Who was the architect of the Great Pyramid of Giza?

The Great Pyramid of Giza. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops). Scholars state that there is no reason to believe that he personally designed it, and they point to an official from the pharaoh's entourage. GreekReporter writes about this.

Several large necropolises, explored by scientists, are located in the vicinity of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Some contain tombs of members of Khufu's numerous family, others — burials of important court officials.

In one such cemetery, located west of the Great Pyramid, there is a particularly large tomb called a mastaba. This massive rectangular building with a flat roof and inwardly sloping walls significantly exceeds all other tombs in this particular necropolis in size, indicating the high status of the buried person.

As a result of excavations, archaeologists discovered that a high-ranking court official named Hemiunu was buried in the tomb. Inside the tomb, researchers found a statue of the official, made with an unusual realism for that time.

What is known about Hemiunu?

Inscriptions inside the tomb provided valuable information about Hemiunu's status.

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Statue of Hemiunu. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

First of all, it turned out that he held the position of Vizier of Egypt — meaning he was the second most influential person in the country after the king himself. Furthermore, inscriptions in the tomb call him the monarch's "keeper of the seal."

This means that the official possessed the royal seal and had the right to approve official decisions on behalf of the king, which underscores his great power over the country.

The inscriptions in the tomb also attribute to him the titles of priest of various gods. However, some scholars believe that these titles might have been purely honorary and did not signify the performance of actual religious functions.

Further study of inscriptions from other locations clarified Hemiunu's family origin. He was the son of Prince Nefermaat, who, in turn, was the son of King Sneferu. In other words, Hemiunu was the nephew of Pharaoh Khufu, under whom he served as vizier.

Why Hemiunu as the architect?

The belief that Hemiunu was the architect of the Great Pyramid of Giza is based on one of his titles found in the tomb, which scholars usually translate as "supervisor of all construction projects of the king."

Since Khufu commissioned the construction, it is logical that Hemiunu supervised this process.

Of course, Hemiunu may not have been an architect in our modern understanding of the word. We do not know exactly what his work entailed: whether he sat at a desk, personally drawing the pyramid's blueprints, or simply acted as the chief manager overseeing the work of an entire team of professional builders.

Although the details of his activities are unknown to us, one thing is clear — he bore overall responsibility for the construction. Therefore, it is quite logical that he was directly involved in the development of the pyramid's project.

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