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 2558 BC) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the 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

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. Another queen, Khentetenka is known from statue fragments in the Abu Rowash mortuary temple. A possible son is Itysen known from a statue found at Abu Roash.

Children with Hetepheres II or Khentetka

  • Hornit (“Eldest King's Son of His Body”) known from a statue depicting him and his wife.
  • 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. 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. 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." Verner writes that the current academic opinion regarding the attribution of this date to Djedefre is disputed among Egyptologists: Rainer Stadelmann, , favour dating it to Djedefre whereas Wolfgang Helck, , Jean Vercoutter and 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."

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: "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."

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 Michel 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. The original volume of the monument of Djedefre, hence, approximately equalled that of Menkaura's own pyramid. Therefore, the argument that Djedefre enjoyed a short reign because his pyramid was unfinished is somewhat discredited. This means that Djedefre likely ruled Egypt for a minimum of 11 years if the 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. 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 at the latest, and was particularly intense during the Roman and early Christian eras ( 2,000 years ago) when a Coptic monastery was built in nearby Wadi Karin, while "the king's statues [were] smashed as late as the 2nd century AD." 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.

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 Sphinx at Giza in the image of his father was reported by the French Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev.

References

  • Riddle of the Sphinx