Who Is Khufu Cruel Or Harmful?

A famous - and infamous? - egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the Old Kingdom, Khufu was the son of King Snefru, the builder of the first true pyramid and founder of the fourth dynasty. Khufu, or Khnum-Khufwy, was the second king of the fourth dynasty. However, what the king is known for, his most famous creation and arguably what ancient Egypt is known for, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the only surviving Seven Wonders of the World. This eternal pyramid is the reason why I believe that Khufu is kind, caring, and misrepresented.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the most known mark of Khufu’s rule, is made of more than two million stone blocks, and were built by 10,000 - 100,000 people. Supposedly, Khufu is cruel because these workers were not treated

Although Herodotus made these claims that Khufu’s workers were slaves, he had no real evidence that they really were, but even so, his claims were believed by many. Khufu is actually not cruel, and has been misrepresented by historians. In a 2013 study, the American Educational Research Association (AERA), using animal fossils remains at Giza, found that enough animals were slaughtered every day to feed the workers. Richard Redding, the leader of this study told Live Science that, "They probably got a much better diet than they got in their village,". This shows that the workers were not living miserable lives, but actually lives that were better than before, and were cared for while working. These farmers were probably like Hapi, working on the Pyramid during flooding season, when they couldn’t work the fields, not forced into slavery like Herodotus proposed. In addition, evidence also suggests that Khufu’s workers even called themselves “friends of Khufu” and were paid for work. Clearly, all the evidence points to Khufu being a kind ruler who took care of his people, however, Khufu is still strongly misrepresented as and believed by many as a cruel, wicked, and unforgiving