King Khufu

King Khufu was born into a royal Egyptian family. Khufu was born around 2589 B.C. to his father Snefru and his mother Hetepheres. Khufu'a full birth name was Khnum-Khufu, meaning, "The god of Khnum protects me." Khnum was an Egyptian god at that time. Many egyptologists say that Khufu got many building ideas from his father when he was just a little boy. Pharaoh Snefru is known for building as many as three pyramids. One of these pyramids being the Bent Pyramid. (Clayton, 42)

Not much is known about King Khufu. But there are a couple of very important things that are known. King Khufu came to rule Egypt in his 20's and ruled for about 50 years. Khufu had 3 wives and 9 sons. Khufu was known for being a harsh and wicked ruler. Khufu created and had many people build the Pyramid at Giza.

King Khufu wanted to be remembered for ages to come, so he wanted something spectacular to be built for him that was the biggest and grandest in all of Egypt. He wanted a huge pyramid to be built with an amazing tomb built on the inside. King Khufu created and thought up all the ideas for the pyrimid. He had 100,000 people work on this amazing pyramid for thee months of each year. About 2.3 million stones weighing approximately 2.5 tons were used on the pyramids construction. Now thats ALOT of work! (Lassieur, 37)

In order to build the Pyramid at Giza, there was alot of manpower that was needed. And King Khufu could get that manpower because he was King/Pharaoh of Egypt, and he could make anybody or everybody do whatever he wanted for him, whenever. If these people did not do what Khufu told them to do, they would not do anything at all. They were out of work unless they worked for King Khufu.

Although the Pyrimid at Giza is the most detailed and spectacular pyramid built in all history, it also serrved as a tomb for King Khufu. Inside the tomb, egyptologists have found items such as boats that they think were to lead Khufu through his journey in the afterlife.

Today, the Pyramid at Giza is the most visited site in all of Egypt. It served as a spectacular tomb as well as a beautiful pyramid, and today is the most beautiful pyramid int he world.


Lassieur,Allison. The Ancient Egyptians. San Diego, California. Lucent Books, Inc. 2001

Clayton,Peter. Chronicle of the Pharaohs. New York:Thames and Hudson Inc. 1994

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