ference Khufu; only Radjedef. Again we ask, how would this information have shaped the thinking of the formative researchers of the day – Petrie, Vyse, Resiner, Budge and others – if it had been uncovered before the quarry marks were discovered in the obscure reaches of the Great Pyramid and before Petrie found the headless statue in Abydos?
Radjedef is not attributed with a pyramid at Giza, although he is credited with building one at Abu Roash, five miles to the north. Interestingly, the pyramid is now thought to have risen higher than all others (although its size was comparable to the third pyramid at Giza), due to the elevated location where it was constructed. Today, the pyramid lies in ruins, and until recently was believed to have been abandoned – unfinished, as it were. However, recent work by a Franco-Swiss team of Egyptologists, as cited by Verner, confirms that the pyramid was, in fact, fully finished, albeit severely plundered in antiquity. Its association with Radjedef, however, is every bit as tenuous as Khufu’s link with the Great Pyramid.
Egyptologist, Mark Lehner, studied Radjedef’s pyramid at Abu Roash in his book, ‘The Complete Pyramids’, and concluded that pyramids of the older ‘Djoser’ style (i.e. the Third Dynasty King who built what is now regarded as the prototype to all subsequent Egyptian pyramids; the step pyramid at Sakarra) were orientated north-south, and, from the time of the later Meidum Pyramid onward (which is attributed to Radjedef’s grandfather, Sneferu), were aligned east-west. Lehner and others believe that Radjedef departed from the style of the day and returned to an earlier blueprint when he constructed his pyramid at Abu Roash, for it clearly has a north-south alignment.
Further, Lehner states: “From Sneferu to Khufu we have seen a continual striving to build chambers higher in the pyramid body. Djeddfre returned to the earlier concept and began his substructure as a colossal pit in the ground.” Why would a king, whose adoption of Re was a departure in religious philosophy and one which was embraced by his successors, each of whom adopted the pyramid conventions of the day, return to an earlier blueprint of pyramid design?
I believe that the answer to this question has to do with the fact that there is no real proof that any Fourth Dynasty pharaoh built anything more than mastabas or small satellite pyramids that served as adjuncts to existing pyramids. In my opinion, the Fourth Dynasty pharaohs were simply restoring them. How else could Sneferu, for instance, have constructed three gargantuan pyramids in his lifetime? Why would Khufu refer to the Great Pyramid as the “House of Isis”, if it was really his pyramid, and why, in the Westcar Papyrus, does he continually ask for help in locating various treasures buried at Giza if, in fact, its monuments were founded in the Fourth Dynasty – his era?
One has to also ask why Shepseskaf, the last pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, would be buried in a mastaba and not a pyramid like other pharaohs, or at least according to Egyptologists. And then there is the brother of Radjedef, Prince Chufu Chaf, the heir to the throne, who built a mastaba while his brother was king. After Radjedef’s death, the Prince changed his name to Khafra, and the second pyramid at Giza is attributed to him. So, why was he building a mastaba for himself if he knew, or even suspected, that he could ascend to the throne and build such an enormous pyramid?
The reality is that mastaba building was at its peak in the Fourth Dynasty, and the highest concentration was found in and around Giza, as if the royals and dignitaries buried in them were seeking eternal glory by associating themselves with the majesty that existed since before they were born; pyramids that were built by their ancestors.
Another fascinating element of Khufu’s reign is the Inventory Stela, which was found in a Giza temple dedicated to one of his daughters. The stela unequivocally states that Khufu was aware that the nemes (head) of the sphinx had been badly damaged by lightning in the past, as well as