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Djedefre in hieroglyphs: Khufu's son and the first son of Ra
25 October 2026
Djedefre's name is written with three signs: the sun disc of Ra, a djed pillar and a horned viper, read ḏd.f-rꜥ, "he endures like Ra". It is one of the first royal names to contain the name of the sun god.
He was the son of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, and ruled after him in the 4th Dynasty, around 2566 BC, for perhaps eight years or a little more. He was the first king to call himself sꜣ rꜥ, "son of Ra", a title every pharaoh after him used. His pyramid stands at Abu Rawash, north of Giza.
Three signs write Djedefre
The sun disc (N5) is Ra. It stands first in the cartouche, in honour of the god, though in speech it may have come last. The djed pillar (R11), a column with four bars at the top, is ḏd, "to endure" or "to be stable". The horned viper (I9) is f, "he" or "his". Together: ḏd.f-rꜥ, "he endures, Ra", usually translated "enduring like Ra".
Some books write Radjedef, following the written order of the signs. Egyptologists now prefer Djedefre, since the god's name was often written first and read last.
Djedefre made the king son of Ra
Before Djedefre, kings were above all Horus, the falcon god. His father's name, Khufu, has no god in the cartouche at all. Djedefre put Ra inside his name and took the title sꜣ rꜥ, "son of Ra", written with a duck (G39) for sꜣ, "son", and the sun disc.
The idea took hold. His brother Khafre and nephew Menkaure also put Ra in their names, and from the 5th Dynasty on, "son of Ra" stood before the birth name of every king, down to the Roman emperors written in hieroglyphs.
His name sealed Khufu's boat
In 1954 Kamal el-Mallakh, clearing rubble on the south side of the Great Pyramid, found a pit sealed with huge limestone blocks. Inside lay the parts of a cedar boat, over 43 metres long, taken apart for burial with Khufu. Builders' marks on the blocks over the pit name Djedefre. The son had buried his father's boat.
The boat was rebuilt from its 1,224 pieces and is now in the Grand Egyptian Museum. A second boat from the next pit is being restored there too. On the roofing block of that pit, an inscription with a year of the king's reign has been read as Djedefre's, suggesting he ruled at least eleven years, though not everyone accepts that reading.
His pyramid at Abu Rawash was quarried away
Djedefre did not build at Giza. He chose Abu Rawash, about 8 km to the north, on a high hill. For a long time his pyramid was thought unfinished. Recent excavations suggest it was completed, and then stripped for stone, above all in Roman and early Christian times. Today only a few courses of the core stand around a deep open pit.
Fragments of about 120 statues of the king were found smashed in a boat pit next to it, probably broken in Roman or early Christian times. Among the finds is a quartzite head of the king, now in the Louvre, from a statue that may have been one of the earliest royal sphinxes.
The old story of a murder has faded
Older books suggest Djedefre killed his brother Kawab to take the throne, and that his short reign was a break in the family. Nothing written in his time supports either. He married Hetepheres II, probably his sister, and Khentetenka. After him the throne passed to his brother Khafre, builder of the second pyramid at Giza. His Horus name was Kheper, "Horus comes into being", and his children may have included Hornit, Baka and Neferhetepes, though the evidence for some of them is thin.
Questions
What does Djedefre mean?
"He endures like Ra", from ḏd, "to endure", the djed pillar, f, "he", and Ra, the sun god.
Where is Djedefre's pyramid?
At Abu Rawash, about 8 km north of Giza. Most of its stone was carried off later, so little stands today.
Who came after Djedefre?
His brother Khafre, who built the second pyramid at Giza and is usually linked with the Great Sphinx. Khafre's son Menkaure followed him.
Glossary
- birth name
- The name a king was given at birth, written in the second cartouche after the title "son of Ra". Egyptologists also call it the nomen.
- cartouche
- An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
- dynasty
- A line of kings counted together, usually one family. Egyptologists number Egypt's kings in about 30 dynasties, following the priest Manetho.
- hieroglyphs
- The picture signs of ancient Egyptian writing, used from about 3200 BC to AD 394. A sign can stand for sounds, for a whole word, or for the kind of thing a word means.
- Horus name
- The oldest of a king's names, written in a serekh under the Horus falcon. It names the king as the god Horus on earth.
- pharaoh
- The king of Egypt. The word comes from per-aa, "great house", a name for the palace that came to mean the king himself in the New Kingdom.
- pyramid
- A royal tomb with four sloping sides meeting at a point, built in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest.
- sphinx
- A statue with the body of a lion and the head of a king, a guardian of temples and tombs. The Great Sphinx at Giza is the largest.
People in this article
Where to see it
- Giza Pyramids site
- Great Pyramid of Khufu monument
- Grand Egyptian Museum museum
- Louvre, Paris museum
Sources
More to read
- Hemiunu in hieroglyphs: how to read the name and where to see them Hemiunu in hieroglyphics: read the signs in his name and learn about his tomb at Giza and seated statue in Hildesheim.
- Amenhotep son of Hapu in hieroglyphs: how to read the name and where to see them Amenhotep son of Hapu in hieroglyphics: read the six signs in his name and find an inscribed statue at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
- Psamtik I in hieroglyphs: Wahibre, the king who took Egypt back from Assyria Psamtik I in hieroglyphics: his name psmṯk and his throne name Wahibre read sign by sign, and the Karnak stela where his daughter's adoption is recorded.