken verbatim. Though Zahi Hawass has reported locating the inscription of the date given by Petrie, there is also some debate whether Petrie may have mistakenly relied on other sources as the inscription has otherwise yet to be found. Newer evidence from Wadi al-Jarf, however, gives a third clue about the true length of reign: Several papyrus fragments contain handwritten reports from a royal harbour at modern-day Wadi al-Jarf. The inscriptions describe the arrival of royal boats with precious ore and turquoise in the "year after the 13th cattle count under Hor-Medjedw". Therefore, Khufu's highest known and certain preserved date is the "Year after the 13th cattle count".


title: Khufu

text: In an attempt to solve the riddle around Khufu's true length of rulership, modern Egyptologists point to Sneferu's reign, when the cattle count was held every second year of a king's rulership. The cattle count as an economic event served the tax collection in the whole of Egypt. Newer evaluation of contemporary documents and the Palermo stone inscription strengthen the theory that the cattle count under Khufu was still performed biennially, not annually, as thought earlier.


title: Khufu

text: Egyptologists such as Thomas Schneider, Michael Haase, and Rainer Stadelmann wonder if the compiler of the Turin Canon actually took into account that the cattle count was performed biennially during the first half of the Old Kingdom period, whilst tax collection during the 19th Dynasty was held every year. In sum, all these documents would prove that Khufu ruled for at least 26 or 27 years, and possibly for over 34 years, if the inscription in the relieving chambers points to a biennial cattle count. Indeed, if the compiler of the Turin Canon did not take into account a biennial cattle count, it could even mean that Khufu ruled for 46 years.


title: Khufu

text: There are only a few hints about Khufu's political activities within and outside Egypt. Within Egypt, Khufu is documented in several building inscriptions and statues. Khufu's name appears in inscriptions at Elkab and Elephantine and in local quarries at Hatnub and Wadi Hammamat. At Saqqara two terracotta figures of the goddess Bastet were found, on which, at their bases, the horus name of Khufu is incised. They were deposited at Saqqara during the Middle Kingdom, but their creation can be dated back to Khufu's reign.


title: Khufu

text: At Wadi Maghareh in the Sinai a rock inscription depicts Khufu with the double crown. Khufu sent several expeditions in an attempt to find turquoise and copper mines. Like other kings, such as Sekhemkhet, Sneferu and Sahure, who are also depicted in impressive reliefs there, he was looking for those two precious materials. Khufu also entertained contacts with Byblos. He sent several expeditions to Byblos in an attempt to trade copper tools and weapons for precious Lebanon cedar wood. This kind of wood was essential for building large and stable funerary boats and indeed the boats discovered at the Great Pyramid were made of it.


title: Khufu

text: New evidence regarding political activities under Khufu's reign has recently been found at the site of the ancient port of Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea coast in the east of Egypt. The first traces of such a harbour were excavated in 1823 by John Gardner Wilkinson and James Burton, but the site was quickly abandoned and then forgotten over time. In 1954, French scholars François Bissey and René Chabot-Morisseau re-excavated the harbour, but their works were brought to an end by the Suez Crisis in 1956. In June 2011, an archaeological team led by French Egyptologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, organized by the French Institute of Oriental Archeology ("IFAO"), restarted work at the site. Among other material, a collection of hundreds of papyrus fragments were found in 2013 dating back 4500 years. The papyrus is currently exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass called this ancient papyrus “the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century.”


title: Khufu

text: Ten of these papyri are very well preserved. The majority of these documents date to the 27th year of Khufu's reign and describe how the central administration sent food and supplies to the sailors and wharf workers. The dating of these important documents is secured by phrases typical for the Old Kingdom period, as well as the fact that the letters are addressed to the king himself, using his Horus name. This was typical when the king in question was still alive; when the ruler was dead he was addressed by his cartouche name or birth name. One document is of special interest: the diary of Merer, an official involved in the building of the Great Pyramid. Using the diary, researchers were able to reconstruct three months of his life, providing new insight into the everyday lives of people of the Fourth Dynasty. These papyri are the earliest examples of imprinted papyri ever found in Egypt. Another inscription, found on the limestone walls of the harbor, mentions the head of the royal scribes controlling the exchange of goods: "Idu".


title: Khufu

text: Khufu's cartouche name is also inscribed on some of the heavy limestone blocks at the site. The harbor was of strategic and economic importance to Khufu because ships brought precious materials, such as turquoise, copper and ore from the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. The papyri fragments show several storage lists naming the delivered goods. The papyri also mention a certain harbour at the opposite coast of Wadi al-Jarf, on the western shore of the Sinai Peninsula, where the ancient fortress Tell Ras Budran was excavated in 1960 by Gregory Mumford. The papyri and the fortress together reveal an explicit sailing route across the Red Sea for the very first time in history. It is the oldest archaeologically detected sailing route of Ancient Egypt. According to Tallet, the harbor could also have been one of the legendary high sea harbours of Ancient Egypt, from where expeditions to the infamous gold land Punt had started.


title: Khufu

text: The only three-dimensional depiction of Khufu that has survived time nearly completely is a small and well restored ivory figurine known as Khufu Statuette. It shows the king with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. The king is seated on a throne with a short backrest, at the left side of his knees the Horus-name "Medjedu" is preserved, and, at the right side, a fragment of the lower part of the cartouche name "Khnum-Khuf" is visible. Khufu holds a flail in his left hand and his right hand rests together with his lower arm on his right upper leg. The artifact was found in 1903 by Flinders Petrie at Kom el-Sultan near Abydos. The figurine was found headless; according to Petrie, it was caused by an accident while digging. When Petrie recognized the importance of the find, he stopped all other work and offered a reward to any workman who could find the head. Three weeks later the head was found after intense sifting in a deeper level of the room rubble. Today the little statue is restored and on display in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo in room 32 under its inventory number "JE 36143". Most Egyptologists believe the statuette is contemporary, but some scholars, such as Zahi Hawass, think that it was an artistic reproduction of the 26th dynasty. He argues that no building that clearly dates to the Fourth Dynasty was ever excavated at Kom el-Sultan or Abydos. Furthermore, he points out that the face of Khufu is unusually squat and chubby and shows no emotional expression. Hawass compared the facial stylistics with statues of contemporary kings, such as Sneferu, Khaefra and Menkaura. The faces of these three kings are of even beauty, slender and with a kindly expression – the clear result of idealistic motivations; they are not based on reality. The appearance of Khufu on the ivory statue instead looks like the artist did not care very much about professionalism or diligence. He believes Khufu himself would never have allowed the display of such a comparatively sloppy work. And finally, Hawass also argues that the sort of throne the figurine sits on does not match the artistic styles of any Old Kingdom artifact. Old Kingdom thrones had a backrest that reached up to the neck of the king. But the ultimate proof that convinces Hawass about the statue being a reproduction of much later time is the "Nehenekh" flail in Khufu's left hand. Depictions of a king with such a flail as a ceremonial insignia appear no earlier than the Middle Kingdom. Zahi Hawass therefore concludes that the figurine was possibly made as an amulet or lucky charm to sell to pious citizens.


title: Khufu

text: Deitrich Wildung has examined the representation of Nubian features in Egyptian iconography since the predynastic era and has argued that Khufu had these specific, Nubian features and this was represented in his statues.


title: Khufu

text: It is often said that the small figurine is the only preserved statue of Khufu. This is not quite correct. Excavations at Saqqara in 2001 and 2003 revealed a pair of terracotta statues depicting a lion goddess (possibly Bastet or Sekhmet). On her feet two figures of childlike kings are preserved. While the right figurine can be identified as king Khufu by his Horus name, the left one depicts king Pepy I of 6th dynasty, called by his birth name. The figurines of Pepy were added to the statue groups in later times, because they were placed separately and at a distance from the deity. This is inconsistent with a typical statue group of the Old Kingdom — normally all statue groups were built as an artistic unit. The two statue groups are similar to each other in size and scale but differ in that one lion goddess holds a scepter. The excavators point out that the statues were restored during the Middle Kingdom, after they were broken apart. However, it seems that the reason for the restoration lay more in an interest in the goddess, than in a royal cult around the king figures: their names were covered with gypsum.


title: Khufu

text: The Palermo Stone reports on its fragment "C-2" the creation of two oversize standing statues for the king; one is said to have been made of copper, the other of pure gold.


title: Khufu

text: Furthermore, several alabaster and travertine fragments of seated statues, which were found by George Reisner during his excavations at Giza, were once inscribed with Khufu's full royal titulary. Today, the complete or partially preserved cartouches with the name "Khufu" or "Khnum-Khuf" remain. One of the fragments, that of a small seated statue, shows the legs and feet of a sitting king from the knuckles downward. To the right of them the name "...fu" in a cartouche is visible, and it can easily be reconstructed as the cartouche name "Khufu".


title: Khufu

text: Two further objects are on display at the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim. These are also made of alabaster. One of them shows the head of a cat goddess (most probably Bastet or Sekhmet). The position of her right arm suggests that the bust once belonged to a statue group similar to the well known triad of Mycerinus.


title: Khufu

text: Several statue heads might have belonged to Khufu. One of them is the so-called "Brooklyn head" of the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. It is 54,3 cm large and made of pink granite. Because of its chubby cheeks the head is assigned to Khufu as well as to king Huni. A similar object is on display at the State Collection of Egyptian Art in Munich. The head is made of limestone and is comparatively small at only 5,7 cm.


title: Khufu

text: Khufu is depicted in several relief fragments found scattered in his necropolis and elsewhere. All reliefs were made of finely polished limestone. Some of them originate from the ruined pyramid temple and the destroyed causeway, where they once covered the walls completely. Others were found re-used in the pyramid necropolis of king Amenemhet I at Lisht and at Tanis and Bubastis. One of the relief fragments shows the cartouche of Khufu with the phrase: "Building of the sanctuaries of the gods". Another one shows a row of fat oxen decorated with flowers – they were obviously prepared as sacrifices during an offering procession. The guiding inscription calls them "the surroundings of "Tefef" serve Khufu", "beautiful bulls of Khufu" and "bawling for Khufu". A third one shows the earliest known depiction of royal warfare: the scene is called "archers prepare", since it shows archers drawing their bows. And a fourth example shows the king with the double crown impaling a hippopotamus.


title: Khufu

text: At the Wadi Maghareh in Sinai a rock inscription contains Khufu's names and titles and reports: ""Hor-Medjedu, Khnum-Khuf, Bikuj-Nebu", the great god and smiter of the troglodytes, all protection and life are with him". The work-off of the relief is similar to that of king Snefru. In one scene king Khufu wears the double-crown; nearby, the depiction of the god Thoth is visible. In another scene, close by, Khufu wears the "Atef"-crown while smiting an enemy. In this scene the god Wepwawet is present.


title: Khufu

text: None of the numerous relief fragments shows king Khufu offering to a god. This is remarkable, since reliefs of Sneferu and those of all kings from Menkaura onward show the king offering to a deity. It is possible that the lack of this special depiction influenced later ancient Greek historians in their assumptions that Khufu could have actually closed all temples and prohibited any sacrifice.


title: Khufu

text: The pyramid complex of Khufu was erected in the northeastern section of the plateau of Giza. It is possible that the lack of building space, the lack of local limestone quarries and the loosened ground at Dahshur forced Khufu to move north, away from the pyramid of his predecessor Sneferu. Khufu chose the high end of a natural plateau so that his future pyramid would be widely visible. Khufu decided to call his pyramid "Akhet-Khufu" (meaning "horizon of Khufu").


title: Khufu

text: The Great Pyramid has a base measurement of ca. 750 x 750 ft (≙ 230.4 x 230.4 m) and today a height of . Once it had been high, but the pyramidion and the limestone casing are completely lost due to stone robbery. The lack of the casing allows a full view of the inner core of the pyramid. It was erected in small steps by more or less roughly hewn blocks of dark limestone. The casing was made of nearly white limestone. The outer surface of the casing stones were finely polished so the pyramid shimmered in bright, natural lime-white when new. The pyramidion might have been covered in electrum, but there is no archaeological proof of that. The inner corridors and chambers have walls and ceilings made of polished granite, one of the hardest stones known in Khufu's time. The mortar used was a mixture of gypsum, sand, pulverized limestone and water.


title: Khufu

text: The original entrance to the pyramid is on the northern side. Inside the pyramid are three chambers: at the top is the burial chamber of the king (the "king's chamber"), in the middle is the statue chamber (erroneously called the "queen's chamber"), and under the foundation is an unfinished subterranean chamber ("underworld chamber"). Whilst the burial chamber is identified by its large sarcophagus made of granite, the use of the "queen's chamber" is still disputed – it might have been the serdab of the "Ka" statue of Khufu. The subterranean chamber remains mysterious as it was left unfinished. A tight corridor heading south at the western end of the chamber and an unfinished shaft at the eastern middle might indicate that the subterranean chamber was the oldest of the three chambers and that the original building plan contained a simple chamber complex with several rooms and corridors. But for unknown reasons the works were stopped and two further chambers were built inside the pyramid. Remarkable is the so-called "Grand Gallery" leading to the king's chamber: It has a corbelled arch ceiling and measures in height and in length. The gallery has an important static function; it diverts the weight of the stone mass above the king's chamber into the surrounding pyramid core.


title: Khufu

text: Khufu's pyramid was surrounded by an enclosure wall, with each segment in distance from the pyramid. On the eastern side, directly in front of the pyramid, Khufu's mortuary temple was built. Its foundation was made of black basalt, a great part of which is still preserved. Pillars and portals were made of red granite and the ceiling stones were of white limestone. Today nothing remains but the foundation. From the mortuary temple a causeway 0.43 miles long once connected to the valley temple. The valley temple was possibly made of the same stones as the mortuary temple, but since even the foundation is not preserved, the original form and size of the valley temple remain unknown.


title: Khufu

text: On the eastern side of the pyramid lies the "East Cemetery" of the Khufu necropolis, containing the mastabas of princes and princesses. Three small satellite pyramids, belonging to the queens "Hetepheres" (G1-a), "Meritites I" (G1-b) and possibly "Henutsen" (G1-c) were erected at the southeast corner of Khufu's pyramid. Close behind the queens' pyramids G1-b and G1-c, the cult pyramid of Khufu was found in 2005. On the southern side of the Great Pyramid lie some further mastabas and the pits of the funerary boats of Khufu. On the western side lies the "West Cemetery", where the highest officials and priests were interred.


title: Khufu

text: A possible part of Khufu's funerary complex is the famous Great Sphinx of Giza. It's a large limestone statue in the shape of a recumbent lion with the head of a human, decorated with a royal "Nemes" headdress. The Sphinx was directly hewn out of the plateau of Giza and originally painted with red, ochre, green and black. To this day it is passionately disputed as to who exactly gave the order to build it: the most probable candidates are Khufu, his elder son Djedefra and his younger son Khaefra. One of the difficulties of a correct attribution lies in the lack of any perfectly preserved portrait of Khufu. The faces of Djedefre and Khaefra are both similar to that of the Sphinx, but they do not match perfectly. Another riddle is the original cultic and symbolic function of the Sphinx. Much later it was called "Heru-im-Akhet" ("Hârmachís"; "Horus at the horizon") by the Egyptians and "Abu el-Hὀl" ("father of terror") by the Arabians. It might be that the Sphinx, as an allegoric and mystified representation of the king, simply guarded the sacred cemetery of Giza.


title: Khufu

text: Khufu possessed an extensive mortuary cult during the Old Kingdom. At the end of 6th dynasty at least 67 mortuary priests and 6 independent high officials serving at the necropolis are archaeologically attested. Ten of them were already serving during the late 4th dynasty (seven of them were royal family members), 28 were serving during the 5th dynasty and 29 during the 6th dynasty. This is remarkable: Khufu's famous (step-)father Sneferu enjoyed "only" 18 mortuary priesthoods during the same period of time, even Djedefra enjoyed only 8 and Khaefra enjoyed 28. Such mortuary cults were very important for the state's economy, because for the oblations special domains had to be established. A huge number of domains' names are attested for the time of Khufu's reign. However, by the end of the 6th dynasty the number of domains abated quickly. With the beginning of the 7th dynasty no domain's name was handed down any more.


title: Khufu

text: At Wadi Hammamat a rock inscription dates back to the 12th dynasty. It lists five cartouche names: "Khufu, Djedefra, Khafra, Baufra" and "Djedefhor". Because all royal names are written inside cartouches, it was often believed that Baufra and Djedefhor once had ruled for short time, but contemporary sources entitle them as mere princes. Khufu's attendance roll call in this list might indicate that he and his followers were worshipped as patron saints. This theory is promoted by findings such as alabaster vessels with Khufu's name found at Koptos, the pilgrimage destination of Wadi Hammamat travellers.


title: Khufu

text: A literary masterpiece from the 13th dynasty talking about Khufu is the famous Papyrus Westcar, where king Khufu witnesses a magical wonder and receives a prophecy from a magician named Dedi. Within the story, Khufu is characterised in a difficult-to-assess way. On one hand, he is depicted as ruthless when deciding to have a condemned prisoner decapitated to test the alleged magical powers of Dedi. On the other hand, Khufu is depicted as inquisitive, reasonable and generous: He accepts Dedi's outrage and his subsequent alternative offer for the prisoner, questions the circumstances and contents of Dedi's prophecy and rewards the magician generously after all. The contradictory depiction of Khufu is the object of great dispute between Egyptologists and historians to this day. Especially earlier Egyptologists and historians such as Adolf Erman, Kurt Heinrich Sethe and Wolfgang Helck evaluated Khufu's character as heartless and sacrilegious. They leaned on the ancient Greek traditions of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, who described an exaggerated negative character image of Khufu, ignoring the paradoxical (because positive) traditions the Egyptians themselves had always taught.


title: Khufu

text: But other Egyptologists, such as Dietrich Wildung, see Khufu's order as an act of mercy: the prisoner would have received his life back if Dedi had actually performed his magical trick. Wildung thinks that Dedi's refusal was an allusion to the respect Egyptians showed to human life. The ancient Egyptians were of the opinion that human life should not be misused for dark magic or similar evil things. Verena Lepper and Miriam Lichtheim suspect that a difficult-to-assess depiction of Khufu was exactly what the author had planned. He wanted to create a mysterious character.


title: Khufu

text: During the New Kingdom the necropolis of Khufu and the local mortuary cults were reorganized and Giza became an important economic and cultic destination again. During the Eighteenth Dynasty king Amenhotep II erected a memorial temple and a royal fame stele close to the Great Sphinx. His son and throne follower Thutmose IV freed the Sphinx from sand and placed a memorial stele – known as the "Dream Stele" – between its front paws. The two steles' inscriptions are similar in their narrative contents, but neither of them gives specific information about the true builder of the Great Sphinx.


title: Khufu

text: At the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty a temple for the goddess Isis was built at the satellite pyramid "G1-c" (that of queen Henutsen) at Khufu's necropolis. During the Twenty-first Dynasty the temple got extended, and, during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the extensions continued. From this period of time several "priests of Isis" ("Hem-netjer-Iset"), who were also "priests of Khufu" ("Hem-netjer-Khufu"), worked there. From the same dynasty a golden seal ring with the name of a priest "Neferibrê" was found at Giza.


title: Khufu

text: During the Late Period huge numbers of scarabs with the name of Khufu were sold to the citizens, possibly as some kind of lucky charms. More than 30 scarabs are preserved. At Isis' temple a family tree of the Isis priests is on display, which lists the names of priests from 670 to 488 BC. From the same period comes the famous Inventory Stela, which names Khufu and his wife Henutsen. However, modern Egyptologists question whether Khufu was still personally adored as a royal ancestor at this time; they think it more likely that Khufu was already seen as a mere symbolic foundation figure for the history of the Isis temple.


title: Khufu

text: The later Egyptian historian Manetho called Khufu "Sûphis" and credited him with a rulership of 63 years. He also mentions that Khufu built the Great Pyramid, then he claims that his contemporary Herodotus says that the pyramid was built by a king "Khéops". Obviously, Manetho thought "Khéops" and "Sûphis" to be two different kings. Manetho also says that Khufu received a contempt against the gods and that he had written a sacred book about that and that he (Manetho) received that book during his travel through Egypt. The story about the alleged "Sacred Book" is questioned by modern Egyptologists, for it would be highly unusual that a pharaoh wrote books and that such a precious document could be sold away so easily.


title: Khufu

text: The Greek historian Herodotus instead depicts Khufu as a heretic and cruel tyrant. In his literary work "Historiae", Book II, chapter 124–126, he writes: "As long as "Rhámpsinîtos" was king, as they told me, there was nothing but orderly rule in Egypt, and the land prospered greatly. But after him "Khéops" became king over them and brought them to every kind of suffering: He closed all the temples; after this he kept the priests from sacrificing there and then he forced all the Egyptians to work for him. So some were ordered to draw stones from the stone quarries in the Arabian mountains to the Nile, and others he forced to receive the stones after they had been carried over the river in boats, and to draw them to those called the Libyan mountains. And they worked by 100,000 men at a time, for each three months continually. Of this oppression there passed ten years while the causeway was made by which they drew the stones, which causeway they built, and it is a work not much less, as it appears to me, than the pyramid. For the length of it is 5 furlongs and the breadth 10 fathoms and the height, where it is highest, 8 fathoms, and it is made of polished stone and with figures carved upon it. For this, they said, 10 years were spent, and for the underground chambers on the hill upon which the pyramids stand, which he caused to be made as sepulchral chambers for himself in an island, having conducted thither a channel from the Nile.


title: Khufu

text: For the making of the pyramid itself there passed a period of 20 years; and the pyramid is square, each side measuring 800 feet, and the height of it is the same. It is built of stone smoothed and fitted together in the most perfect manner, not one of the stones being less than 30 feet in length. This pyramid was made after the manner of steps, which some call 'rows' and others 'bases': When they had first made it thus, they raised the remaining stones with devices made of short pieces of timber, lifting them first from the ground to the first stage of the steps, and when the stone got up to this it was placed upon another machine standing on the first stage, and so from this it was drawn to the second upon another machine; for as many as were the courses of the steps, so many machines there were also, or perhaps they transferred one and the same machine, made so as easily to be carried, to each stage successively, in order that they might take up the stones; for let it be told in both ways, according as it is reported. However, that may be, the highest parts of it were finished first, and afterwards they proceeded to finish that which came next to them, and lastly they finished the parts of it near the ground and the lowest ranges.


title: Khufu

text: On the pyramid it is declared in Egyptian writing how much was spent on radishes and onions and leeks for the workmen, and if I remember correctly what the interpreter said while reading this inscription for me, a sum of 1600 silver talents was spent. Kheops moreover came to such a pitch of evilness, that being in want of money he sent his own daughter to a brothel and ordered her to obtain from those who came a certain amount of money (how much it was they did not tell me). But she not only obtained the sum that was appointed by her father, but she also formed a design for herself privately to leave behind her a memorial: She requested each man who came in to her to give her one stone for her building project. And of these stones, they told me, the pyramid was built which stands in front of the great pyramid in the middle of the three, each side being 150 feet in length."


title: Khufu

text: The same goes for the story about king Khafre. He is depicted as the direct follower of Khufu and as likewise evil and that he ruled for 56 years. In chapter 127–128 Herodotus writes: "After Khéops was dead his brother "Khéphrên" succeeded to the royal throne. This king followed the same manner as the other ... and ruled for 56 years. Here they reckon altogether 106 years, during which they say that there was nothing but evil for the Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed and not opened during all that time".


title: Khufu

text: Herodotus closes the story of the evil kings in chapter 128 with the words: "These kings the Egyptians (because of their hate against them) are not very willing to say their names. What's more, they even call the pyramids after the name of "Philítîs" the shepherd, who at that time pastured flocks in those regions."


title: Khufu

text: The ancient historian Diodorus claims that Khufu was so much abhorred by his own people in later times that the mortuary priests secretly brought the royal sarcophagus, together with the corpse of Khufu, to another, hidden grave. With this narration he strengthens and confirms the view of the Greek scholars, that Khufu's pyramid (and the other two, as well) must have been the result of slavery. However, at the same time, Diodorus distances himself from Herodotus and argues that Herodotus "only tells fairy tales and entertaining fiction". Diodorus claims that the Egyptians of his lifetime were unable to tell him with certainty who actually built the pyramids. He also states that he didn't really trust the interpreters and that the true builder might have been someone different: the Khufu pyramid was (according to him) built by a king named "Harmais", the Khafre pyramid was thought to be built by king Amasis II and the Menkaura pyramid was allegedly the work of king Inaros I.


title: Khufu

text: Diodorus states that the Khufu pyramid was beautifully covered in white, but the top was said to be capped. The pyramid therefore already had no pyramidion anymore. He also thinks that the pyramid was built with ramps, which were removed during the finishing of the limestone shell. Diodorus estimates that the total number of workers was 300,000 and that the building works lasted for 20 years.


title: Khufu

text: In 642 A.D. the Arabs conquered Egypt. Upon arriving at the Giza pyramids, they searched for explanations as to who could have built these monuments. By this time, no inhabitant of Egypt was able to tell and no one could translate the Egyptian hieroglyphs anymore. As a consequence, the Arab historians wrote down their own theories and stories.


title: Khufu

text: The best known story about Khufu and his pyramid can be found in the book "Hitat" (completely: "al-Mawāʿiẓ wa-’l-iʿtibār fī ḏikr al-ḫiṭaṭ wa-’l-ʾāṯār"), written in 1430 by Muhammad al-Maqrizi (1364–1442). This book contains several collected theories and myths about Khufu, especially about the Great Pyramid. Though King Khufu himself is seldom mentioned, many Arab writers were convinced that the Great Pyramid (and the others, too) were built by the god Hermes (named "Idris" by the Arabs).


title: Khufu

text: Al-Maqrizi notes that Khufu was named "Saurid", "Salhuk" and/or "Sarjak" by the biblical Amalekites. Then he writes that Khufu built the pyramids after repeated nightmares in which the earth turned upside-down, the stars fell down and people were screaming in terror. Another nightmare showed the stars falling down from heaven and kidnapping humans, then putting them beneath two large mountains. King Khufu then received a warning from his prophets about a devastating deluge that would come and destroy Egypt. To protect his treasures and books of wisdom, Khufu built the three pyramids of Giza.


title: Khufu

text: Over time, Egyptologists examined possible motives and reasons as to how Khufu's reputation changed over time. Closer examinations of and comparisons between contemporary documents, later documents and Greek and Coptic readings reveal that Khufu's reputation changed slowly, and that the positive views about the king still prevailed during the Greek and Ptolemaic era. Alan B. Lloyd, for example, points to documents and inscriptions from the 6th dynasty listing an important town called "Menat-Khufu", meaning "nurse of Khufu". This town was still held in high esteem during the Middle Kingdom period. Lloyd is convinced that such a heart-warming name wouldn't have been chosen to honour a king with a bad (or, at least, questionable) reputation. Furthermore, he points to the overwhelming number of places where mortuary cults for Khufu were practiced, even outside Giza. These mortuary cults were still practiced even in Saitic and Persian periods.


title: Khufu

text: The famous Lamentation Texts from the First Intermediate Period reveal some interesting views about the monumental tombs from the past; they were at that time seen as proof of vanity. However, they give no hint of a negative reputation of the kings themselves, and thus they do not judge Khufu in a negative way.


title: Khufu

text: Modern Egyptologists evaluate Herodotus's and Diodorus's stories as some sort of defamation, based on both authors' contemporary philosophy. They call for caution against the credibility of the ancient traditions. They argue that the classical authors lived around 2000 years after Khufu, and their sources that were available in their lifetimes surely were antiquated. Additionally some Egyptologists point out that the philosophies of the ancient Egyptians had changed since the Old Kingdom. Oversized tombs such as the Giza pyramids must have appalled the Greeks and even the later priests of the New Kingdom, because they remembered the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten and his megalomaniac building projects. This negative picture was presumably projected onto Khufu and his pyramid. The view was possibly promoted by the fact that during Khufu's lifetime, permission for the creation of oversized statues made of precious stone and their displaying in public was limited to the king. In their era, the Greek authors, mortuary priests, and temple priests could only explain the impressive monuments and statues of Khufu as the result of a megalomaniac. These negative evaluations were applied to Khufu.


title: Khufu

text: Furthermore, several Egyptologists point out that Roman historians such as Pliny the Elder and Frontinus (both around 70 A.D.) equally do not hesitate to ridicule the pyramids of Giza: Frontinus calls them "idle pyramids, containing the indispensable structures likewise to some of our abandoned aqueducts at Rome" and Pliny describes them as "the idle and foolish ostentation of royal wealth". Egyptologists clearly see politically and socially motivated intentions in these criticisms and it seems paradoxical that the use of these monuments was forgotten, but the names of their builders remained immortalized.


title: Khufu

text: Another hint to Khufu's bad reputation within the Greek and Roman folk might be hidden in the Coptic reading of Khufu's name. The Egyptian hieroglyphs forming the name "Khufu" are read in Coptic as "Shêfet", which actually would mean "bad luck" or "sinful" in their language. The Coptic reading derives from a later pronunciation of "Khufu" as "Shufu", which in turn led to the Greek reading "Suphis". Possibly the bad meaning of the Coptic reading of "Khufu" was unconsciously copied by the Greek and Roman authors.


title: Khufu

text: On the other hand, some Egyptologists think that the ancient historians received their material for their stories not only from priests, but from the citizens living close to the time of the building of the necropolis. Among the "simple folk", also, negative or critical views about the pyramids might have been handed down, and the mortuary cult of the priests was surely part of tradition. Additionally a long-standing literary tradition does not prove popularity. Even if Khufu's name survived within the literary traditions for so long, different cultural circles surely fostered different views about Khufu's character and historical deeds. The narrations of Diodorus, for example, are credited with more trust than those of Herodotus, because Diodorus obviously collected the tales with much more scepsis. The fact that Diodorus credits the Giza pyramid to Greek kings, might be reasoned in legends of his lifetimes and that the pyramids were demonstrably reused in late periods by Greek and Roman kings and noblemen.