Khafre
2558 BCE–2532 BCE · Old-Kingdom · Giza
Khafre was a king of Dynasty 4, reigning around 2558-2532 BCE (Shaw's conventional dates), and the builder of the second of the three great Giza pyramids, which still retains some of its original casing at the summit. He is also, by the majority view, the king most likely associated with the Great Sphinx that guards the Giza plateau, though this attribution is probable rather than certain. His magnificent seated statue in dark diorite, showing the falcon-god Horus enfolding the back of his head, is among the masterpieces of Old Kingdom royal sculpture. As with the other Giza kings, the contemporary record of his reign is dominated by the monuments themselves and their surrounding cemeteries; the later Greek tradition that cast him as a harsh ruler is reception, not Egyptian evidence.
Did you know?
He dug the Sphinx out of the sand — 1,100 years after it was carved
The Great Sphinx was carved beside Khafre's pyramid at Giza around 2500 BCE. About eleven centuries later, around 1400 BCE, the young Thutmose IV had it cleared from the sand that had buried it to the neck, and set up a stele between its paws recording that in a dream the sun-god had promised him the throne if he freed the monument.
Meet Thutmose IV →How we know
Great Sphinx conventionally attributed to Khafre (reign c. 2558–2532 BCE), carved c. 2500 BCE; Thutmose IV (reign c. 1400–1390 BCE) cleared it and erected the Dream Stele c. 1400 BCE. Gap: 2500 − 1400 = 1,100 years (~11 centuries).
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Giza
What they did here
Site of his pyramid, the second at Giza, and most likely the Great Sphinx.
In Giza at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Khafre’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.