Khufu, known generally by the Greek version of his name, Cheops, was evidently the undisputed heir to Egypt. He reigned, like his father Sneferu, for some twenty-four years.8 Though he is reputed to have built the greatest and most enduring monument ever erected by man, there was long thought to be only one surviving portrait of the king. This is a tiny piece in ivory, its very minuteness contrasting ironically with the huge pyramid. The king is shown seated on his throne, wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. In recent years other royal heads have been identified, some tentatively, as portraits of Khufu.9
According to Herodotus, he was not remembered warmly by the Egyptians, though there is no reason to suppose that he was a particularly harsh or tyrannical ruler. It has been plausibly suggested that Khufu was trying, in building the Great Pyramid on the scale that he did, to outdo his father, Sneferu. If so, this is to be Oedipal to a titanic degree.
A more kindly aspect of Khufu’s character, one which is entirely consistent with the attitudes of Egyptians of the time, is suggested by his evident affection for his dog, Abitiuw.10 He ordered that a fine tomb, expensively furnished and decorated should be built for Abitiuw, who was one of the king’s guard dogs, that, according to the inscription which records the king’s command, ‘he might be honoured before the great god, Anubis’. The Egyptian affection for their dogs evidently reached the highest levels of the society, with Khufu providing confirmation of the fact, as much as did Queen Herneith of the early First Dynasty.
Further evidence that Khufu may not have been the oppressive tyrant portrayed by Herodotus is indicated by the fact that in the Thirteenth Dynasty, nearly a thousand years after the king’s lifetime a priest was serving his cult at Giza. The long-dead Khufu’s aid was besought for the continuing welfare of his people.11
World History
