 the fact that he was building his own temple near to the ‘house of the sphinx’, thus reinforcing the fact that the sphinx was already there, and that the head of the sphinx had been damaged, and, by all indications, was in need of restoration.
This brings up an interesting question; might the repaired head of the sphinx be that of Radjedef? The resemblance has been noted by many, including a New York detective who specializes in identification techniques and who, in 1966, reported that the head did not resemble Khufu (not that he had much to go on), but did, in fact, bear a striking resemblance to Radjedef. The head of Radjedef may or may not resemble the face of the sphinx. What we do know is that Radjedef was ambitious, as indicated by the belief that he murdered his own brother and stole his wife, in order to gain ascension to the throne, and then broke from tradition and solidified the emergent solar cult of Ra. Might he also have re-carved the damaged sphinx in his image?
I believe the evidence for Khufu and his association with the Great Pyramid is inconclusive and would not stand up in a modern court of law. So, what conclusions can we draw? There are several alluring possibilities, in addition to those already stated. For instance, Khufu’s reign varies from 23 years (Turin Kings List) to 63 years (Manetho), while his successor, Radjedef, reigned for only 8 years (Turin Kings List), or 11, according to the cattle count discovered in Khufu’s solar boat pit. Could the two men have been one and the same person? What if Khufu / Khnum-Khufu were merely an oath of protection granted to Sneferu’s son and his real name was misconstrued by later generations? What if that child was Radjedef, the overseer of the Fourth Dynasty pyramid restoration (not construction) at Giza and at nearby Abu Roash? And what if he, at or around the time of his 30-year Sed Festival – or the symbolic death of the existing king and celebration of his continued reign – confirmed the veneration of Re by having the sphinx re-carved in his image and by stepping out of the title of Khufu?
Khufu is the Fourth Dynasty king who has generated the strongest legacy over time – not Radjedef – even if he is remembered as a tyrant. Why might this be? If we consider for a moment that Khufu is a variant of Khnum-Khufu, and that Khnum was the god of the River Nile, responsible for the yearly inundation and the well-being of children, then would ‘Khufu’ not be remembered as a tyrant if, as a god (i.e. Khnum), he had forsaken his people with drought and plague? Might such confusion have arisen over hundreds – and in the case of Herodotus, thousands – of years, especially since Giza was once governed by a Dynasty that introduced the veneration of the god, Khnum? Serendipitously, the name of the Great Pyramid, when written in a cartouche, is Aakhu-t Khufu, meaning ‘The Horizon of Khufu’, and what could be a more appropriate name for a pyramid that looks out over the River Nile and the domain of the god, Khnum / Khufu.
Was Khufu a Woman?
There is another candidate for the historical Khufu; a woman. As incredible as it sounds, the Cairo museum contains a statue, which unambiguously depicts Khufu as a young girl, yet nobody seems to take notice of this peculiar detail. The image in question is that of the dwarf, Seneb, and his wife, the Princess Sentyotes: an influential office-holder of established royal blood; an esteemed lady of the court and priestess. Dwarfs were revered in Dynastic Egypt, as they were believed to have been the result of inbreeding performed to propagate a royal bloodline; a condition known as achondroplasia dwarfism.
Few dwarfs were as revered as much as Seneb, an official who, by convention, dates from the Sixth, or even the Fifth Dynasty, although his exact date is uncertain, and, I will argue, possibly earlier. Seneb’s tomb was discovered near the western cemetery at Giza – not far from the Great Pyramid – by German Egyptologist, Herman Junker, who noted Seneb’s many titles, including prophet of Khufu, overseer of the palace dwarfs, chief of t