Sneferu

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Name of Sneferu
Snofru Eg Mus Kairo 2002.png
Statue of Sneferu; Egyptian Museum , Cairo
Horus name
G5
V30
U4 		X1
Srxtail2.svg
Neb-maat
Nb-m3ˁt
Lord of the mates
Sideline
G16
V30
U4 		X1
Neb-maat
Nb-m3ˁt
Lord of the mates
Gold name
G8
G5
S12
Bik-nebu
Bjk-nbw
Goldfalke
Proper name
Hiero Ca1.svg
S29 F35 I9
D21 		G43
Hiero Ca2.svg
Seneferu, Snefru
S.nfr.w (j)
Who makes me perfect
Royal Papyrus Turin (No. III./9)
V10A S29 F35 HASH G7 V11A G7

Snefer ...
S.nfr
The perfect ...
(with name ideogram
for a king who represents the
Horus falcon)
List of Kings of Abydos (Seti I) (No.20)
Hiero Ca1.svg
S29 F35 G43
Hiero Ca2.svg
Seneferu
S.nfr.w (j)
who makes me perfect
List of Kings of Saqqara (No.16)
Hiero Ca1.svg
S29 F35 I9
D21 		G43
Hiero Ca2.svg
Seneferu
S.nfr.w (j)
Greek
Manetho variants: 		Africanus : Soris
Eusebius : missing
Eusebius, AV : missing

Sneferu (also Snefru , Sneferu or Seneferu ; Greek Soris ) was the first ancient Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ) of the 4th Dynasty in the Old Kingdom . He ruled from about 2670 to 2620 BC. During his reign there were military campaigns to Libya and Nubia as well as a large trade expedition to Lebanon . Sneferu gained fame mainly through his building activities. He was the only pharaoh to build three monumental pyramids , the total volume of which clearly exceeds that of the largest pyramid in Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Cheops . Architecturally, they initiated the change from the earlier step pyramids to the real pyramid.

Sneferu was revered to a high degree throughout the later course of ancient Egyptian history and the death cult celebrated in his honor lasted for a long time. He was considered the ideal of the just ruler, as which he was honored in several literary works.

Origin and family

The origin of Snofru is largely in the dark. Only his mother, who was called Meresanch I , can be determined with some certainty . It is however not occupied contemporary, but only on the from the fifth dynasty originating Palermo Stone and in a graffito from the 18th Dynasty . Even if Sneferu is often seen as the son of his predecessor Huni , no family connection to Huni has yet been proven for him or for Meresanch I. Pierre Montet therefore already suspected in the 1960s that Snefru was not related to the royal family, but was originally a provincial official from the area of Beni Hasan . The reason for this assumption was the mention of the place name "Menat-Snofru" in the mortuary temple of Snofrus Meidum-Pyramid . In Beni Hasan itself a place called Menat-Chufu is mentioned in some graves . Montet suspected that both places are identical and only after the inauguration of Snofru's successor Cheops (Chufu), who according to Montet also came from here, a renaming took place. Without further evidence, these considerations must remain hypothetical for the time being .

The only known wife of Snefru was Hetepheres I , who, however, did not have the title of consort of the king and should therefore only be regarded as a concubine. From this connection two sons emerged, on the one hand Snofru's heir to the throne Cheops and, according to more recent findings, probably also Kawab , who was previously regarded as the young deceased Crown Prince of Cheops.

Several other children were from unknown wives. Sons were Rahotep , Nefermaat , Anchhaf (which Rainer Stadelmann, however, considers a son of Cheops), Netjeraperef and possibly Ranefer , Kanefer and Iynefer . There is also another prince who is only known for his monumental mastaba grave M17 in Meidum , whose name has not been passed down. Daughters of Snofru were Hetepheres, the wife of Anchhaf, as well as Neferetkau and Neferetnesu. Meritites I , a consort of Cheops, is also considered to be the daughter of Sneferu. According to a more recent suggestion, she could have been a co-wife of Sneferu instead of a daughter and after his death became the king consort of Cheops.

Domination

The Palermostein

In contrast to most of the other rulers of the Old Kingdom, the reign of Sneferu has been handed down in great detail. The main sources make it the aforementioned Palermo Stone (Palermo fragment) and the Cairo fragment No. 4 (C4 / K4 -. By W. Helck ), which probably both from the former, under Neferirkare -built annals stone of the 5th Dynasty come and list important events from the reigns of all previous kings. In the case of Sneferu, for example, a trade expedition and two war campaigns are mentioned, but also religious festivals or the production of statues and wooden objects, including a harp, which is attested here for the first time in Egyptian history.

Term of office

The exact duration of the Snofru's reign is uncertain. The royal papyrus Turin , which originated in the New Kingdom and is an important document on Egyptian chronology , gives 24 years, which began in the 3rd century BC. Living Egyptian priest Manetho 29. The highest contemporary documented date is a “24. Times the count ”, which means a nationwide census of livestock for the purpose of tax collection. The problem with this is that these censuses originally took place every two years (that is, an “xth year of counting” was followed by a “year after the nth time of counting”), but later could also take place annually (on an “xth year of counting” was followed by the “yth year of counting”). For Snofru's reign at least an annual count is attested: According to the Palermostein, the “7th Times of the count "immediately the" 8. Times". In addition, dates from his reign have survived for 12 years of the census, but only for three years after the census. It is therefore to be expected with an irregular count under Snofru.

From the Egyptological side, however, a very long period of government is often assumed. For example, Thomas Schneider assumes that the 24 years given in the Turin Royal Papyrus actually go back to counts and that Sneferu would have ruled for at least 48 years. Rainer Stadelmann is also assuming a term of office of 45 to 48 years due to the enormous construction activity of the Snofru. Rolf Krauss, on the other hand, with the help of dates from the Red Pyramid in Dahshur , calculated that all three pyramids could be built in a period of only 31 years.

Domestic politics

Under Sneferu there was a significant reorganization of the administrative structure of Egypt. While the administration was originally based only on individual agricultural goods, the beginning of the Old Kingdom began to divide the whole country into districts . By the end of the Old Kingdom there were 38 Gaue, the number of which increased to 42 through division into Roman times. From the time of Djoser , the first ruler of the Old Kingdom, only the name of a district has come down to us. Only immediately before and during the reign of Snofru did the number of districts skyrocket. Six districts are mentioned for the first time in the grave of a high official named Metjen in Abusir , who lived during the transition from the 3rd to the 4th dynasty. Ten other districts are first mentioned in the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid in Dahshur, two on a stele of Snofru's son Netjeraperef and two in the grave of the official Pehernefer in Sakkara . By the end of Snofru's reign, the number of districts had grown to at least 22. The Palermostein also reports on the establishment of 35 estates and the construction of a fortress.

Foreign policy

trade

For the "year after the 6th time the count", the Palermostein reports on the construction of ships and the arrival of 40 shiploads of cedar wood from Lebanon . In the following year, more ships were built from this wood and in the "year of the 8th count" palace doors were made from the remaining wood.

Campaigns

Sneferu kills a Bedouin; Rock inscription in Wadi Maghara, Sinai

The Palermostein contains information on two campaigns. The first took place in the "year after the 6th time of the count" and was directed against Nubia . Allegedly 7,000 prisoners were taken and 200,000 head of cattle were captured. Two rock inscriptions at Khor el-Aquiba, across from Karanog , north of the second Nile cataract, provide additional information about this campaign . The first is from the beginning of the campaign. She names a court official named Chaibaubata as the commander and estimates the strength of the Egyptian army at 20,000 soldiers. The second inscription was added after the return of the army and tells of 7,000 Nubians captured. Another court official named Sauibi is named as the commander. It is not clear from the inscriptions whether the supreme command changed during the campaign (perhaps due to the death of Chaibaubata) or whether the command was with both officials.

The second campaign was directed against Libya and took place towards the end of Snofru's reign. It ended with the capture of 1,100 Libyans and the capture of 13,100 head of cattle. Possibly a military security of the Sinai Peninsula with its copper and turquoise deposits took place under Sneferu . For a long time the only source for this is a rock inscription in Wadi Maghareh , on the Snefru a Bedouin kills . No information is given about the type and scope of the area security. A recently found seal shows that the port of Wadi al-Garf was the starting point for Snofru's military expedition.

The court

Statue of Rahotep

In addition to the two high officials Metjen and Pehernefer already mentioned, it was mainly his sons to whom Sneferu entrusted the most important offices. His son Rahotep was promoted to general and high priest in Heliopolis and at the same time "first of the greats of the hall", "chief of the porters" and as "magazine elder" the head of the great pharaonic food store. As vizier, Nefermaat held the highest office in the state. Both were buried in great mastabas in Meidum . Anchhaf and Kawab also held the office of vizier in the later course of the 4th Dynasty.

Construction activity

The Meidum pyramid

The ruins of the Meidum pyramid
Cross-section through the Meidum pyramid with marking of the construction phases
The cantilever vault in the burial chamber

→ Main article: Meidum pyramid

Already at the beginning of his rule the construction of the first monumental pyramid Snofrus began in Meidum. For a long time it was ascribed to Huni, and Sneferu was only seen as its finisher. Since no evidence of Huni has been found in Meidum to date, it is now generally assumed that Sneferu was the sole builder.

Although originally conceived as a step pyramid, the structure contained elements from the beginning that were typical of the later real pyramids. The Meidum pyramid was built in three different construction phases: The original plan (E1) provided for a seven-tier pyramid. When the building had grown to four or five levels, the plan was changed around the 4th or 5th year of the count (E2): The pyramid was to be expanded by one level to a total of eight. Around the 8th year of the count, the building was provisionally completed. One or two years later, however, in the 9th year of the count and immediately after the start of construction work on Snofru's second major project, the Bent Pyramid, one last renovation was finally carried out (E3). The eight-tier structure was given a smooth cladding and turned into a real pyramid. The completed building had a side length of 144 m. With a height of almost 92 m, it was the tallest structure in the world until the bent pyramid was completed.

The entrance is about 15 m high on the north side. From there, a long corridor leads diagonally downwards, then runs horizontally for a few meters below the pyramid base and finally opens into the burial chamber via a section leading vertically upwards. However, this has never been used. The remains of a wooden coffin were found in the access corridor, but this came from a later time. Both the high entrance and the construction of the burial chamber represented architectural innovations. While in older pyramids the burial chambers were always very deep under the actual pyramid body, here it was laid out at the level of the base. The ceiling construction, for which a cantilever vault was used, is also a novelty. Only with the north-south orientation of its longitudinal axis, the burial chamber remained connected to the older building traditions, while the burial chambers of later pyramids were always oriented east-west.

The mortuary temple of the pyramid was first erected on the east side and not, as was previously the case, on the north side. It is considered the best preserved temple of the Old Kingdom, the ceiling panels are still in their original place. It is built very simply for this. It consists of two rooms that lead to a small open courtyard with an altar and two large, unlabeled steles. On the south side of the pyramid are the remains of a small cult pyramid , originally built in a stepped shape , which served as a symbolic tomb for the Pharaoh's Ka . It is the first known secondary pyramid. On the north side of the pyramid is a mastaba that may have served as a queen's tomb. All three structures are surrounded by an enclosure wall. Outside this wall, directly at its northeast corner, stands the monumental mastaba M 17, in which an unknown prince was buried. The valley temple of the Meidum pyramid has not yet been discovered.

The tomb is today in a ruinous condition, which is due to the fact that its outer lining has slipped off at some point. In this context, the theory of the physicist Kurt Mendelssohn gained popularity , who believed that this slipping had already happened during construction. However, this theory could be invalidated by the fact that graffiti from the New Kingdom were found in the mortuary temple. In the rubble belt around the pyramid, graves were also found, the oldest of which date from the 22nd dynasty . Therefore, today it is generally assumed that the cladding will slide off gradually.

The kink pyramid in Dahshur

The kink pyramid in Dahshur
The three different construction phases of the bent pyramid
The cult pyramid in Dahshur

→ Main article: Buckling pyramid

Construction of the bent pyramid in Dahshur started around the 8th year of the count. In contrast to its predecessor in Meidum, it was planned as a real pyramid from the start, but mistakes in the construction planning meant that its appearance had to be changed several times. The original plan was for a pyramid with a very steep incline of about 60 °. When this angle was found to be too steep, the pyramid base was widened and the new tilt angle reduced to 54 °. When the structure had finally reached a height of 45 m, the plan was changed again: For all the higher stone layers, the angle of inclination was reduced to only 43 °, which gave the pyramid its characteristic shape. After its completion, it finally had a side length of 183 m and a height of almost 105 m.

The reason for these repeated changes is usually the relatively soft clay slate subsoil in connection with the originally too steep angle of inclination, which led to cracks in the building. However, some researchers also take the view that the unusual shape of this pyramid was not a stopgap solution at all, but was actually planned from the outset. For example, the hypothesis was put forward that the different slope angles could symbolize the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt. According to another idea, the eight sides and the base represent the unity of the gods of Heliopolis .

The chamber system, which is divided into two parts, is quite unusual. The first is accessible through an entrance on the north side of the pyramid. A descending corridor opens into an antechamber far below the pyramid base, from which a steep staircase leads up to the so-called "lower chamber". South of this chamber is a vertical shaft, called a “chimney”, which lies directly in the vertical pyramid axis. The so-called "upper chamber" is significantly higher and can be reached through a corridor that leads down from the west side of the pyramid. The upper and lower chambers are only connected by a narrow corridor roughly cut into the masonry. Both chambers and the antechamber have ceilings that are made as a cantilever vault.

On the east side of the building was an open sacrificial site, which consisted of an altar and two steles bearing the name and title of Sneferu. In later times this sacrificial site was gradually expanded into a small temple. Another cult pyramid was built on the south side of the bent pyramid, but this time no longer in a stepped construction. With a side length of 52.5 m, it is by far the largest example of all cult pyramids in terms of both absolute size and in relation to the main pyramid. The entire pyramid district was enclosed by a limestone wall. The access was formed by an access path which, coming from the east, flows into the north side of the enclosing wall. It connects the complex with the valley temple, which is the oldest known example of this type of building. This temple consists of three sections: The southern one consists of magazine rooms. The walls of this section of the temple are decorated with reliefs depicting a procession of personified sacrificial foundations. The middle part of the temple is an open courtyard, the northern part is a portico with ten decorated pillars on which Sneferu is depicted celebrating the Sed festival for the 30th anniversary of the throne. Behind the pillars there are six niches that originally contained statues of the ruler.

The Red Pyramid in Dahshur

The Red Pyramid in Dahshur
Floor plan and cross section of the Red Pyramid
The reconstructed pyramidion in front of the red pyramid

→ Main article: Red pyramid

Probably in the 14th year of the census, the construction site for the red pyramid was prepared just two kilometers north of the bent pyramid. The actual laying of the foundation stone is documented in writing for the 15th year of the count. This time, with an angle of inclination of less than 45 °, a significantly flatter angle of inclination was used from the beginning than in the previous buildings. Subsequent building changes could thus be avoided. Construction work was completed in the 24th year of the census. The finished pyramid had a side length of about 219 m and a height of about 104.5 m. The limestone cladding was almost completely removed in later times, but fragments of an end stone have been found. This pyramidion is the oldest find of its kind to date. However, it has a steeper incline at around 54 ° than the remaining remains of the Red Pyramid or the upper section of the neighboring older bent pyramid (both around 43 °) the steeper lower part has a similarly large angle of inclination.

The entrance to the chamber system is on the north side of the building at a height of almost 31 m. A descending corridor leads from there to two north-south facing chambers, one behind the other, only a few meters above the base of the pyramid. Both have ceilings that were built as a cantilever vault. From the southern room, a short corridor leads to the actual burial chamber, which is a little higher up. It also has a cantilever vault. An innovation is their east-west orientation.

The other buildings of the pyramid complex seem to have been completed only after the death of Snefru. The mortuary temple is largely destroyed today. Its center was a sacrificial site with a false door. Storage rooms made of adobe bricks were built around them. The pyramid and temple were originally surrounded by an enclosure wall. A larger brick building was found southeast of the complex, which apparently housed workshops. The way up remained unfinished, a valley temple has not yet been discovered. Near the Nile valley, however, the remains of an enclosure wall were discovered that could have belonged to the former pyramid city, which Rainer Stadelmann believes, however, belonged to the valley temple.

The question in which pyramid Sneferu was finally buried remains unanswered. Achmed Fakhry considered the upper chamber system of the bent pyramid to be his final resting place, while Rainer Stadelmann considered the red pyramid. So far there is no clear evidence for either of the two variants. No sarcophagus was found in any of Snofru's pyramids. Mummy remains were found in the Red Pyramid in the 1950s, but even these could not be assigned to Sneferu and most likely came from a later burial.

The small step pyramids

The ruins of the pyramid of Saujet el-Meitin
Plan of the pyramid of Sinki

Scattered all over Egypt are at least seven rather similar small step pyramids. The southernmost of them is on the Nile island of Elephantine . The others are in el-Kula near Hierakonpolis , in Edfu-South , Ombos near Naqada , Sinki near Abydos , Saujet el-Meitin and Seila on the edge of the Faijum oasis . The pyramid of Athribis , which is no longer in existence today, may also belong to this group.

These structures have a number of characteristics in common: they are roughly the same size, consist of only roughly hewn stones of local origin, and their sides are oriented not towards the cardinal points but towards the course of the Nile. The most striking feature, however, is the complete lack of a chamber system; so obviously they could not have served as graves. What function they had instead has not yet been clarified. Older theories assume that they are cenotaphs (mock graves) that served either for the king or for queens. A later theory sees them as evidence of royal power in connection with a palace system . Stephan Seidlmayer , who has put forward the latest theory on how these structures work, considers them to be places of representation and worship of the king in the administrative and economic centers of Egypt. He assumes that such a monument could originally have stood in every district of Egypt.

Only the pyramid of Seila can be clearly assigned to Sneferu. During excavations in the late 1980s, two steles were found there, one of which bears the name of this ruler. There are no such unambiguous finds in the other pyramids. Although a granite cone was found in the ruins of the pyramid of Elephantine with an inscription of the name of Snofru's predecessor Huni, this inscription only refers to the foundation of a fortress and does not go into the pyramid. It has therefore been suggested that this cone was merely reused as a building material. Since only the stele in Seila would be left for a definite date, all the small step pyramids would have to be dated to the reign of Snefru.

However, this view is not undisputed. Some researchers now assume that the Seila pyramid is an architectural advancement. In contrast to the other small step pyramids, it is four-tiered and not three-tiered. It also has a slightly larger side length. Accordingly, the other pyramids would have been built under Huni and only the pyramid of Seila under Sneferu. In which period of his reign it was established is unclear due to the lack of written evidence. Roman Gundacker , for example, puts it at the beginning, while Miroslav Verner puts it at the end.

The Sadd el-Kafara dam

On the Palermostein reports of the construction of a “wall of Upper and Lower Egypt” are reported for the “year after the 6th time the count”. This could mean the Sadd el-Kafara dam in Wadi Garawi near Helwan on the eastern bank of the Nile. Since the Wadi Garawi is located directly opposite the necropolis of Dahshur on the western bank of the Nile, the dam could have served as a protective barrier for the necropolis. Ceramic finds that were made in its ruins and that were built in the 3rd to 4th dynasty speak in favor of equating the building mentioned in the Palermostein with the dam. Sadd el-Kafara was never completed, however, because the dam seems to have been destroyed by floods of rain during the construction work. Only the beginnings of the structure at the edges of the wadi have survived. From them it can be reconstructed that it originally had a length of 110 m and a height of 14 m. The interior of the structure consisted of a 33 m wide earth core, which was enclosed by two stone, step-shaped supporting structures. The width at the base was 98 m and at the crown 56 m.

Statues

The only reliably documented and largely preserved round plastic image of Snefru is a heavily damaged limestone statue that was excavated and published by Ahmed Fakhry in Dahschur and that Rainer Stadelmann accidentally found in 1994 in the antique magazine of Giza . It is 200 cm high and was originally painted. The king wears the white crown of Upper Egypt , a wide collar , a bracelet and a short apron . The remains of a statue of Sneferu made of alabaster were also found at the Pyramid of Seila, but this was only preserved in fragments. The Palermostein reports of two other statues, one of which was made of copper and the other of gold. However, nothing of these statues has survived.

Sneferu in the memory of ancient Egypt

Detail of a grave stele of Sneferu from Dahshur: Sneferu wears a Hebsed robe and the double crown of Egypt.

Old empire

Sneferu enjoyed an extensive cult of the dead during the Old Kingdom. Up to the end of the 6th dynasty , a total of 18 funeral priests and officials associated with the cult of the dead are recorded. Four of them are known from Giza, one from Abusir, one from Meidum and twelve from Dahshur. Obviously, then, the latter place was the center of Snefru's worship. If one only assumes the sheer number of known funeral priests and officials, this was certainly not the most extensive cult of the dead for a king of the 4th dynasty. For example, 73 priests and officials are attested for Cheops and 32 for Chephren. But he stopped much longer. While the death cult of Cheops and Chephren gradually came to a standstill in the 6th dynasty, Pharaoh Pepi I even issued a decree during this time in which he granted Snofru's civil service in Dahshur special privileges. The cult lasted until the First Intermediate Period and flourished again in the Middle Kingdom .

Such a cult of the dead was always of great economic importance, as numerous agricultural goods ( domains ) were set up to supply offerings . 16 such domains can be identified for Snofru. There are also eleven place names that were formed with the name of Sneferu.

Middle realm

The cult of the dead of Sneferu continued in the Middle Kingdom. Ten funeral priests and officials from Dahshur are occupied for this period. Furthermore, numerous monuments were found here in which Sneferu is invoked in sacrificial formulas together with gods. So he seems to have already been worshiped as God in the Middle Kingdom. The civil servants of Dahshur also saw him as the highest employer, whose cultic veneration ultimately formed their own livelihood.

The lesson for Kagemni

The teaching for Kagemni is only incomplete. The Papyrus Prisse on which it is handed down comes from the 12th dynasty, but the teaching itself could already be in the 9th / 10th. Dynasty . Sneferu does not play an active role in this text, the main character is rather Kagemni , who has made the maxims described in the doctrine his own and is promoted to vizier after the death of Huni and the accession of Snofru. A vizier named Kagemni is actually historically documented, but he only lived under Pharaoh Teti II in the 6th dynasty and is anachronistically placed at the beginning of the 4th dynasty.

The prophecy of Neferti

In the prophecy of Neferti is a narrative that at the beginning of the 12th dynasty under Amenemhat I was born. In the guise of a supposedly old prophecy, it was intended to legitimize the takeover of power by this king who was not related to the previous royal family of the 11th dynasty . The action takes place at the royal court of Sneferu. He has future events reported by the reading priest Neferti. Neferti first paints a gloomy picture of the future: The Nile is drying up, foreigners are settling in the north of the country and the sun god Re turns away from the people. But he ends his prophecy with the prospect of a savior who will restore order to the country. He is described as the son of a Nubian woman and called Ameni, which makes it very easy to see that no one other than Amenemhet I is meant.

Sneferu is portrayed in this story as an extremely affable ruler. So he always addresses his subordinates as “comrades” and “friends”.

The stories of the Westcar papyrus

The Westcar papyrus

The 12th dynasty is usually assumed to be the time of origin of the stories of the Papyrus Westcar , although there are now increasing arguments to date them to the time of origin of the papyrus itself, i.e. the 17th dynasty . The action takes place at the royal court and revolves around Cheops as the main character. In order to pass the boredom, he lets his sons tell wonderful stories. A total of four sons of Cheops appear and report on magicians and their deeds. The third story is told by Prince Bauefre and is about a boat trip that Sneferu takes on a lake. He has 20 young women put at the oars of the boat, clad only in nets. When one of the women falls a pendant in the form of a fish into the water, Sneferu has his reading priest Djadjaemanch fetched, who finds the pendant again by using a magic spell to "fold" the lake and simply put one half of the water on the other.

The affability of Snefru emerges here even more clearly than in Neferti's prophecy. While he is also very familiar with his subordinates here, his successor Cheops is, in contrast, portrayed as extremely serious and sometimes outrageous .

Inscriptions and monuments on Sinai

In the Middle Kingdom , Sneferu was also highly worshiped on Sinai . In Wadi Maghara, but mainly in the Hathor temple of Serabit el-Chadim and in its vicinity, numerous stelae , statues and sacrificial tablets were erected in his honor and rock inscriptions were attached. Sneferu was worshiped here on the one hand as a protective deity, on the other hand also as the "primordial king" who, according to Egyptian ideas, opened up Sinai for the first time to Egypt. The latter is unlikely to correspond to the historical facts, but rather seems to go back to the rock painting of Sneferu in Wadi Maghara.

New kingdom

The priesthood of Sneferu in Dahshur seems to have ceased to exist in the New Kingdom . Worship on Sinai had also come to a standstill. Only a fragment of the inscription has survived from Serabit el-Chadim. However, the Meidum pyramid became a place of pilgrimage between the 18th and 20th dynasties . Numerous hieratic graffiti in the mortuary temple attest to the veneration of Snofru. After the 20th dynasty this worship also came to an end, and during the 22nd dynasty graves were finally dug in the rubble belt of the pyramid.

Ptolemaic period

The last Egyptian evidence to mention Snefru comes from the 2nd century BC. A stele and a sarcophagus that belonged to two priests are particularly important here. Among her numerous titles is that of "Priest of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Sneferu". The two priests came from Saqqara and it can be assumed that Sneferu assumed the role of an ancient king and local god of the local necropolis during this late phase of Egyptian history and perhaps received a place of worship near the Serapeum .

Modern reception

The French writer and archaeologist Guy Rachet published five novels about the pyramid builders of the 4th Dynasty in 1997 and 1998. The first two volumes The Pyramid of the Sun and Stone Dream are set during the reign of Snefru and have his successor Cheops as the main character.

A 1960 discovered main-belt - Asteroid carries Snefru names in English spelling: (4906) Seneferu .

literature

General

  • Peter A. Clayton : The Pharaohs . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-8289-0661-3 , pp. 40 ff., 49, 88.
  • Martin von Falck, Susanne Martinssen-von Falck: The great pharaohs. From the early days to the Middle Kingdom. Marix, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3737409766 , pp. 90-101.
  • Alan Gardiner , Eckart Kißling: History of Ancient Egypt. An introduction (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 354). Kröner, Stuttgart 1965, DNB 451433629 , pp. 43, 78, 79, 81 ff., 96, 106, 137, 152, 460, 467.
  • Roman Gundacker : Investigations into the chronology of the rule of Snofru (= contributions to Egyptology. Volume 22). Vienna 2006.
  • Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Snefru . In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005.
  • Pierre Montet : Ancient Egypt . Magnus, Essen 1975, pp. 14, 73, 84, 96, 104, 110, 117 ff., 156, 205, 283, 310, 312 ff., 319, 325, 342, 367, 377, 436, 446.
  • Pierre Montet: The Life of the Pharaohs . Propylaea, Frankfurt; Pawlak, Herrsching 1960, 1970, 1995, pp. 13-21.
  • Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs . Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 , pp. 278-279.

About the name

To the pyramids

For further literature on the pyramids see under Meidum-Pyramid , Knickpyramid , Rote Pyramid and Pyramid von Seila .

Questions of detail

  • Jürgen von Beckerath: Chronology of the pharaonic Egypt . von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-2310-7 , pp. 15, 26, 39, 56, 156-160, 162, 175, 187.
  • Christoph Eger: Stone tools from the area around the Red Pyramid in Dahschur. In: MDAIK. Volume 50. von Zabern, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-8053-1587-2 , ISSN  0342-1279 , pp. 35-42.
  • Diana Faltings: The pottery from the excavations at the northern pyramid of Sneferu in Dahshur. Work report on the 1983–1986 campaigns. In: MDAIK. Volume 45. von Zabern, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-8053-1106-0 , ISSN  0342-1279 , pp. 133-154.
  • Wolfgang Helck : A seal imprint from the pyramid city of Snefru. In: Göttinger Miscellen . (GM) Vol. 119. Göttingen 1990, ISSN  0344-385X , pp. 43-44.
  • Wolfgang Helck: Snofru. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture (SAK). Volume I. Buske, Hamburg 1974, ISSN  0340-2215 , pp. 215-225.
  • Mark Lehner: The Pyramid-Tomb of Hetepheres and the Satellite Pyramid of Khufu. 1985, ISBN 3-8053-0814-0 .
  • E. Schott: The gold house under King Sneferu. In: Göttinger Miscellen. Volume 3), Göttingen 1972, pp. 31-36.
  • Rainer Stadelmann: Contributions to the history of the old empire. The length of the reign of Sneferu. In: MDAIK. Volume 43. von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0537-0 , ISSN  0342-1279 , pp. 229-240.
  • Miroslav Verner: Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology . In: Archives Orientální. Volume 69, Prague 2001, pp. 363-418, ( PDF; 31 MB ).
  • Dietrich Wildung : The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity . (= Munich Egyptological Studies. (MÄS) Volume 17. Part 1). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 105–152.

Web links

Commons : Snofru  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Period of government 29 years.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alan H. Gardiner: The royal canon of Turin. Griffith Institute, Oxford 1997, ISBN 0-900416-48-3 , illustration 2; The representation of the entry in the Turin papyrus, which deviates from the otherwise usual syntax for hieroboxes, is based on the fact that open cartouches were used in the hieratic . The alternating time-missing-time-present-certain name elements can be traced back to material damage in the papyrus.
  2. ↑ Year numbers according to Schneider: Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Düsseldorf 2002.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Helck: History of ancient Egypt (= Handbook of Oriental Studies. Department 1: The Near and Middle East. Volume 1). Brill, Leiden / Cologne 1981, pp. 51-52, ( online version ).
  4. ↑ Pierre Montet: Geography de l'Egypte ancienne. Deuxième partie: To-chemâ, la Haute Égypte . Paris 1961, p. 160, ( PDF; 11.0 MB ).
  5. ^ A b Roman Gundacker: A contribution to the genealogy of the 4th dynasty . In: Sokar. No. 16, 2008, pp. 22-51.
  6. ↑ see M. Verner: Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology. Prague 2001.
  7. ^ M. Verner: Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology. Prague 2001, pp. 365-368.
  8. ^ Schneider: Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Düsseldorf 2002, p. 278.
  9. ^ Rainer Stadelmann: The great pyramids of Giza . Akad. Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1990, p. 260.
  10. ^ Rolf Krauss: Chronology and pyramid construction in the 4th dynasty (= Orientalia. Volume 66). Rome 1997, pp. 1-14; Rolf Krauss: The length of Sneferu's reign and how long it took to build the Red Pyramid . In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology. Babd 82, London 1996, p. 43 ff.
  11. ^ Wolfgang Helck: Gaue . In: Lexicon of Egyptology . Volume 2, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1977, columns 385-408.
  12. ^ Roman Gundacker: Two rock inscriptions from the time of Snofru . In: Sokar. No. 13, 2006, pp. 70-73.
  13. ^ Pierre Tallet: Les "ports intermittents" de la mer Rouge à l'époque pharaonique: caractéristiques et chronologie. In: Bruno Argémi and Pierre Tallet (eds.): Entre Nil et mers. La navigation en Égypte ancienne (= Nehet. Revue numérique d'Égyptologie Volume 3). Université de Paris-Sorbonne / Université libre de Bruxelles, Paris / Brussels 2015, p. 60, tab. 1 ( online ).
  14. ↑ Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Snefru. In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005, p. 12.
  15. ↑ a b c d Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Sneferu. In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005, p. 19.
  16. ↑ Kurt Mendelssohn: The riddle of the pyramids . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-216-X .
  17. ↑ Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Snefru. In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005, p. 16.
  18. ↑ Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Snefru. In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005, p. 18.
  19. ↑ John Shae Perring , Richard Howard-Vyse, William Howard: Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837: with an account of a voyage into upper Egypt, and Appendix. Volume 3 Appendix. Fraser, London 1842, p. 65; Digitized version of the University of Heidelberg online .
  20. ^ Corinna Rossi: Architecture and Mathematics in Ancient Egypt. Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-107-32051-2 , pp. 207f.
  21. ↑ Ahmed Fakhry: The Pyramids . The University of Chicago Press, Chicago / London 1961, p. 97.
  22. ↑ Stadelmann: The Egyptian pyramids . Pp. 101-104.
  23. ↑ Renate Germer : Remains of royal mummies from the pyramids of the Old Kingdom - do they really exist? In: Sokar. No. 7, 2003, pp. 37-38.
  24. ^ A b Rainer Stadelmann: Pyramiden, AR. In: Lexicon of Egyptology. Volume 4, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1982, Sp. 1205.
  25. ^ Günter Dreyer , Werner Kaiser: To the small step pyramids of Upper and Middle Egypt . In: MDAIK . Vol. 36. von Zabern, Mainz 1980, pp. 56-57.
  26. ^ Jean-Philippe Lauer : Histoire monumentale des pyramides d'Égypte . Cairo 1962, p. 230.
  27. ^ Stephan Seidlmayer: The state facility of the 3rd Dyn in the north-west town of Elephantine. Archaeological and historical problems . In: Manfred Bietak (ed.): House and palace in ancient Egypt . Vienna 1996, pp. 195-214.
  28. ^ Jean Leclant, Gisèle Clerc: Foullies et travaux en Égypte et au Soudan, 1986-1987 . In: Orientalia, Volume 57 , Rome 1988, p. 336, plate XXXII.
  29. ^ Andrzej Ćwiek: Date and Function of the so-called Minor Step Pyramids . In: Göttinger Miscellen . Volume 162, Göttingen 1998, p. 51 ( online ).
  30. ↑ a b Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Snefru. In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005, p. 11.
  31. ↑ Roman Gundacker: Notes on the construction of the pyramids of Snefru. In: Sokar. No. 11, 2005, p. 13.
  32. ^ M. Verner: Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology. Prague 2001, p. 368, note 74.
  33. ^ Günter Dreyer : Wadi Garawi . In: Lexicon of Egyptology. Volume 6, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1986, column 1097.
  34. ↑ Hourig Sourouzian: Royal and private sculpture of the Old and Middle Kingdom . In: Hawass (ed.): The treasures of the pyramids . P. 368.
  35. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 105-106.
  36. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 152–156.
  37. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 200-202.
  38. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 109–111.
  39. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, p. 106.
  40. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 107-108.
  41. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 124–127
  42. ↑ Günter Burkard, Heinz J. Thissen: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history I. Old and Middle Kingdom . LIT, Münster / Hamburg / London 2003, pp. 83-85.
  43. ↑ Günter Burkard, Heinz J. Thissen: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history I. Old and Middle Kingdom . Pp. 137-141.
  44. ↑ Günter Burkard, Heinz J. Thissen: Introduction to the ancient Egyptian literary history I. Old and Middle Kingdom . P. 178.
  45. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 128-137.
  46. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 141-146.
  47. ↑ D. Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Munich / Berlin 1969, pp. 147–152.
predecessor Office successor
Huni King of Egypt
4th Dynasty (beginning) 		Cheops
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on November 14, 2008 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Sneferu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hor-neb-maat (Horus name); Bik-nebu (Gold Horus name); Sneferu; Seneferu; Snefru; Soris (Manetho africanus)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Egyptian king of the 4th dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH 27th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 27th century BC Chr.