The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty IV) is a “golden age” of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from c. 2613 to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity, as well as one during which trade with other countries was documented.
The Fourth Dynasty heralded the height of the pyramid-building age. The relative peace of the Third Dynasty allowed the Dynasty IV rulers the leisure to explore more artistic and cultural pursuits. King Sneferu‘s building experiments led to the evolution from the mastaba-styled step pyramids to the smooth-sided true pyramids, such as those on the Giza Plateau. No other period in Egypt’s history equalled Dynasty IV’s architectural accomplishments. Each of the rulers of this dynasty (except for Shepseskaf, the last) commissioned at least one pyramid to serve as a tomb or cenotaph.
The Fourth Dynasty was the second of four dynasties that comprised the “Old Kingdom”. It was a prosperous period, and this era is known for its advancement and concentrated government, as seen in the organized building of pyramids and other monuments. King Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, held territory from ancient Libya in the west to the Sinai Peninsula in the east to Nubia in the south.
Knowledge of the Old Kingdom comes mainly from these structures and objects discovered in the desert cemeteries of Giza.
Rulers of the Fourth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt
Sneferu
Sneferu, lauded as the “Bringer of Beauty”, “Master of All Justice”, and “Ruler of Lower and Upper Nile”, was the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This topic cannot be confirmed due to the gap in dynasties. He descended from a family in Middle Egypt that lived near Hermopolis and most likely ascended to the throne by marrying a royal heiress. There is still debate about who his father was, with the credit often given to Huni. His mother, Meresankh I, was either a lesser wife or concubine of Huni, which, if it were the latter, would technically not qualify him as having royal blood.
Egypt in the Third Millennium BC was, by all accounts, a land of peace and plenty. Elites commonly ate fattened ducks and geese and wore fine white linens.
Until his reign, Egyptian kings were considered earthly incarnations of Horus, obtaining total deification exclusively in death. Sneferu was the first king to proclaim that he was the embodiment of Ra, another sun deity. Khufu would pursue his father’s path, taking the name Son of the Sun god.
Overall, Egypt was ruled by two centres of power—legal and traditional authority. Legal authority constituted governing by the king, not over the people directly, but via viziers and nomarchs. Formal authority was derived from the deities giving a king the divine right to rule as he pleased. At its heart, the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian government became organized so that only the king could direct traditional authority.
The Bent Pyramid was Sneferu’s first attempt at building a perfect structure, but it slopes and eventually bends to a lower angle, giving the system a squished look. His Red Pyramid is the first true pyramid and earned its name from the reddish tint in the limestone. The Red Pyramid was considered the first pyramid, approximately 150 years after King Djoser built the structures. The Red Pyramid was the first to be given a solid foundation stable enough for a taller building. He is also said to be responsible for a series of pyramids built in Seila. He commissioned three pyramids, but some records point to a fourth. Although he did not construct any pyramids at Giza, he is known as the king who moved the most stone and brick. Many of Sneferu’s political expeditions were to other countries to secure a substantial labour force and access to a large store of materials. He travelled to Nubia and Libya for these things. His incursions in these areas allowed Sneferu to secure a large labour force, so large that it caused massive devastation to the raided countries. He also needed cattle and other food sources to support the people building his pyramids. By the end of his military efforts, he had captured 11,000 prisoners and 13,100 head of cattle.
Khufu
Khufu, known to the Greeks as Cheops and Sneferu’s successor—though it is unclear whether he was the biological son of Sneferu—was a widely known king. He is still well-known in present-day media and featured in movies, novels, and television shows. His fame stems from his pyramid on the northeastern plateau at Giza, where he was buried. His mortuary temple was built on the northern end of the pyramid, which is no longer accessible due to ravages by grave robbers. Only three-dimensional reliefs have been recovered and have lasted into the modern day, including many limestone busts and clay figurines.
Khufu’s activities in and out of Egypt are not well documented (except for his architectural work) and were highly romanticized by the Ancient Greeks. These Greeks felt that Khufu was a wicked man who offended the deities and forced his subjects into slavery. As the son of Sneferu, Khufu was believed to be illegitimate and, therefore, unworthy of the throne. Even if he was Sneferu’s son, he did very little to expand the country of Egypt and failed to follow in his father’s footsteps. Only a few records stated he was involved in any political activities. The best guess historians can make is that there is evidence of the construction of a harbour on the Red Sea coast excavated by John Gardner Wilkinson and James Burton in 1823.
Djedefre
Historians credit Djedefre with a reign of eight years. Not much is known of Djedefre, including his inconclusive lineage. He may be Khufu’s son or Khufu’s brother. It is widely suggested that he is the son of a lesser queen who murdered the rightful heir to the throne and Djedefre’shalf’s brother, the crown prince Kawab. Djedefre chose to build his pyramid several kilometres north of Giza, creating speculation that there was a family feud that caused Djedefre to want to be far away from Khufu’s tomb. A more favourable conclusion was that Djedef chose to be buried closer to Iunu, the centre of the cult of Ra. His pyramid also features a statue of his wife, Hetepheres II, in the form of a sphinx. She was a daughter of Khufu and had been Kawab’s wife. It is sometimes suggested that this was the first actual Sphinx, although there is debate about the Sphinx at Giza that was credited to Khafre. She became the longest-living royal member of the dynasty, living into the reign of Shepseskaf.
Khafre
Khafre, son of Khufu, succeeded his supposed brother, Djedefre, after his short reign. He built his pyramid close to his father, matching it in style and being almost as large. At the front of the pyramid causeway lies the Great Sphinx, which is said to bear his features. There is still debate on whether his Sphinx was erected before Djedefre’s. Khafre’s Sphinx was well-known and closer to his subjects, making it harder to determine which was built first due to biased record keeping.
Menkaure
Menkaure succeeded his father, King Khafre. Like many kings in this dynasty, the length of Menkaure’s reign is uncertain, projected for more than 63 years, but it can certainly be an exaggeration. His pyramid is the third and smallest in the Giza pyramid complex. It is known as Netjer-er-Menkaure, which translates into “Menkaure is Divine”. A sarcophagus was found within the pyramid, made of basalt and approximately eight feet in length and three feet in height. Menkaure’s was not inscribed like many previous pyramids, and the interior had no record keeping.
Shepseskaf
Shepseskaf is generally accepted as the last king of the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, succeeding Menkaure. There is no conclusive evidence of who his mother is, though it is believed that he was the son of a minor queen. Who his wife was also is unknown. Shepseskaf broke the chain of pyramid building by the previous five kings. Instead of a triangular pyramid, he constructed a rectangular block called the Mastabat al-Fir’aun, “Pharaoh’s Bench”. In like fashion, however, the little script was found inside his tomb, and he was buried straightforwardly.
Notable individuals of the Fourth Dynasty
Baka
Several ancient lists of kings have survived. They disagree, however, and none of them may be considered complete. The Turin King List has a lacuna between Khafre and Menkaure, where the author had listed a king who reigned between these two pharaohs. The king’s name and the reign’s length are entirely lost in the cavity. The Saqqara Tablet also notes a king between Khafre and Menkaure, but here, too, the name is lost. The identification of Baka is unresolved. Some authorities have equated this king with Bikheris, on Manetho’s list, who could correspond to the Egyptian name Baka or Bakare.
Khentkaus I
Perhaps the most intriguing evidence of the fourth dynasty is the status of Khentkaus I, also known as Khentykawes. She was the daughter of Menkaure, and her tomb was built along the Menkaure causeway. She may have ruled as king.
Her tomb is a large mastaba tomb, with another off-centre mastaba placed above it. The second mastaba could not be centred over her primary mastaba because of the free, unsupported space in the rooms below.
On a granite doorway leading into her tomb, Khentkaus I is given titles that may be read either as the mother of two kings of Upper and Lower Egypt, as the mother of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt and king of Upper and Lower Egypt,, or, as one scholar reads it, king of upper and lower Egypt and mother of two kings of upper and lower Egypt.
Furthermore, her depiction of this doorway also gives her the full trappings of kingship, including the false beard of the king. This depiction and the title have led some Egyptologists to suggest that she reigned as king near the end of the fourth dynasty.
Her tomb was finished in a characteristic niche style of architecture. However, the niches were later filled in with a smooth limestone casing.
Age of the Pyramids
The Age of the Pyramids refers to the Fourth Dynasty, when most well-known pyramids were built, including those at Giza. King Sneferu was the first king to express an interest in funerary rites and tombs, which led him to the planning of the largest pyramid in Egypt. His first pyramids were called the Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid. The “Age of the Pyramids” was not just about building large and easily recognizable structures but also changing funerary practices and rituals. This includes the burying of elites in large formats and the use of extensive mummification.
Religious changes
The Fourth Dynasty is when we see a shift in religious practices where worship of the Sun was commonplace. The Cult of Ra grew in size, returning to the fact that Djedef’s tomb was built closer to the centre of worship in what the Ancient Greeks called Heliopolis. It was a delta city near contemporary Cairo that had been occupied since the predynastic times, whose ancient Egyptian name was I͗wnw or Iunu, which meant the pillars.
Khafre’s famous statue, where a falcon was incorporated into his headgear, equated the king to the god Horus. This speaks to a type of god complex on the part of the kings. During the era when centralization of the nation’s material, organic, and human resources began to develop, the king’s relationship with the deities became unchallenged, and kings began carving their names into statues and monuments that previously had been reserved for deities.
This fact, however, caused controversy. It pitted Khafre’s allegiance to Horus against the growing Cult of Ra, not far away in Heliopolis. Kings no longer associated pyramids with the afterlife. The afterlife was once believed to be a divine kingdom representing an idealistic heaven where only kings and pure hearts could go. Instead, the Fourth Dynasty represented a change in this idea, formulating the notion that the afterlife was familiar, taking the semblance of Earth. From what historians know, religious rituals were notoriously conservative, and there is much to be desired from currently known records.
Architectural changes
The Old Kingdom saw a rise in the preservation of the deceased, preparing bodies much more complex. The position of embalmer was created, and their job was solely to prepare a corpse in private. There were three ways to mummify a body:
- Stucco: the body would be wrapped in fine linen and then covered in stucco plaster, and the features of the body (including the face) were remodelled in the plaster;
- Linen: the body would be wrapped in linen, which was sometimes treated with natron (a mixture of multiple sodium carbonates), and the linens would be treated with resin so that the features of the body could be modelled; and
- Defleshing: removing all flesh and wrapping the bones in linens.
Generally, organs were removed, which were then put into jars accompanying the body in the tomb, and the inside of the body was flushed out.
Tombs in the Fourth Dynasty changed drastically. “Unimpressive” graves did not satisfy the elites, meaning they would settle for smaller structures if the interior were decorated. Hieroglyphic writings were essential to elites because they were lavish displays of wealth, and they guided their souls to the afterlife. The Fourth Dynasty, however, did not have these writings. Instead, the tomb was more profound, and the superstructures were more extensive. After the Giza pyramid complex, later generations of tombs were more reasonably sized. After the Middle Kingdom, royals abandoned pyramids; they preferred graves that were carved into living rocks of the Upper Egyptian mountains.
