Thanks for your research into the the history of the translation of Akhet Khufu as a term which was applied to Khufu's pyramid in antiquity.

I still can't claim this was the name given to the pyramid by Khufu because I think the legend would have been specific if that was the case.

Egyptologists, including I.E.S. Edwards, have linked the emergence of true pyramids with smooth faces of stone to the ascendancy of the solar cult in the Fourth Dynasty c.2600 BC.

This has long been regarded as a progression from step pyramids which are interpreted as a stairway to the stars.

Therefore the Great Pyramid was iconic of the emergence of the sun from a primordial mound of earth in the Egyptian myth of creation, as re-enacted at the dawn of each new day on the horizon.

Therefore Akhet Khufu, which has been translated by Egyptologists as Khufu’s Horizon for over a hundred years, linked the ascension of the king’s soul to the sun.

An Akh was a shining celestial being dwelling with the gods, so Ahket Khufu has also been translated as the Splendour of Khufu signifying the embodiment of king’s celestial destiny.

This was based on a belief in the pyramid as the portal to the celestial realm with the king’s body secured within the pyramid.

We now have a good reason why Khufu's sarcophagus was designed as a model of a sphere with a diameter equal to the height of the pyramid, as published in Appendix C of my monograph on the Grand Gallery in 2006.

Mark



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2019 01:55AM by Mark Heaton.