The Pyramid of Djedefre consists today mostly of ruins located at Abu Rawash in Egypt. It is Egypt's northernmost pyramid and is believed to have been built by Djedefre, son and successor to king Khufu. Having only reigned 10-15 years, Djedefre was succeeded by his brother Khafre who built the middle pyramid at Giza. Although much smaller than his father’s pyramid, Djedefre built his superstructure on a large hill, thereby surpassing the height of the Great Pyramid.

Though some Egyptologists in the last few decades have suggested otherwise, recent excavations at Abu Rawash carried out by Dr. Michael Baud of the Louvre Museum in Paris suggest the pyramid was in fact never finished.  If completed, however, it is suggested to have been about the same size as the Pyramid of Menkaure; the third largest of the Giza pyramids.

It is believed to have originally been the most beautiful of the pyramids, with an exterior of polished, imported granite, limestone and crowned with a large pyramidion. It is also believed for this reason the completed pyramid was largely deconstructed by the Roman Empire to build their own construction projects after the conquest of Egypt under Roman Emperor Augustus.

The pyramid's ancient name was "Djedefre's Starry Sky". Miroslav Verner wrote in 'The Pyramids'; "The destruction started at the end of the New Kingdom at the latest, and was particularly intense during the Roman and early Christian eras when a Coptic monastery was built in nearby Wadi Karin. 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."

Hands down my favorite pharaoh is Djedefre the 3rd King of Egypt’s 4th Dynasty.

Djedefre was a younger son of  Pharaoh Khufu, builders of the Great Pyramid at Giza and a Libyan consort.  His birthname Djedef-re, means “Enduring like Re,” is also know as Djedefra, Redjedef, and Radjedef. Djedefre is the first king to use “Son of Re” in his title, which may indicate that the cult of the solar god Re is growing rapidly in Egypt. Prior to this, the only other pharaoh that had referenced Re was Reneb/Nebre in the Second Dynasty. Djedefre married Khentetenka, a woman of no political clout and may have very well been a commoner. Together they had three sons Setka, Baka, Hernet, and two daughters Neferhetepes, and Nikaudjedefre.

As pharaoh, Djedefre produced the first surviving example of a royal sphinx, which was discovered at Abu Roash. It was found in the boat pit at Djedefre’s Pyramid and is described on a museum label as depicting Djedefre’s wife. It’s painted limestone and 74 cms long. According to Paul Jordan in ‘Riddles of the Sphinx’ it’s female attribution is mainly based on the yellow paint that is clearly visible. Along with the heads of Djedefre in the Louvre this is sometimes referred to as the ‘First Sphinx’ though the Museum label does not repeat this claim.    

Djedefre is also credited as creating the Sphinx at Giza. Ordering that a colossal statue be sculpted out of the rough limestone block that was left behind by the quarrying of the Giza plateau. The sphinx was given the body of a seated lion and a head that was a reproduction of Djedefre.The sphinx, which is seated at the foot of the necropolis alongside the other Giza pyramids served as one of Djedefre’s most powerful shesep ankh (“living image” in Kemetic) of his power and importance in Kemetic history. 

Khufu’s family has long since been in a scandalous conjecture. Some Egyptologists believe that Djedefre killed his elder half-brother Kauab who was the rightful heir to the throne. Djedefre did marry Hetepheres II, the widow of  Kauab to continue his claim to the throne, as his own mother was a “lesser wife” with no ties to the royal family.  He was succeeded by his younger half-brother Khafre. It remains a mystery why he was not succeeded by any of his own sons. It may have been that none of his sons was living when the king died. Perhaps because of the break with his fathers family (and the possibly murder of his brother), Djedefre moved his mortuary temple and monument north to Abu Rowash, which is the northernmost portion of the Memphis necropolis that stretches to Dashur and Maidum in the south. He began a large pyramid there, which rose to about 20 courses before he died and work was stopped. It isn’t clear what kind of pyramid this was to be, but it appears to have been far steeper than the pyramid at Giza. It had a complete enclosure wall and a small satellite pyramid to the northwest, and a causeway leading down to the Nile almost 1700 meters away. The causeway is cut into he bedrock in some places, and rises 10-12 meters above the surface.