Khafra

Khafra

Encyclopedia

Tutorials

Encyclopedia

Dictionary

Directory

Email this to a friend Khafra

Khafra

Khafre also refers to a block cipher.

Khafre's Pyramid and the Great Sphinx.

Khafra or Khafre (Greek ??????, Chephren) *???af-ri?u) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Fourth dynasty, with his capital at Memphis. According to some authors he was the son and successor of Khufu, but it is more commonly accepted that Djedefra was Khufu's successor and Khafra was Djedefra's. Khafra's two chief wives were Queen Meresankh III whose mastaba tomb is located at Giza and Queen Khamaerernebty I who was the mother of his successor, Menkaura.

Reign

There is no agreement on the date of his reign; some authors say it was between 2558 BC and 2532 BC; this dynasty is commonly dated ca. 2650 BC–2480 BC. While the Turin King List length for his reign is blank, and Manetho's exaggerates his reign as 66 years, most scholars believe it was between 24 to 26 years, based upon the date of the Will of Prince Nekure which was carved on the walls of this Prince's mastaba tomb. The will is dated anonymously to the Year of the 12th Count and is assumed to belong to Khafra since Nekure was his son. Khafra's highest year date is the "Year of the 13th occurrence" which is a painted date on the back of a casing stone belonging to mastaba G 7650.^[1] This would imply a reign of 24-25 years for this king if the cattle count was biannual during the Fourth Dynasty. Khafra built the second largest pyramid at Giza, is thought to have built the Great Sphinx, and built a temple which is the only surviving example of a temple of this Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.

His name, Khaf-Ra, means "Appearing like Ra" for some translators and "rise Ra!" for others; the meaning is most probably the first, according to the hieroglyphic representing his name, which includes that crown. The name of Khafre's pyramid at Giza?which is the second largest of the 3 famous pyramids of Giza?means "Khafre is Great" in Egyptian.^[2]