Khufu Revered as God
This is a story from the archives, appearing in Al-Ahram weekly in September 2001. It concerns the discovery of evidence suggesting Khufu was revered as a god for thousands of years after his death. The Egyptian-Japanese team discovered the cartouche of Khufu in a rock-hewn tomb at Saqqara that dates to the 26th Dynasty, about 2000 years after the 4th Dynasty, in which Khufu reigned.
“It is a very important discovery which could cast some light on an era in which Khufu was worshipped as a god almost two thousand years after his death,” Wasida University mission field director Nozomu Kawai said.The discovery was totally unexpected. Since the mission started excavations at Saqqara in July 1991, its discoveries have included a chapel of Kahaemwat, the fourth son of Ramses II; a limestone stela of Tutmosis IV; and many relief fragments from the chapel of Menkeper- Re.”Mud-brick structures belonging to Amenhotep II and Tutmosis IV were also found, as well as other reliefs dating from the 18th dynasty to the Late Period. At first, we thought the site was part of a large New Kingdom necropolis, but now it is clear that here is also an independent cemetery of the 26th dynasty,” Kawai said.
He described the new find as the “master key” towards an understanding of the deification of Khufu.The cartouche is a very well-preserved inscription engraved on a clay plaque, representing the base of a partially deteriorated statue of a sphinx, or perhaps the lioness goddess Sekhmet. Khufu’s name was preceded by the title “Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt.”
“This is the first evidence of Khufu’s name being found outside Giza, where the pyramids and the Sphinx are located, proving that the Pharaoh was worshipped further afield and for a long period,” Zahi Hawass, director-general of Giza plateau and Bahariya oasis, told Al-Ahram Weekly. He said the Old Kingdom Pharaoh’s name had also been found on a large number of scarabs. “This clearly indicates that priests of the 26th dynasty (664-625 BC) revived the cult of Khufu during this era,” Hawass said.
Other artifacts unearthed in the empty, T-shaped 26th-dynasty tomb included four terra-cotta (burned clay) statues of Sekhmet, the goddess associated with war, in various poses — three featuring the deity with the body of a woman and the head of a lioness, and the fourth, uniquely, showing the Pharaoh Khufu between her paws. Two terracotta statues of the god Harpocrates — the Greek version of Horus the Younger — with his finger on his mouth and wearing the side lock of youth were also among the items found.
“The strangest, and most unique discovery is the statue of a man with both hands placed to his head,” Kawai said: “We are trying to figure out its significance.”
Frustrating though it may be, the Japanese mission will have to wait until the next archaeological season in July 2002 to resume excavations. Meanwhile, the walls of the tomb will be reinforced, the ceiling consolidated and all fragments of statues conserved.
Earlier in 2001 Khufu was in the news when Egyptologists Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass teamed up to reassess the Turin Papyrus, the earlist record of King’s names. They found that Khufu had reigned longer than at first thought due to an earlier misinterpretation of the bi-annual cattle count. A longer reign for Khufu equates to a longer window of time in which the pyramid needed to be built.
Read the full article at Al-Ahram Weekly
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Tags: hawass, Khufu, lehner, Saqqara
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