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Primary sourceDocumentc. 2551–2528 BCE

Temple Relief with Khufu's Building Inscription

c. 2551–2528 BCE

A carved stone fragment bearing part of King Khufu's own inscription recording his building work, from his reign.

Bears Khufu's own building inscription, a direct record of construction work he commissioned during his reign.

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Black-and-white photograph of a limestone relief fragment with carved Egyptian hieroglyphs and figures. A bird, possibly a falcon, appears on the right within an oval frame, with another bird below. A rectangular panel with vertical lines sits in the center, and a zigzag band runs along the top and bottom. A small white circle appears at lower left.
Temple relief, Khufu's Building Inscription, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Khufu.

About this source

What it is

This is a limestone relief fragment carved with hieroglyphs and figures, including birds within oval frames, dated to the Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, during the reign of Khufu. It carries what is described as Khufu's own building inscription.

Why it matters

Building inscriptions recorded a king's construction projects, often temples or monuments. A fragment naming Khufu's building work is a direct, contemporary record of his activity as a ruler who commissioned major structures, rather than a later account written about him.

Look closer

  • What symbols can you pick out, and what might they have meant to people at the time?
  • Why would a king want his building projects recorded in stone?
  • What is lost because this is only a fragment of a larger inscription?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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