Djedefre (also Djedefra and Radjedef) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He ruled sometime in the middle of the 3rd Millennium BC. 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.Müller, Hans Wolfgang, "Der Gute Gott Radjedef, Sohn des Rě", Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 91.1-2, pp. 129-133, 1964 His name is said to mean "Enduring like Re" and his Horus name was Kheper which is said to mean "Horus Appears". Based on the lost work Chronographiai by Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160–240), possibly inspired by earlier work of Manetho (c. 290–260 BC), of which some later translations have survived it was early on suggested that the throne name of Djedefre was Ratoises.
Not to be confused with the 5th Dynasty ruler Djedkare Isesi.
Family
While it is known that Djedefre was the son of 4th Dynasty ruler Khufu the rest of his genealogy is not fully certain with much being speculation. He is believed to have been the son of Khufu, either with second (possibly third) wife Khentetka or first wife Meritites I. As such his purported known siblings (or half siblings) would have been:Snape, Steven, "Some Ramesside appropriations of ancient Memphis", Egypt, pp. 187-19, 2015. Hetepheres II - a princess who married brother (or half brother) Kawab then married Djedefre (though this may have been honorary). Khafre - 4th Dynasty ruler Djedefhor (also Hordjedef) - a prince about which little is known. He is thought to be buried in tomb "G 7210 +7220" of the Giza East Field. Meresankh II - a princess who is thought to have married (possibly half brother) Horbaef. It has been suggested that she then married Djedefre or Khafre. Buried in tomb "G 7410 +7420" of the Giza East Field. Kawab - a prince known to have married his sister Hetepheres II. Thought to be buried in tomb "G 7110 +7120" of the Giza East Field.Stadelmann, R., "The Prince Kawab, Oldest Son Of Khufu", in Offerings to the Discerning Eye. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 295–300, 2010 with others suggested as possible including Horbaef, Khufukhaf (who may actually be Khafre) and Minkhaf
Like much in the history of the 4th Dynasty of Egypt the wives of Djedefre are not known with complete certainty. It is generally believed that he married his sister Hetepheres II (though this has been questioned) and Khentetenka.Janosi, Peter, "Die Grabanlagen der Königin Hetepheres II", Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, vol. 123, no. 1, pp. 46-62, 1996 A number of possible children of Djedefre have been proposed with varying degrees of textual support:
Hornit - based on a partial offering table found in mastaba F-13 in the Djedefre cemetery and two limestone statue bases and one statue (Cairo CG 544) all of unknown provenance (Cairo CG 57013 and Louvre E. 12630 93).Baud, Michel, et al., "Le cimetière F d’Abou Rawach, nécropole royale de Rêdjedef (IVe dynastie)", Bulletin de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale 103, 2020 Setka - known from a scribe statue found in his father's pyramid complex.Ziegler, Christiane, "Setka, eldest son of king Djedefre, as a scribe", Arnold, Do. et al., Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids, pp. 250-251, 2000 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. Neferhetepes ("Her Peace/Grace Is Beautiful") - 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. Baka/Bakai - based on a scribe statue base (CG 57004) from the eastern annex of the royal temple and a statue (CG 176 [photo 15]) of unknown provenance. It has been suggested that this is Bikheris. Itysen - known from a statue found at Abu Roash.Mostafa Waziry and Mohamed El-Seaidy, "Private Old Kingdom statue of Ity-sen at Abu Rawash", In Miroslav Bárta, Zahi Hawass, and Mohamed Megahed (eds), Living at the wall: studies in honor of Mark Lehner, Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, pp. 405-413, 2024, Nikaou-Rêdjedef - based on a false door (Louvre E. 16263) in Tomb F15 in the Djedefre cemetery.
Reign
In the early days of archaeology the numerous errors in the works of Herodotus on this subject caused much confusion on the names and order of 4th Dynasty rulers.Lloyd, Alan B, "Herodotus’ Account of Pharaonic History", Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 22–53, 1988
Djedefre is usually given a reign of between 7 and 9 years. An inscription, thought to be of Djedefre, was found written on the underside of one of the massive roofing-block beams which covered Khufu's southern boat-pits at Giza by Egyptian work crews. The inscription read "the year after the 11th count, 1st month of Peret, 24th day’" which suggests that he reigned for at least 11 years and even at least 23 years (this is based on whether the cattle count is annual or biannual which is uncertain). The attribution to Djedefre has been disputed.Verner, Miroslav, "Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology", Archiv Orientální, Volume 69, pp. 363-418, 2001 It has been 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.Von Dieter Arnold, "Überlegungen zum Problem des Pyram idctibaucs", MDAIK 37, pp. 15-28 , 1981M. Verner, "Baugraffiti der Ptahshepses-Mastaba", Praha: Universitas Carolina Pragensis [Abusir II], 1992
It has been noted that the French-Swiss team excavating Djedefre's pyramid have discovered that this king's pyramid was really finished in his reign. 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.M. Vallogia, "La descenderie de la pyramide de Radjedef 4 Abu Rawash", in C. Berger and B. MA' a (eds.), Etudes sur l'ancien Empire et la nécropole de Saqqara dédiées a Jean-Philippe Laver. Tome 2, Orientalia Monspeliensia IX, Montpellier, pp. 417-428, 1997 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.
It has been suggested that a currently unidentified 4th Dynasty pharaoh who was buried in Zawiyet al-Aryan immediately preceded or followed Djedefre.Roth, A., "Chapter 10 Political Patterns in Pyramid Placement: Why Old Kingdom Pyramids Are Where They Are", in In the House of Heqanakht, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 134–151, 2022
Pyramid complex
Djedefre continued the move north in the location of pyramids by building his (now ruined) pyramid at Abu Rawash, some to the north of Giza. It is the northernmost part of the Memphite necropolis. Abu Rawash plateau is 160 meters above sea level and would have been visible from Heliopolis 22 kilometers away and resulted in the pyramid of Djedefre being the highest in Egypt. The plateau is divided into two parts with the 4th Dynasty remains being on the Western side. Objects with the names of First Dynasty Kings Aha and Den have been found in the eastern section."Wooden sheets of 1st dynasty funerary boat found at egypt's abu rawash", Al - Ahram Gate, Jul 09 2013 To the east of the pyramid of Djedefre there is a cemetery of nobles from his reign (Cemetery F).Semenenko, Illia, "Non-royal cemeteries of Memphite Region in the Late Predynastic-Early Dynastic period as a distinct corpus of mortuary evidence", 2025.Belmonte, Juan Antonio, Mosalam Shaltout, and Magdi Fekri, "Astronomy, landscape and symbolism: a study of the orientation of ancient Egyptian temples", In search of cosmic order, selected essays on Egyptian archaeoastronomy, pp. 211-82, 2009 Cemetery F was excavated by Fernand Bisson de La Roque from 1922 until 1924 and by Marcelle Baud from 2003 until 2008 and 25 large brick mastabas from the 1st dynasty reign of Den were found.Bisson de la Roque, F., "Rapport sur les fouilles d’Abou-Roasch, 1922-1923", Fouilles de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 1/3, Cairo, 1924Bisson de la Roque, F., "Rapport sur les fouilles d’Abou-Roasch", Fouilles de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 2/1, Cairo, 1925Baud, M., "Abou Roach. La nécropole royale “F”", in Mathieu,., Travaux de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale en 2003-2004, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 104, pp. 594˗598, 2004Baud, M., "Abou Roach, nécropoles privées", in Pantalacci, L., Travaux de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale en 2004-2005, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 105, pp. 417˗422, 2005Baud, M., "Abou Roach, nécropoles privées", in Pantalacci, L. and Denoix, S (eds.), Travaux de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale en 2005-2006, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 106, pp. 347˗351, 2006Baud, M., "Abou Roach, nécropoles privées, in Pantalacci, L. and Denoix, S (eds.), Travaux de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale en 2005-2006, Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 107, pp. 260˗264, 2007
Nearby is another structure, Lepsius 1, which is either the base of an unfinished pyramid or of a mastaba, both have been suggested. It was examined in 1985 by Nabil Swelim who deemed it a 3rd Dynasty construct but that is uncertain.Swelim, Nabil, "The Brick Pyramid at Abu Rawash Number'I'by Lepsius: A Preliminary Study", Archaeological Society of Alexandria, 1987
Abu Rawash was described by Howard Vyse, of the Prussian Expedition in 1837.Vyse, H. and J. S. Perring, "Operations Carried out on the Pyramids of Gizeh 1937", London, James Fraser, 1840 The site was surveyed in the mid and late 1800s by Karl Richard Lepsius and by Flinders Petrie.Lepsius, K. R, "Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien", Berlin, Nicolaische Buchhandlung, 1849-1856Petrie, W. M. F., "The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh", London, Field and Tuer, 1843 Émile Chassinat worked at the site in around 1900 followed by Pierre Lacau in 1912-1913.Chassinat, E., "Abu Roash", CRAIBL 1, Sept. Oct.: 616-9, 1901 In modern times it was surveyed by Maragioglio, Vito, and Celeste A. Rinaldi.Maragioglio, Vito, and Celeste A. Rinaldi, "L'architettura delle piramidi Menfite. 5:[Testo]. Le piramidi de Zedefrâ e di Chefren" Officine Grafiche Canessa, 1966 Extensive excavations were conducted by Michel Valloggia in 1995-2007.Valloggia, M., "Les choix architecturaux de la pyramide de Redjedef à Abu Rawash", L'art de l'Ancien Empire égyptien, Louvres, Paris, Musée du Louvres, 1999Valloggia, M., "The 'Unfinished' Pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty. The Treasures of the Pyramids. Z. Hawass. Cairo, AUC Press, pp. 224-35, 2003 During the modern excavation a foundation hoard containing a copper axe and two stones inscribed "Year of the 1st Payment, 3rd Month of Winter Time" were found.