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Secondary sourceDocumentc. 1292-1191 BCE

Turin King List

c. 1292-1191 BCE

A New Kingdom papyrus listing Egypt's kings, including Khufu with a stated 23-year reign, used by historians to reconstruct Egyptian chronology.

Lists Khufu among Egypt's kings with a stated 23-year reign, a key source for dating his rule.

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Line drawing of the Turin King List as a grid of 31 numbered rows and 11 numbered columns, with yellow header bars and small hieroglyphic signs in black ink. Gray-shaded areas mark damaged fragments, and a few red marks appear.
Turin King List, 19th Dynasty, c. 1292-1191 BCE. Museo Egizio, Turin.

About this source

What it is

The Turin King List, or Turin Royal Canon, is a hieratic papyrus from the reign of Ramesses II, written on the back of an old tax register. It lists over 200 rulers of Egypt with their reign lengths. It was bought by Bernardino Drovetti around 1818 and is now in the Museo Egizio in Turin.

Why it matters

Compiled roughly 1700 years after Khufu's reign, it is a major source for the lengths of Egyptian kings' reigns, including Khufu's reported 23 years. Scholars like Donald Redford have noted discrepancies, so historians use it carefully alongside other evidence. It shows how later Egyptians kept records of their past rulers.

Look closer

  • Why might scribes have written a king list on the back of an old tax document?
  • What problems arise from the papyrus arriving in Italy badly damaged?
  • Why do historians treat the reign lengths given here with some caution?

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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