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hufu was the son of Sneferu and Queen Heterpheres and is remembered mainly as the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Herodotus represents his reign and that of his son Khafre, builder of the second pyramid, as 106 years of oppression and misery. His later reputation in Egypt though was that of a benefactor and wise ruler.
Historical information is scarce. He was probably married four times: to Heterpheres II, his full sister, who was buried in one of the three small pyramids beside his own; to a second queen, perhaps Merityetes; to Henutsen, whose pyramid is third in the group; and to Nefert-kan, the eldest of Sneferu's daughters. Two of his sons, Rededef and Khafre succeeded him in turn.
Khufu's name has been found in several temples on stone fragments and in the copper mines of Sinai but he is known mostly for the works of Giza. The Great Pyramid, the largest single building ever constructed, probably contains at least 2,500,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2½ tons. It has been calculated that 100,000 men, working non-stop, would have taken
20 years to complete this monument.
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