MJ Thomas Wrote:
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> Djedfre choosing a site away from Giza and Khafre
> choosing Giza causes me to think that there was
> some falling out in the family following Khufu's
> demise, which in turn lightly suggests to me that
> Khafre wouldn't have bothered to finish his
> brother's pyramid at Abu Roash.



This idea has been bantered about for a long time. Current thought is that there was no falling out, since it is confirmed that Djedefre did finish Khufu's boat pits, suggesting he was intimately involved with the previous generation and his specific goals in being buried.

The more logical thought now, considering the inscriptions we have, is that Giza was simply a mess after the construction of Khufu's monster pyramid, and it simply wasn't feasible to begin a new pyramid at that site. Abu Roash is quite visible from Giza (see Jon Bodsworth's recent pics on the subject) and so in some ways he really wasn't too far from the family burial ground.

This reasoning is once again reinforced if we look at the fact that another king was possibly interjected between Khafre and Menkaure. Khafre's pyramid would also have left the plateau in a state of disarry, and so therefore we have Nebka moving to Zawiyet el Aryan. Of course, there's no space left after Menkaure squeezed into the last big plot at Giza, so that ended the alternating sequence of construction that we see there.




> But, then, IIRC it has been suggested that
> Menkaure might have made some effort to finish off
> Djedfre's pyramid.
> Hmmm, tricky business this family politics...
>


I have no recollection of that in the historical record. In fact, it would be extremely strange for a king, possibly two generations removed, to pick up and work on his great uncle's tomb. If anybody were to do it, it would probably have been Nebka, who was probably a son of Djedefre. For this reason, some try to place Nebka between Djedefre and Khafre. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, except it disrupts the "alternating" sequence I explained above.

If the bloodline had gone down from Djedefre to Nebka, it would make more geneological sense, but I find Nebka's pyramid to be more "modern" than Khafre's in some ways. It really is sticky regarding which way they "fit". Kings Lists, if I recall, put Nebka after Khafre. I just re-read all this a few weeks ago, but I've been so busy with other things I didn't retain much of it. It's in "Royal Families", which I do not have with me. I do have Lehner, though... and upon checking, he doesn't even mention it in his regular chapters between the pyramids, but he does show it on his "Major Pyramid Statistics" chart on page 17, and places Nebka between Khafre and Menkaure.

This is where I first learned of this relatively unknown king back when I first read the book... cover to cover, mind you... several years ago. (I had an 8 hour flight and it fit just right between takeoff and landing; not everybody has that "luxury"...lol).



Anthony

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.