0:00

Imo Rocca and I'm excited to

0:02

announce season four of my podcast,

0:04

Mobile Cherries. I've got a whole

0:07

new bunch of stories to share

0:09

with you about the most fascinating.

0:11

People and things. Who are

0:13

no longer with us from. Famous figures

0:16

who died on the very

0:18

same day to the things

0:20

I wish would die like

0:22

buffet. Is all that and much

0:24

more. Listen to move Bitch! were

0:27

Reese with more Rocca wear? You

0:29

get your podcasts, Hello

0:39

and welcome to a History of

0:41

Egypt podcast many episode. This.

0:44

Is thirty years of Cooper

0:46

Question Mark? A discussion

0:48

of the Great Pyramid and recent

0:50

developments. This episode was written in

0:52

late Twenty Twenty Three. It's been

0:55

about ten years since I originally

0:57

researched and wrote my episode about

0:59

Khufu and the Great Pyramid of

1:02

Giza. At. The time of writing,

1:04

I am currently beginning to prepare

1:06

a remarks to have that episode

1:08

which will substantially expand the discussion

1:10

and analysis of the Great Pyramid

1:12

itself, the complex and monuments surrounding

1:14

it and the reign of Coup

1:16

Food and for Society in which

1:18

he lived. There. Is a

1:20

lot of information that I did not

1:22

get around to covering in my original

1:24

episode. So. At the moment

1:26

I am in the preparation stages of

1:29

a complete remastered. That. Will take

1:31

some time. It's going to be a big

1:33

project, but for those who are particularly interested

1:35

in the Old Kingdom, just know that I

1:37

am working on that. For. Now I

1:39

have some interesting information to share material

1:41

that as only come to light in

1:43

the years since I released my original

1:46

episode. And. This information may

1:48

substantially impact our assessment of

1:50

the reign of King Khufu.

2:03

The year was two thousand six

2:06

hundred bc a approximately that's just

2:08

a ballpark to give us a

2:10

starting point. At the time,

2:12

the people of Egypt lived under

2:14

the rule of Sonoma who food. The.

2:17

Horace Med Jeju the king

2:19

of southern and Northern Egypt.

2:21

Surprisingly, the reign of King who

2:24

food is quite vague. Historically, we

2:26

have little bits and pieces of

2:28

information that give a sense of

2:30

what's the Egyptian government was doing.

2:32

But. Apart from a few small

2:34

records from laser stories and

2:36

historical traditions, we really don't

2:39

know much about Kufuor, the

2:41

individual. The man himself

2:43

has personality and his accomplishments

2:45

as a monarch. Those

2:47

are extremely murky. There are very

2:49

few records and even few

2:51

images of the king himself, so

2:54

historians must piece together what they

2:56

can based on tiny scraps of

2:59

information. One. Significant

3:01

problem for Egyptologists is the

3:03

length of Kufuor rain. We

3:05

have very few texts or

3:07

inscriptions at give size, state

3:10

of the king's activities and

3:12

those of his subject. For

3:14

historians trying to reconstruct this period,

3:17

that as a serious problem. It's

3:19

like we are piecing together a

3:21

jigsaw and yet we are completely

3:23

missing the outline and the borders.

3:25

And. This problem is even more visible

3:28

when it comes to the kings

3:30

monuments. Kufuor his most

3:32

famous as the King who commissioned

3:34

the Great Pyramid, the largest paramount

3:37

in Egypt and the dominating symbol

3:39

of the country and it's monumental

3:42

legacy. The Great Pyramid is truly

3:44

and or inspiring structure. When you

3:46

stand at it's base and gave

3:49

up towards the peak you gain

3:51

a sense of unbelievable determination, herculean

3:54

effort and ceo royal power. It

3:56

has a monument that scares different

3:58

ceilings and done. People. But one

4:01

question that most folks have when they

4:03

see that structure is. How

4:05

long did it take to build

4:07

the great pyramid projects? On The

4:09

Khufu project as some historians call

4:11

it, is a matter of debate.

4:14

The traditional sega given by the

4:16

ancient Greek author throated us is

4:18

that the Great Pyramid took twenty

4:20

years to build. That.

4:22

Is a suspiciously round number, and

4:25

generally speaking, historians are quite suspicious

4:27

of any tidy numbers like that

4:29

When it comes to ancient record,

4:32

The Run: It claims that the saga

4:34

was given to him by the guys

4:36

or priests who showed him around the

4:38

gays and acropolis, but it's not clear

4:40

what their so Us or how closely

4:42

her months has questioned it. Nevertheless,

4:45

That twenty years ago has entered

4:47

the popular imagination and the general

4:50

discussion as the kind of standard

4:52

reference point for the great pyramid

4:54

construction. This is important because

4:57

it impacts how historians and

4:59

archaeologists approach the study of

5:01

the Great Pyramid: How they

5:03

imagine the duration of the

5:05

construction, the hours worked by

5:07

the builders, the number of

5:09

workers involved in the quarrying,

5:11

transportation, and installation of the

5:13

students, Not. To mention

5:15

the vast resources needed to

5:17

maintain, equipped and support this

5:20

gargantuan workforce. Depending. How

5:22

you interpret the Herodotus figure of

5:24

twenty years and how you calculate

5:27

the size of the workforce and

5:29

the people involved in the various

5:31

support industries. Different historians,

5:33

archaeologists, and commentators can arrive

5:36

at wildly different figures for

5:38

the scale of the Khufu

5:40

project. For some archaeologists, the

5:43

project itself might seem surprisingly

5:45

small as few as ten

5:47

thousand individuals working on the

5:49

geese and acropolis at once.

5:52

Father's. The scale might

5:54

increase dramatically. A hundred thousand

5:56

or more involved in all

5:58

aspects of can. Again,

6:01

that is a massive topic that

6:03

I will explore in greater detail

6:05

in my remarks to of the

6:07

Great Pyramid episode. But. Just

6:10

to illustrate the point, If. You

6:12

accept the Herodotus number twenty

6:14

Years as the length of

6:16

the great pyramid construction that

6:18

can seriously impact your understanding

6:20

of the monument. And

6:22

your interpretation or imagination about

6:24

it's construction. Many discussions of

6:27

the Great Pyramid, especially those

6:29

found in older sources or

6:32

sometimes in the online discourse.

6:34

Depend fundamentally on that twenty year

6:37

figure that has given to us

6:39

by her auditors. And for centuries

6:41

it was the classic time scale

6:43

for the great pyramid construction. But.

6:46

Of course, the big question is. What?

6:48

If her rodgers has was wrong. What?

6:51

Is the great pyramid did not

6:53

take twenty years. A nice round

6:55

figure to construct. What happens if

6:57

you change the numbers. In

7:00

Twenty Twenty Three, that is the

7:02

situation in which Egyptologists now finds

7:04

themselves. Thanks. To recent

7:06

excavations, our sources for the

7:08

length of King Coup for

7:11

Rain have changed significantly and

7:13

historians must now integrate new

7:15

information in there reconstructions of

7:17

the Great Pyramid project. These.

7:20

New pieces of information and the questions

7:22

that they raise. Ah well worth exploring

7:24

and for the rest of us episode

7:27

were going to do just that. Around

7:34

twenty six hundred bc a

7:36

in the rain of can,

7:38

I'm hopeful d Giza Plateau

7:40

would have been a hive

7:42

of construction activity, not just

7:44

the great pyramid itself, but

7:46

numerous subsidiary and satellite monuments.

7:49

There. Were thought smaller pyramids often

7:51

called the satellite or queens pyramids

7:53

on the eastern edge of the

7:55

structure. There was the

7:57

kings memorial or mortuary temple. On.

8:00

The eastern face of the pyramid itself

8:02

there was a long causeway and the

8:04

valley Tembo which connected to the Great

8:06

Pyramid with the banks of the river

8:09

Nile. There. Was also a paved

8:11

courtyard and an enclosure wall at

8:13

separated at the pyramid from the

8:15

outside world. There were

8:17

large boat pick that held the

8:19

deconstructed wooden boats that belonged to

8:22

came Khufu. Then there

8:24

were the must have as low

8:26

mud brick buildings arranged in streets

8:29

and sort of neighborhoods on the

8:31

east and west sides of the

8:33

monument. What this means is that

8:35

the Giza Plateau is not just

8:38

pyramids. There are hundreds of structures.

8:40

a raid around the plateau. And.

8:42

Each of those have their

8:44

own archaeological and historical tails

8:46

to town. In.

8:49

Twenty Twenty an archaeological team

8:51

conducted a survey, conservation, and

8:53

excavation work on the eastern

8:55

side of the Great Pyramid.

8:58

that's was once the location

9:00

of Cuckoos Memorial or mortuary

9:02

Temple. A special structure

9:04

attached to the pyramid that provided

9:06

a location for offerings, prayers, and

9:09

worship of the deceased ruler. Most

9:12

pyramids have memorial or mortuary

9:14

temples, and they are a

9:16

classic feature of Ancient Egyptian

9:18

tomb building. A Coup

9:20

Food memorial temple is almost entirely

9:22

destroyed today. The only visible pieces

9:25

that survive are a section of

9:27

the ancient floor made a fair

9:30

salt. And. A couple of

9:32

stone pillars that once framed a

9:34

courtyard in the monument. Archaeologists

9:36

working here have been able to

9:38

identify the foundations of the Coup

9:40

Food Memorial Temple, and they have

9:43

been able to reconstruct it's outline

9:45

and ancient appearance. You. Can

9:47

see schematic of the temple online and now

9:49

put a link in the episode description. But

9:51

to give a basic idea, the Memorial Temple

9:54

of Kufuor used to be of roughly square

9:56

building. It had an open courtyard

9:58

at the center. The line of

10:01

columns around the edges. On the

10:03

western side closest to the pyramid,

10:05

there were storage rooms and possibly

10:07

spaces for statues of the king.

10:10

And they may have been stone

10:12

steel I Large tablets inscribed with

10:14

images and hieroglyphs abutting the permit

10:16

itself and recording are praising the

10:18

king who flew. All

10:21

of these features the courtyard, the

10:23

collins, the statues and the still.

10:25

I have been found that other

10:27

pyramid complexes some the Fourth Dynasty

10:29

and other periods. So. Although

10:31

we do not have a one

10:33

hundred percent definitive reconstruction of the

10:36

Khufu Temple, the work of the

10:38

archaeologists at Giza and information provided

10:40

by other monuments gives us a

10:43

fairly summit picture. Anyway,

10:45

and twenty twenty, the archaeological

10:47

team was working at the

10:49

Memorial Campbell. They. Were

10:51

moving pieces of cement and stone

10:54

that an earlier generation there had

10:56

placed as part of a restoration

10:58

project. That restoration was

11:00

well intentioned but it now got

11:03

in the way of proper study,

11:05

conservation and understanding of the building

11:07

as part of their work to

11:10

study and can serve the monument

11:12

and protected from the tourist crowds.

11:14

The archaeological team remove those pieces

11:17

of cement and stone. When.

11:19

They did for the team.

11:21

Uncovered something a nice. The

11:23

twenty twenty excavation reeled several

11:25

pieces of limestone. Limestone is

11:27

fairly common at Giza. that's

11:29

what the Great Pyramid is

11:31

made of. These pieces of

11:33

limestone. Were different. A One

11:36

they were small. They were

11:38

not giant box like you

11:40

would associate with construction. These

11:42

pieces were small, delicate, and

11:44

more significantly they were decorated.

11:46

The team uncovered fragments of

11:48

the ancient temple at. Once.

11:51

Upon a time Cooper Memorial

11:53

tempo would have been brightly

11:55

decorators was beautiful images showing

11:57

religious rituals and scenes from

11:59

the. King's life and reign. Again,

12:02

we know that thanks to other

12:04

pyramids, excavations at other

12:06

monuments have uncovered pieces of

12:08

the ancient memorial temples, causeways

12:11

and valley temples associated with

12:13

the pyramids. Egyptologists have studied

12:15

these extensively and identified a

12:17

huge variety of scenes associated

12:20

with the ancient monuments. There

12:23

are way too many to discuss, but just

12:25

as a small example, from the Pyramid of

12:27

Unas at Saqqara, we

12:29

have scenes of ships transporting enormous

12:31

stone columns that would be used

12:33

in the decorations of the temples.

12:35

From the Pyramid of Sahuray at

12:38

Abu Siyya, we have images of

12:40

a great trading fleet that sailed

12:42

down the Red Sea coast to

12:44

the mysterious land of Punt. And

12:47

from many of these monuments, we

12:49

have images of royal officials, religious

12:51

celebrations and even soldiers in the

12:53

Egyptian army. Again, there are too

12:56

many to discuss. You will

12:58

address them in future episodes about the

13:00

Old Kingdom, but if you're interested now,

13:02

I will provide some references in the

13:04

description of this episode. Getting

13:07

back to Giza, the archaeologists working

13:09

here in 2020 uncovered

13:12

pieces that originally decorated the

13:14

memorial temple of Khufu. These

13:17

were not the first pieces of Khufu decoration

13:19

to ever be discovered, more on that later,

13:22

but they were a significant find. For

13:24

one thing, they came from the

13:27

temple itself, and they included important

13:29

scraps of information. The

13:31

pieces of limestone recovered from the

13:33

Khufu Memorial Temple showed a variety

13:35

of motifs. One of them

13:37

showed the god Horus, or possibly a

13:39

statue of that god. Another

13:42

showed a figure of the king or

13:44

a deity clutching the ankh, the symbol

13:46

of life. They were also

13:48

images of stars portraying the nighttime sky.

13:51

And one motif had a curious

13:53

set of buildings. On

13:56

one wall of Khufu's memorial temple, there

13:58

used to be an image of

14:00

shrines. These shrines were

14:02

made of wood and reeds, and

14:04

arranged in two distinct structures. One

14:07

form of these shrines had a curved

14:09

roof over the top, as if the

14:11

ancients had taken bundles of reeds or

14:14

wood and bent them to form an

14:16

arch. The other kind were

14:18

more straight, but with a sort of plume

14:20

or growth out the top of the building.

14:23

This is very interesting for

14:25

Egyptologists, because we know what

14:27

these shrines are. The

14:29

shrines with curved roofs and

14:31

with plumes are a common

14:33

motif in ancient religious art.

14:36

They are called the pernu

14:38

and the perwer. The pernu

14:40

and perwer are shrines related

14:42

to northern and southern Egypt

14:44

respectively. They appear frequently

14:46

in royal Egyptian art, related

14:48

to religious rituals, festivals and ceremonies,

14:51

that kind of thing. And

14:53

they are often associated with the

14:56

king's said festival. The

14:58

said festival was a royal jubilee,

15:00

a commemoration of a king's reign,

15:03

and a ceremony to reinvigorate or

15:05

renew his power and authority. Traditionally

15:08

the said festival seems to have

15:10

taken place every 30 years, with more

15:14

frequent renewals after that. That's not

15:16

a hard and fast rule, but

15:18

it's a general trend among the

15:20

ancient Egyptian kings. A said

15:22

festival occurred around year 30, and then if the

15:24

king lived and ruled longer,

15:26

he might repeat them in subsequent years.

15:29

The presence of these shrines and some

15:31

of the other motifs and hieroglyphs on

15:33

the newly discovered blocks suggest,

15:35

tentatively, that Khufu's memorial temple

15:38

originally had a scene of

15:40

the king's said festival. That

15:43

idea is not brand new. Other

15:46

pieces of Khufu's memorial decoration do

15:48

show elements that might relate to

15:50

a said festival. I'll

15:52

come back to those a bit later, but

15:54

for now it's enough to know that excavations

15:56

in 2020 recovered new pieces that has

18:00

identified some dates. One

18:02

of the masons marks includes a text

18:04

from the reign of Khufu. It

18:07

records the installation of a block

18:09

in the year of the 14th

18:12

occasion, the first month of Shemu.

18:15

That is the ancient Egyptian version of a

18:17

date. The first month of

18:19

Shemu is the first month in the

18:21

season of Shemu. It roughly

18:24

corresponds to April in the

18:26

Western Gregorian calendar. The reference

18:28

to the 14th cattle

18:30

count, or the 14th occasion, is

18:32

an interesting one. From

18:34

the Old Kingdom, historians have many

18:37

references to an event called the

18:39

Cattle Count. This was the

18:41

ancient Egyptian version of a census. It

18:43

seems to have involved royal officials travelling

18:46

throughout the country to assess the size

18:48

of the cattle herds that were grazing

18:50

in different parts of the land. During

18:53

the Old Kingdom, this was one of

18:55

the standard ways to measure wealth. The

18:58

richer you were, the more cattle you were

19:00

able to support and feed. And

19:02

for the royal government, a regular counting

19:04

of the cattle herds was a very

19:06

easy way to measure the wealth of

19:08

the kingdom over time. Were

19:10

the herds increasing or decreasing? How

19:13

many resources did the king have at

19:16

his command? Historically speaking,

19:18

the cattle count seems to have

19:20

occurred every two years. Again,

19:22

that wasn't exactly set in stone

19:25

and there is some evidence for

19:27

the occasional variation. But

19:29

roughly speaking, two years is a good rule

19:31

of thumb. In that sense,

19:33

a reference to the 14th occasion,

19:36

the 14th cattle count, on the

19:38

wall of a boat pit next

19:40

to the Great Pyramid is an

19:42

extremely interesting find. And if the

19:44

cattle count in the reign of

19:46

Khufu was every two years, that

19:48

would mean these blocks were going into the pit

19:50

during year 28 of the king's reign. Now,

19:54

to be clear, historians and Egyptologists still

19:56

have a lot of work to do

19:59

on these particular records, and this

20:01

is by no means definitive. But

20:03

on the evidence we have, and

20:05

previous scholarship related to ancient Egyptian

20:08

administration and records, every

20:10

two years seems to be the most likely

20:12

rhythm for the cattle count. And

20:14

so it's a very strong bet

20:16

that these blocks are recording the

20:18

28th year of Khufu. This

20:20

is significant for a couple of reasons. First

20:23

of all, it gives us a rough

20:25

date for the construction of the boatpets,

20:27

and it helps to clarify the possibility

20:30

that King Khufu actually reigned for almost

20:32

30 years. The

20:34

discovery of the masons marks by a

20:36

team from Wasida University is very significant

20:39

on its own merits, but it's

20:41

even more important because it complements

20:43

a find from just a few

20:45

years earlier. This is

20:47

where our third piece of evidence comes into

20:49

play. In

20:56

2013, a French expedition

20:58

near the Red Sea uncovered

21:01

the famous Wadi al-Jaf papyri,

21:04

also known as the Diary of

21:06

Merar, the Wadi al-Jaf papyri date

21:08

to the reign of Khufu, and

21:11

they record construction work related to

21:13

the Giza project. I

21:15

have discussed the Diary of Merar

21:17

previously in Episode 6b, but

21:19

one interesting feature of those papyri

21:22

is that they provide another date for

21:24

King Khufu's reign. Among

21:27

the scraps of papyrus discovered by

21:29

the French expedition, there was a

21:31

reference to the 13th occasion of

21:33

the cattle count, more specifically,

21:35

the year after the 13th occasion.

21:38

That would correspond to year 27

21:41

of King Khufu's reign. The discovery

21:43

of the Wadi al-Jaf papyri, just

21:45

a couple of years before the

21:47

work at Giza, further solidifies the

21:49

idea that King Khufu actually reigned

21:51

much longer than we thought. For

21:54

one thing, when we combine both of these

21:56

records, that provides much

21:59

greater certainty. that the cattle

22:01

count did happen every two years during

22:03

the reign of Khufu. If

22:05

the cattle count happened every year,

22:07

for example, then the Wadi Al

22:09

Jaff reference to a year after

22:12

the 13th cattle count would be

22:14

the same year as the 14th

22:16

cattle count. That might work

22:18

in a scenario in which the 13th

22:20

cattle count was the last of Khufu's

22:22

reign, if he died shortly after.

22:25

But now, thanks to the discovery at

22:27

Giza, we know that there was in

22:30

fact a 14th cattle count. Harnologically

22:32

speaking, this must mean that the

22:34

cattle count was every two years.

22:37

To have a record of the 13th

22:39

occasion, the year after the 13th occasion,

22:41

and then the 14th

22:43

occasion, there must be a year

22:46

in between. So by fortunate happenstance,

22:48

we may have confirmation of that

22:50

chronology. On this basis, it

22:53

seems likely that Khufu reigned at

22:55

least 28 years. By

22:58

themselves, these two historical records from

23:01

the Wadi Al Jaff and the

23:03

Giza boatpit fundamentally change our

23:05

picture of King Khufu's reign and

23:07

the construction of the Great Pyramid.

23:10

At the very least, the record

23:12

of construction work happening at Giza

23:14

in years 27 and

23:16

28 suggests that the

23:18

timeline for work on the Great Pyramid

23:20

and its complex is at least 28

23:23

years. That

23:25

is significant. It is a full 40% increase

23:29

on the dates provided by Herodotus.

23:32

That will fundamentally change our picture

23:34

of the construction process, how

23:36

long it took to build the pyramid

23:38

and its surrounding monuments, how many people

23:40

may have been involved, and

23:43

the overall scale of the

23:45

Great Pyramid project. For anyone

23:47

interested in the Old Kingdom,

23:49

the reign of Khufu, or

23:51

the pyramid itself, these are

23:53

essential pieces of information. Again,

23:55

none of this is definitive just

23:57

yet. The Wadi Al Jaff papyri

24:00

are still undergoing examination and

24:02

full publication. The team from

24:04

Wasida University is still working on the

24:06

second boatpet of Khufu, and it may

24:08

be some time before they are able

24:10

to fully publish their results. And

24:13

while the fragments of decoration from

24:15

Khufu's memorial temple suggest that the

24:17

king had images of a said

24:19

festival, there is still a great

24:21

deal of work to be done

24:23

both in excavation, archival work, and

24:25

restoration and study. In short,

24:28

the examination of Khufu's reign is

24:30

still a work in progress, but

24:32

in the past 10 years, it

24:34

has changed dramatically from what we

24:36

earlier might have assumed. These

24:39

are exciting times indeed. Thank

24:46

you for listening to the History of

24:48

Egypt podcast. By simply listening to the

24:51

show, you are contributing in a meaningful

24:53

way, and helping me to pursue this

24:55

podcast as my full-time work. I am

24:58

most grateful that you have joined me.

25:00

I would also like to thank the

25:02

priests, my top-tier supporters on patreon.com. These

25:05

fine folks are responsible for the

25:07

divine offerings, the sort of celebrations

25:10

that would have taken place in

25:12

Khufu's memorial temple. I would especially

25:14

like to thank Veronica, Mykost,

25:16

Ashley, Yola, TJ,

25:19

Nadine, Kyler, Terry,

25:22

Evan, Andy and Chelsea, and

25:24

Linda. Folks, you are

25:26

all too generous. May you

25:28

enjoy a multitude of said

25:30

festivals, and may the great

25:32

gods smile upon your reign,

25:34

providing blessings and reinvigoration as

25:36

you journey through life. To

25:39

everyone listening, thank you for joining me. I

25:42

will see you soon. What

26:15

did it take to survive an ancient

26:17

siege? Why was the cult of Dionysus

26:19

behind so many slaver bolts in ancient

26:21

Rome? What's the tragic

26:23

history and mythology behind Japan's most

26:25

haunted ancient forest? We're

26:28

Jen and Jenny from Ancient

26:30

History Fangirl. Join us to

26:32

explore ancient history and mythology

26:34

from a fun, sometimes

26:36

tipsy, perspective. Find

26:38

us at ancienthistoryfangirl.com or wherever you

26:40

get your podcasts.