27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Khufu as god
Egyptian-Japanese archaeologists working in Saqqara have stumbled upon evidence that the builder of the Great Pyramid was revered as a god for up to two millennia after his death, writes Nevine El-Aref
What is known about Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid? Little, in fact, apart from the funerary monument built on the Giza necropolis, and a tiny ivory statue -- now in the Egyptian museum -- found at Abydos.
So last week, when a cartouche bearing his name was found inside an unidentified 26th dynasty rock-hewn tomb in north Saqqara, it caused considerable excitement.
"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.
Recent discoveries at Saqqara, from left to right: Man his with hands covering hid ears; the god Harpocrates; Sekhmet, the lioness goddess
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.
This is the second time this year that Khufu's name has been in the limelight. Early in 2001 Hawass, in collaboration with the American archaeologist Mark Lehner, restudied the Turin papyrus, the earliest King List, which recorded the names of Egypt's most important Pharaohs, the duration of their rule and major events which took place during their reigns. It was first studied by the Italian Egyptologist Drovetti, and Hawass has now come up with a new hypothesis, some 63 years after the papyrus was first studied.
"Khufu reigned longer than we had earlier thought," Hawass commented. "He was believed to have ruled for 23 years, but that would surely not have been long enough to raise such a monument as the Great Pyramid of Giza.
"Ancient Egyptians recorded the duration of the reigns of their Pharaohs based on the bi-annual cattle count," Hawass said. "When the papyrus was first transcribed by philologists A. H. Gardiner and Jaroslav Cerny in 1938, they did not take this into account."
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page