Khufu is well known under his Hellenized name Χέοψ, Khéops or Cheops ( / ˈ k iː ɒ p s/, KEE-ops, by Diodorus and Herodotus) and less well known under another Hellenized name, Σοῦφις, Súphis ( / ˈ s uː f ɪ s/, SOO-fis, by Manetho). It might be possible though, that the short name was not meant to be connected to any god at all. It is unknown as to why the king would use a shortened name version since it hides the name of Khnum and the king's name connection to this god. The first (complete) version clearly exhibits Khufu's religious loyalty to Khnum, the second (shorter) version does not. The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: Khnum-khuf and Khufu. While modern Egyptological pronunciation renders his name as Khufu, at the time of his reign his name was probably pronounced as Kha(w)yafwi(y), and during the Hellenized era, Khewaf(w). Khufu's full name (Khnum-khufu) means "Khnum protect me". As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. Khufu may have viewed himself as a divine creator, a role that was already given to Khnum, the god of creation and growth. In fact, several royal and religious titles introduced at this time may point out that Egyptian pharaohs sought to accentuate their divine origin and status by dedicating their official cartouche names to certain deities. Khufu's name was dedicated to the god Khnum, which might point to an increase of Khnum's popularity and religious importance. Thanks to these documents, an obscure and critical picture of Khufu's personality persists. Khufu's obituary is presented there in a conflicting way: while the king enjoyed a long-lasting cultural heritage preservation during the period of the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom, the ancient historians Manetho, Diodorus and Herodotus hand down a very negative depiction of Khufu's character. Most documents that mention king Khufu were written by ancient Egyptian and Greek historians around 300 BC. For example, Khufu is the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus from the 13th dynasty. Everything known about Khufu comes from inscriptions in his necropolis at Giza and later documents. All other reliefs and statues were found in fragments, and many buildings of Khufu are lost. The only completely preserved portrait of the king is a three-inch high ivory figurine found in a temple ruin of a later period at Abydos in 1903. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented. Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC). Kawab, Djedefhor, Hetepheres II, Meritites II, Meresankh II, Baufra, Djedefre, Minkhaf I, Khafre, Khufukhaf I, Babaef, Horbaef, Nefertiabet, Khamerernebty I Relief with the titulary of Khufu from the Wadi Maghareh.
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