Editing Djedefre

{{short description|Egyptian Pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty}}
{{Infobox pharaoh
| name = Djedefre
| alt_name = Djedefra, Radjedef, Ratoises,<ref>Kim Ryholt: ''The political Situation in Egypt during the second intermediate Period: {{circa}} 1800 - 1550 B.C.'', Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen 1997, {{ISBN|87-7289-421-0}}; William Gillian Waddell: ''Manetho'' (The Loeb classical Library)</ref> Rhampsinit, Rhauosis<ref>Alan B. Lloyd: ''Herodotus'', book II.</ref>
| image = Djedefre sphinx head-E 12626-IMG 4294-gradient.jpg 
| image_alt =
| caption = Quartzite head of a sphinx of Djedefre from [[Abu Rawash]], [[Musée du Louvre]]
| role =
| reign = 10 to 14 years<br>{{circa}} 2566 – {{circa}} 2558 BC
| dynasty = [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|4th Dynasty]]
| coregency =
| predecessor = [[Khufu]]
| successor = [[Khafre]]
| notes =
| prenomen =
| prenomen_hiero =
| nomen = Djedefre<br>''Sȝ Rˁ ḏd.f Rˁ''<br>''The son of Ra, he endures like Ra''
| nomen_hiero = <hiero>N5-R11-f</hiero>
| horus = Hor-[[Xeper|Kheper]] <br /> ''Ḥr-ḫpr''<br>''Embodiment of Horus''
| horus_hiero = <hiero>L1</hiero>
| horus_prefix = 
| nebty = Kheper-im-nebti <br /> ''Ḫpr-m-nb.tj''<br>''Embodied in the Two Ladies''
| nebty_hiero = <hiero>L1-G17</hiero>
| golden = Bikju-nebu <br /> ''Bjk.jw-nb.w''<br>''The most golden falcon''<br><hiero>G5*G5:G5-S12</hiero><br>'''[[Abydos King List]]'''<br>Djedefre<br>''Ḏd.f Rˁ''<br>''He endures like Ra''<br><hiero><-N5-R11-f-></hiero><br>'''[[Saqqara Tablet]]'''<br>Djedefre<br>''Ḏḏ.f Rˁ''<br>''He endures like [[Ra]]''<br><hiero><-N5-R11-R11-f-></hiero>
| golden_hiero =
| spouse = [[Hetepheres II]], [[Khentetka]]
| children = Hornit, [[Setka (prince)|Setka]], and [[Neferhetepes]]
| father = [[Khufu]]
| mother =
| birth_date =
| death_date ={{circa}} 2558 BC
| burial = [[Pyramid of Djedefre]]
| monuments = [[Pyramid of Djedefre]], [[Great Sphinx of Giza]] ?<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.documentarystorm.com/riddle-of-the-sphinx/|title=Riddle of the Sphinx|date=December 23, 2009}}</ref>
}}
[[File:MountainDjedefraMainInscription.jpg|thumb|266x266px|Inscription IV-C: Personal name of Djedefre in a mountain hieroglyph, Water Mountain of Djedefre, New Valley, Western Desert, Egypt]]
'''Djedefre''' (also known as '''Djedefra''' and '''Radjedef'''; died {{Circa}} 2558 BC) was an [[ancient Egypt]]ian king ([[pharaoh]]) of the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|4th Dynasty]] during the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]]. He is well known by the [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] form of his name '''Rhatoisēs''' (Ῥατοίσης) by [[Manetho]]. Djedefre was the son and immediate throne successor of [[Khufu]], the builder of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]; his mother is not known for certain. He is the king who introduced the royal title ''Sa-Rê'' (meaning “Son of Ra”) and the first to connect his cartouche name with the sun god [[Ra]].

== Family ==
{{see also|Fourth Dynasty of Egypt family tree}}
Djedefre married his brother [[Kawab]]'s widow, [[Hetepheres II]]. She was a sister to both of them, and who perhaps married a third brother of theirs, [[Khafre]], after Djedefre's death.<ref name="D55">Dodson & Hilton, p.55</ref>  Another queen, [[Khentetka|Khentetenka]] is known from statue fragments in the Abu Rowash mortuary temple.<ref>Dodson & Hilton, p.59</ref>

=== Children with Hetepheres II or Khentetka ===
* Hornit (“Eldest King's Son of His Body”) known from a statue depicting him and his wife.<ref name="D58">Dodson & Hilton, p.58</ref>
* [[Setka (prince)|Setka]] (“Eldest King's Son of His Body; Unique Servant of the King”) known from a scribe statue found in his father's pyramid complex.<ref name="D61">Dodson & Hilton, p.61</ref> It is possible that he ruled for a short while after his father's death; an unfinished pyramid at Zawiyet el-Arian was started for a ruler whose name ends in ''ka;'' this could have been Setka or Baka.<ref name="D55" />

=== Children with Hetepheres II ===
* [[Neferhetepes]] (“King's Daughter of His Body; God's Wife”) is known from a statue fragment from Abu Rowash. Until recently, she was believed to be the mother of a pharaoh of the next dynasty, either [[Userkaf]] or [[Sahure]].<ref name="D61" />

=== Possible children with Hetepheres II or Khentetka ===
* [[Baka (prince)|''Baka'']] (“Eldest King's Son”) known from a statue base found in Djedefre's mortuary temple, depicting him with his wife Hetepheres. May be the same person as [[Bikheris]].

The French excavation team led by {{Ill|Michel Valloggia|fr}} found the names of two other possible children of Djedefre in the pyramid complex:
* Nikaudjedefre (“King's Son of His Body”) was buried in Tomb F15 in Abu Rowash; it is possible that he wasn't a son of Djedefre but lived later and his title was only honorary.<ref name="D61" />
* Hetepheres (“King's Daughter of His Body”) was mentioned on a statue fragment.<ref name="D58" />
[[File:Prince Setka as scribe-E 12629-E 12631-IMG 9671-gradient.jpg|thumb|Statue of Setka inscribed with his name and titles, in the [[Louvre]]]]
[[File:Block inscribed with the cartouche of king Djedefre - Nubian Museum.jpg|left|thumb|Block inscribed with the cartouche of king Djedefre - Nubian Museum]]
==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"/>
{{clearleft}}

==Pyramid complex==
[[file:Abu Rawash Pyramid.jpg|thumb|The ruined pyramid of Djedefre at Abu Rawash]]

Djedefre continued the move north in the location of pyramids by building [[Pyramid of Djedefre|his (now ruined) pyramid]] at [[Abu Rawash]], some {{convert|8|km|mi}} to the north of [[Giza]]. It is the northernmost part of the [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphite]] [[necropolis]].

While Egyptologists previously assumed that his pyramid at this heavily denuded site was unfinished upon his death, more recent excavations from 1995 to 2005 have established that it was indeed completed.<ref name="Clayton, pp.50-51">Clayton, pp.50-51</ref> The most recent evidence indicates that its current state is the result of extensive plundering in later periods. The destruction started at the end of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] at the latest, and was particularly intense during the Roman and early Christian eras ({{circa}} 2,000 years ago) when [[Wadi El Natrun#Invasion of Scetis|a Coptic monastery]] was built in nearby [[Wadi El Natrun|Wadi Karin]], while "the king's statues [were] smashed as late as the 2nd century AD."<ref name="Clayton, pp.50-51"/> As a result of Djedefre's pyramid being quarried for its stone, as such, there is little left standing today. It has been proven, moreover, that at the end of the nineteenth century, stone was still being hauled away at the rate of three hundred camel loads a day.<ref>{{cite book|last=Verner|first=Miroslav|author-link=Miroslav Verner|year=2001|title=The Pyramids|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cpjCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT144|location=London|publisher=Atlantic Books|page=144|isbn=9781782396802}}</ref> The 20th century has also not been kind to this monument – during the last century, it was used as a military camp and its proximity to [[Cairo]] exposed it to modern development.<ref>[https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/05/could-djedefre-pyramid-be-solar-temple.html Could Djedefre's Pyramid Be A Solar Temple?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119025203/https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/05/could-djedefre-pyramid-be-solar-temple.html |date=2020-11-19 }} May 13, 2010, Archaeology News Network</ref>

Some believe that the sphinx of his wife, Hetepheres II, which was part of Djedefre's pyramid complex, was the first sphinx created. In 2004, evidence that Djedefre was responsible for the building of the [[Great Sphinx of Giza|Sphinx at Giza]] in the image of his father was reported by the French [[Egyptologist]] Vassil Dobrev.<ref name="auto"/>

Due to the poor condition of Abu Rawash, only small traces of his mortuary complex have been found. Only the rough ground plan of his mud brick mortuary temple was able to be traced—with some difficulty—"in the usual place on the east face of the pyramid."<ref name="Clayton, p.50"/> His pyramid causeway proved to run from north to south rather than the more conventional east to west, while no valley temple has been found.<ref name="Clayton, p.50">Clayton, p.50</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscatinline}}
*[http://documentarystorm.com/history-archaeology/riddle-of-the-sphinx/ Riddle of the Sphinx]

{{Pharaohs}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Djedefre| ]]
[[Category:26th-century BC pharaohs]]
[[Category:Pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt]]
[[Category:Children of Khufu]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Place of birth unknown]]
[[Category:3rd-millennium BC births]]
[[Category:26th-century BC deaths]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]