The colossal projects of this dynasty, which required the cooperation of a whole population of workers and suppliers of commodities, benefited from the creation of this new administrative network. The monarch no longer needed to build pyramids in the provinces: from the time of Snefru (and probably his predecessor Huni) the contribution of the nomes was henceforth symbolized in the iconographic programme of the funerary temple through a procession of estates which expressed in a ritual context the seizure by central power of the agricultural resources of the country. This should be treated as a specifically Memphite feature rather than simple elitism, i. e. from the Fourth Dynasty onwards the elite class also became exclusively Memphite at the highest level, if one takes a decorated stone tomb with inscriptions as a decisive indication of‘‘elite’’ status.
At the political level Fourth Dynasty society saw very important developments and changes (Roth 1993a). The extent of royal necropoleis bears witness to this quantitatively and the variety of titles does likewise in qualitative terms. The king, whose divinity was proclaimed in inscriptions, was the father figure in a society dominated by the royal family. The descendants of the monarch were numerous, as can be seen from the number of tombs of queens and sons and daughters of the king who intermarry. The model of the relationship is such that the title ‘‘Royal Son’’ could be granted to any deserving functionary from whom the commitment of a son was expected (Baud 1999: 373-9). The highest offices were held by these ‘‘King’s Sons,’’ mostly real but sometimes fictitious: it was standard practice that the vizierate, which controlled the entire administration, was held by princes (Strudwick 1985: 300-35) certain of whom, like Kawab, a son of Khufu, would gain great renown in Egyptian tradition. There can be little doubt that other sons of Khufu, known only from later documents, like Hardjedef or Baufre, also held this high office.
It is unsurprising in a monarchy where the erection of gigantic funerary complexes had become a priority that the Department of Royal Works assumed a crucial importance, and it became an essential area of activity for the royal sons. These vast works became sources of permanent employment, in some cases because of the multiplicity of ventures (Snefru and his three pyramids of 92, 105, and 105 m height), and in others because of the colossal dimensions of the pyramid (146 m for Khufu, 143 for Khafre) and the attendant monuments, causeways in particular, without counting the numerous mastabas of the palace elite and the cult servants. The Khufu project on the Giza plateau is in the fullest sense Pharaonic in scale (Lehner 1985; Haase 2004; Hawass 2005); its enormous western necropolis (West Field) is a vast planned field of mastabas built to a chequer-board design, a true new town where not all of the ‘‘houses’’ were ever occupied since the cemetery constructed greatly exceeded requirements (janosi 2005: 132-42 for Cemetery G4000; janosi 2006 for the Echelon Cemetery). These vast works considerably revitalized the economy and society, with unprecedented use of raw materials coming from the margins of the Valley (white limestone from Tura, basalt from the North Fayum, alabaster from Hatnub, granodiorite from Aswan), from the bordering deserts (grey-wacke from Wadi Hammamat), or from regions further afield, such as the copper minerals and malachite from Sinai (Wadi Maghara area), probably travelling via Ayn Sokhna (Abd el-Raziq, Castel & Tallet 2006; 2007a; 2007b; Tallet 2006), the red hematite ochre from Abu Ballas in the distant western desert (Negro, de Michele & Piacenza 2005; Kuhlmann 2005) or gneiss from Gebel el-Asr/Toshka in Lower Nubia (Shaw & Bloxam 1999), all of which necessitated the setting up of appropriate expeditions and adequate logistics, particularly for the provision of water. These works also employed a large labour force, which is difficult to quantify. Amongst it a specialized elite toiled in the workshops (wabet) where they produced, in particular, numerous statues for the royal cult such as we find in the vast collections of Djedefre (quartzite), Khafre (mainly gneiss), and Menkaure. The dimensions of the pyramid town of the latter, recently excavated at Giza, with its immense dormitory-workshops gives a measure of the increment in scale (Lehner 2002).
World History
