Radjedef, who followed his father Khufu on the throne but reigned for only eight years, built his pyramid to the north of Giza at Abu Roash. This pyramid seems to have been finished, as demonstrated by recent excavations of a Franco-Swiss team. But little remains of the structure, much of which was destroyed in post-Dynastic times.
Also a son of Khufu, Khafra succeeded his brother on the throne. Although his pyramid at Giza appears to be taller than Khufu’s, this is an illusion as it was built on a higher area of the Giza plateau. The base line of the pyramid is 215 meters, and its height was 143.5 meters. Toward its top the pyramid form has a slight twist, evidence of a problem in aligning the four corners to meet at the apex. Inside, the pyramid has a much simpler design than that of Khufu’s. Two descending passages lead from the north to a horizontal passage and the burial chamber cut into the bedrock, which contains a black granite sarcophagus. A subsidiary chamber at the bottom of the lower descending passage may have been for a statue (serdab).
One subsidiary pyramid is outside the southern wall of the pyramid, and to the east is the mortuary temple, which is much larger than that of Khufu’s complex. The temple was designed with an entrance hall, columned court, five niches for the king’s statues and five storerooms, and an inner sanctuary - which becomes the standard plan of all later royal mortuary temples. Much of this temple was lined with huge granite blocks; its fore part was constructed with megalithic limestone blocks.
Connecting the mortuary temple to the valley temple, the causeway is almost one-half kilometer long. The inner T-shaped hall of this temple, which is well preserved, was constructed with a travertine floor, and huge pillars, ceiling blocks, and wall casings in polished red granite. Twenty-two bases for statues of the king are along the walls of this hall, with another statue base in the end. One of these statues, of the seated king in polished gneiss, is now in the Cairo Museum (Figure 6.8). The king is depicted wearing the nemes headdress (a royal linen head-covering), behind which is the protective falcon deity Horus.
To the north of the valley temple is an unusual second temple which was never finished. Called the Sphinx Temple, it has a court similar in plan to that in Khafra’s mortuary temple, and unusually, two sanctuaries on the east and west. To the west of this temple is the Great Sphinx, the southern side of which is aligned with the central axis of the temple (Plate 6.4). The Sphinx was carved out of a huge natural formation in the limestone bedrock, and blocks in the valley temple have been identified as limestone quarried from around the Sphinx’s body. Small stone blocks on the Sphinx’s body and paws were added later and the monument has been restored many times: in the 18th and 26th Dynasties, in Greco-Roman times, and in the 20th century. With Khafra’s head in the nemes headdress, the Sphinx’s body is that of a crouching lion, a symbol of the king. Lehner has suggested that the eastfacing Sphinx is symbolic of the king making offerings to the sun god.
There is New Kingdom evidence of renewed interest in the Sphinx’s cult. Amenhotep II built a temple to the northeast of the Sphinx, and many commemorative stelae were left there, including the “Dream Stela” of Thutmose IV. In the text of this stela Thutmose describes falling asleep under the Sphinx’s neck. He has a dream in which the Sphinx
Figure 6.8 Khafra statue from the valley temple of his pyramid complex at Giza. Source: Ian M. Butterfield (Egypt)/Alamy.
Appears, telling the prince that he will become king if he clears away the sand surrounding
The monument and restores it.
To the east of the valley and Sphinx temples was a harbor where materials and supplies could be brought to the site by boat. If not full all year, the harbor, which was probably fed by canals, would have filled with water during the flood season. A stone construction sometimes called a quay is located to the east of Khafra’s Sphinx Temple, and it may have also continued in front of the valley temple.
To the south of Giza at Zawiyet el-Aryan an unfinished pyramid which probably dates to the 4th Dynasty was intended to be almost as large as Khafra’s. A large pit for the burial chamber, paved in huge blocks of granite and limestone, and a descending passage were carved into the bedrock. An enclosure wall had also been built, but the king who started this project has not been securely identified.
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