Editing Djedefre (section)

==Reign==
[[File:Abydos KL 04-03 n22.jpg|thumb|left|140px|Cartouche name of Djedefre in the Abydos-List - name shows honorific transposition, being written in the order ''Ra-Djed-Ef'']]
[[File:Djedefra wearing the crown of Lower Egypt-E 11167-IMG 9702-gradient.jpg|thumb|Red Quartzite head of Djedefre, likely a part of a [[Ka statue]], in the [[Louvre]].]]
[[File:Feet of a statue of Didufri-E 12627-IMG 9696-gradient.jpg|thumb|Red Quartzite feet of a statue of Djedefre, likely a part of a [[Ka statue]], in the [[Louvre]]. The statue fragment also includes his [[Horus name]] ''Kheper'', alongside a cartouche of his name.]]

The [[Turin King List]] credits him with a rule of eight years, but the highest known year referred to during this reign appears to be the year of his 11th [[cattle count]]. The anonymous year of the 11th count date presumably of Djedefre was found written on the underside of one of the massive roofing-block beams which covered Khufu's southern boat-pits by Egyptian work crews.<ref>Miroslav Verner, Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology, Archiv Orientální, Volume 69: 2001, p.375</ref> [[Miroslav Verner]] notes that in the work crew's mason marks and inscriptions, "either Djedefra's throne name or his Golden Horus name occur exclusively."<ref name="Verner, p.375">Verner, p.375</ref> Verner writes that the current academic opinion regarding the attribution of this date to Djedefre is disputed among Egyptologists: [[Rainer Stadelmann]], {{Ill|Vassil Dobrev|fr}}, {{Ill|Peter Jánosi|de}} favour dating it to Djedefre whereas [[Wolfgang Helck]], {{Ill|Anthony Spalinger|de}}, [[Jean Vercoutter]] and [[William Stevenson Smith|W.S. Smith]] attribute this date to Khufu instead on the assumption "that the ceiling block with the date had been brought to the building site of the boat pit already in Khufu's time and placed in position [only] as late as during the burial of the funerary boat in Djedefre's time."<ref name="Verner, p.375"/>

The German scholar [[Dieter Arnold]], in a 1981 MDAIK paper noted that the marks and inscriptions of the blocks from Khufu's boat pit seem to form a coherent collection relating to the different stages of the same building project realised by Djedefre's crews.<ref>Dieter Arnold, MDAIK 37 (1981), p.28</ref>
Verner stresses that such marks and inscriptions usually pertained to the breaking of the blocks in the quarry, their transportation, their storage and manipulation in the building site itself:<ref>M. Verner, ''Baugraffiti der Ptahscepses-Mastaba'', Praha 1992. p.184</ref> "In this context, the attribution of just a single inscription—and what is more, the only one with a date—on all the blocks from the boat pit to somebody other than Djedefra does not seem very plausible."<ref>Verner, p.376</ref>

Verner also notes that the French-Swiss team excavating Djedefre's pyramid have discovered that this king's pyramid was really finished in his reign. According to Vallogia, Djedefre's pyramid largely made use of a natural rock promontory which represented around 45% of its core; the side of the pyramid was 200 cubits long and its height was 125 cubits.<ref>Michel Vallogia, Études sur l'Ancien Empire et la nécropole de Saqqara (''Fs Lauer'') 1997. p.418</ref> The original volume of the monument of Djedefre, hence, approximately equalled that of [[Menkaura]]'s own pyramid.<ref>Vallogia, op. cit., p.418</ref> Therefore, the argument that Djedefre enjoyed a short reign because his pyramid was unfinished is somewhat discredited.<ref name="Verner, p.377">Verner, p.377</ref> This means that Djedefre likely ruled Egypt for a minimum of 11 years if the [[Cattle count (Egypt)|cattle count]] was annual, or 22 years if it was biennial; Verner, himself, supports the shorter, 11-year figure and notes that "the relatively few monuments and records left by Djedefra do not seem to favour a very long reign" for this king.<ref name="Verner, p.377"/>
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