History can be changed …
This evening I watched “The Lost Pyramid” on The History Channel, which was about the fourth (missing) great pyramid of Djedefra, having been found at Abu Rawash in Egypt.
Traditional speculation has suggested that Djedefra had murdered his older brother to get to the throne, married his wife (his sister), was himself murdered after around 8 years as pharoah, and that the pyramid was ransacked and destroyed because of his tyrannical reign.
Evidence now at hand turns all this on it’s head, implying he was a great ruler, who worshipped his father, Khufu, such that the Sphinx is in Djedefra’s image (not Khufu’s, as has been sometimes believed) as a tribute to his father, also burying a huge ship. A cartouche at the site of the ship bears Djedefra’s name, and census dates indicate that he actually reigned for at least two decades. The poor state of the ruins of his pyramid at Abu Rawash is now believed to be down to the Romans, who robbed the stones to build nearby, and further robbing by merchants in the mid-nineteenth century.
The lesson – never believe everything you read or hear.
History can be changed … it just takes time and evidence!
