Sneferu

Sneferu, the Soris of Greek tradition, founded Egypt's Fourth Dynasty and built three great pyramids, more than any other Egyptian king. Under him the stepped monument of the Third Dynasty was transformed into the true, smooth-sided pyramid that his son Khufu would perfect at Giza. Modern chronologies place his reign at about 2613 to 2589 BC. The Turin king list gives him twenty-four years, but an inscription in the Red Pyramid mentions his twenty-fourth cattle count, and since these counts were often biennial, scholars have argued for thirty years or as many as forty-eight; the question is unresolved.

He is generally taken to be the son of Huni, the last king of the Third Dynasty, and the Cairo fragment of the royal annals names his mother as Meresankh I. His wife Hetepheres I, whose titles proclaim her a king's daughter, is thought to have been Huni's child as well, so that the new dynasty was grafted onto the old through her. Besides Khufu, his sons included Nefermaat, Rahotep, Ranefer, Kanefer, and Ankhhaf, and his daughters Nefertkau, Meritites, and Henutsen, the last two later wives of Khufu.

His three pyramids chart an experiment in progress. At Meidum, whose ancient name meant "Sneferu Endures," a stepped pyramid was enlarged and finally cased as a true pyramid; earlier scholars credited the start of the work to Huni, but the inscriptions there name only Sneferu. At Dahshur the Bent Pyramid was begun at about 54 degrees and finished at 43 after signs of instability. The Red Pyramid, also at Dahshur and built throughout at the gentler angle, was the first fully successful true pyramid and the likeliest site of his burial, though no body has been identified.

The Palermo Stone records campaigns to Nubia and Libya that brought back thousands of captives and vast herds, forty ships laden with cedar from the Lebanese coast, and turquoise mining in Sinai. Later generations remembered him kindly: Middle Kingdom literature made his reign a golden age and portrayed him as a beneficent king, in pointed contrast to the harsher legend that gathered around Khufu. Khufu succeeded him, and through Khufu he was grandfather of the kings Djedefre and Khafre.