| Djedefra I the Splendour of Ra | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 12 April 2579 - 19 July 2568 |
| Predecessor | Khufu I |
| Successor | Khafra I |
| Born | January 24, 2611 B.C. Mennefer, Egypt |
| Died | July 19, 2568 B.C. (aged 43) |
| Spouse | Hetepheres II, Meresankh II, Khentetka |
| Issue | Setka, Baka, Hernet, Neferhetepes, Hetepheres, Nikaudjedefre |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Kheper Nebty Name: Kheperem Golden Horus Name: Biknebu Praenomen: Kheper Nomen: Djedefra | |
| House | Khasekhemwy |
| Dynasty | Sneferian Dynasty |
| Father | Khufu I |
| Mother | Meritites I |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Djedefra, called the splendour of Ra was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the Hellenized form of his name Rhatoisēs (Ῥατοίσης) by Manetho. Djedefre was the son and immediate throne successor of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid of Akhet Nesu; his mother was Meritites I. He is the king who introduced the royal title Sa-Rê (meaning “Son of Ra”) and the first to connect his cartouche name with the sun god Ra.
Family[]
Djedefre married his brother Kawab's widow, Hetepheres II, who was sister to both of them, and who perhaps married a third brother of theirs, Khafre, after Djedefre's death. Another queen, Khentetenka is known from statue fragments in the Abu Rowash mortuary temple. Known children of Djedefre are:
- Hornit (“Eldest King's Son of His Body”) known from a statue depicting him and his wife.
- Baka (“Eldest King's Son”) known from a statue base found in Djedefre's mortuary temple, depicting him with his wife Hetepheres, briefly reigned as Bakara.
- Setka (“Eldest King's Son of His Body; Unique Servant of the King”) known from a scribe statue found in his father's pyramid complex. It is possible that he ruled for a short while after his father's death; an unfinished pyramid at Zawiyet el-Arian was started for a ruler whose name ends in ka; this could have been Setka or Baka.
- Neferhetepes (“King's Daughter of His Body; God's Wife”) is known from a statue fragment from Abu Rowash. She was once believed to be the mother of a pharaoh of the next dynasty, either Userkaf I or Sahura I.
- Raddjedet (“King's Daughter of His Body; King's Mother”) married to her cousin prince Nyuserra, son of Khafra I, mother of Pharaoh Userkaf I
The French excavation team led by Michel Valloggia found the names of two other children of Djedefre in the pyramid complex:
- Nikaudjedefre (“King's Son of His Body”) was buried in Tomb F15 in Abu Rowash; it is possible that he wasn't a son of Djedefre but lived later and his title was only honorary.
- Hetepheres (“King's Daughter of His Body”) was mentioned on a statue fragment.
Reign[]
Events and developments[]
Inscriptions attest that Djedefra sent an expedition to the Djesdjesetet oasis in the Libyan desert, as his father Khufu had done twice before him. The aim of all these expeditions was to extract mineral pigments. The inscriptions for this come from a camp site in the desert, about 60 km from Djesdjesetet. It lies at the foot of a sandstone rock and was apparently called the "Water Mountain of Djedefra" in Pharaonic times.
Under Djedefra, the cult of the sun god Ra of Heliopolis was elevated to the highest state religion. With a few exceptions, the royal personal names now included the name of Re as a component until the end of the 5th Dynasty (for example Khafra = Kha-ef-Re or Ra-Kha-ef or Menkaura = Men-kau-Re). In keeping with this, Djedefra introduced the epithet "son of Re" ( Sa-Ra ), which became the permanent title of the royal personal name from the Middle Kingdom onwards.
This religious change also made a new interpretation of the nature of the king necessary. While he was previously considered the embodiment of Horus and thus the highest world god himself, the concept of divine sonship now came to the fore, thereby diminishing the king's own divinity and placing him in a position of greater responsibility towards the gods.
Succession[]
After Djedefra's death, he was initially succeeded to the throne not by one of his sons, but by his brother Khafra. Since in Pharaonic Egypt, power usually passed from father to son, this change of government gave rise to numerous speculations. George Andrew Reisner, for example, assumed that family disputes arose after the death of Khufu and two branches of the family fought for supremacy. Djedefra would therefore not have been the rightful heir to the throne and Khafra would have seized power after his death. However, Reisner's assumption is not supported by any archaeological finds. After Djedefra's death, there was no damnatio memoriae, he enjoyed cultic veneration and also appears in later king lists. An unlawful seizure of power can therefore be ruled out. The question of why he was succeeded by his brother Khafra and not by one of his sons remains open.
Construction activity[]
Akhet Nesu[]
The Khufu pyramid complex includes five boat pits. Three of them were robbed, but two pits on the south side of the pyramid were found intact. Two dismantled wooden boats were buried in them, one of which was restored and is now on display in its own museum. Numerous graffiti containing the name of Djedefra can be found on the walls and ceiling stones of the pit in which this boat was found. It can therefore be assumed that some parts of Khufu' tomb were only completed under Djedefra.
Rawer[]
Djedefra built his own pyramid in Rawer, north of Akhet Nesu. With a side length of 106.2 m and a height of 67.4 m, it was designed to be significantly smaller than the tombs of his two ancestors Sneferu and Khufu. From Roman times until the 19th century, it was used as a quarry, which caused it to suffer so much damage that the excavators originally considered it unfinished. However, more recent excavations that began in the 1990s have shown that the pyramid complex had been completed. Parts of the temple complex that belonged to the pyramid complex were probably only completed after Djedefra's death, as they were built using the time-saving brick construction method.
The inner chamber system was again greatly simplified compared to the pyramids of Sneferu and Khufu. The burial chamber was again built underground, as in the pyramids of the 3rd dynasty, and no longer in the actual pyramid body.
The valley temple is located about 1.5 km northeast of the pyramid complex and is connected to it by a path that ends on the north side of a surrounding wall. On the east side of the pyramid is the mortuary temple and to the south of it is a boat pit, which had been robbed and used as a rubble dump by the stone thieves. The remains of several statues of the king were found there.
The tomb complex also includes two small subsidiary pyramids. The first is located at the southwest corner of the royal pyramid and served as a so-called cult pyramid. The second, which was discovered at the southeast corner of the royal pyramid, appears to be the tomb of a