Introduction
Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, appears in the Middle Kingdom literary text known as the Papyrus Westcar as the frame narrator of a cycle of wonder-tales told to him by his own sons.
Family
- No further family relationships recorded in this tree.
A Prophecy of His Dynasty's End
The tales Khufu's sons tell him grow progressively more marvelous, culminating in a prophecy delivered by the magician Djedi: that Khufu's own royal line will eventually be succeeded not by his descendants but by triplets literally fathered by the god Ra himself on Reddjedet, the wife of one of Ra's priests. The text likely served, at least in part, to lend divine legitimacy after the fact to the historical transition from the 4th to the 5th Dynasty.
This article records a specific literary or theological role — a king-list entry, a court tale, or a royal legitimation narrative — rather than the deity's or ruler's fuller religious identity, which (where applicable) is covered in the separate Egyptian Pantheon project.