*** The story in the “Westcar” papyrus speaks of Snofrûi as father of Khûfûi; but this is a title of honour, and proves nothing. The few records which we have of this period give one, however, the impression that Kheops was the son of Snofrûi, and, in spite of the hesitation of de Rougé, this affiliation is adopted by the majority of modern historians. [175.jpg alabaster statue of kheops] Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. He reigned twenty-three years, and successfully defended the mines of the Sinaitic peninsula against the Bedouin; he may still be seen on the face of the rocks in the Wady Maghara sacrificing his Asiatic prisoners, now before the jackal Anubis, now before the ibis-headed Thot. The gods reaped advantage from his activity and riches; he restored the temple of Hâ-thor at Den-dera, embellished that of Bubastis, built a stone sanctuary to the Isis of the Sphinx, and consecrated there gold, silver, bronze, and wooden statues of Horus, Nephthys, Selkît, Phtah, Sokhît, Osiris, Thot, and Hâpis. Scores of other Pharaohs had done as much or more, on whom no one bestowed a thought a century after their death, and Kheops would have succumbed to the same indifference had he not forcibly attracted the continuous attention of posterity by the immensity of his tomb.* * All the details relating to the Isis of the Sphinx are furnished by a stele of the daughter of Kheops, discovered in the little temple of the XXIst dynasty, situated to the west of the Great Pyramid, and preserved in the Gîzeh Museum. It was not a work entirely of the XXIst dynasty, as Mr. Petrie asserts, but the inscription, barely readable, engraved on the face of the plinth, indicates that it was remade by a king of the Saïte period, perhaps by Sabaco, in order to replace an ancient stele of the same import which had fallen into decay. [Illustration: 176.jpg THE TRIUMPHAL BAS-RELIEFS OF KHEOPS ON THE ROCKS OF WADY MAGHARA] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph published in the _Ordnance Survey, Photographs_, vol. iii. pl. 5. On the left stands the Pharaoh, and knocks down a Monîti before the Ibis-headed Thot; upon the right the picture is destroyed, and we see the royal titles only, without figures. The statue bears no cartouche, and considerations purely artistic cause me to attribute it to Kheops: it may equally well represent Dadûfrî, the successor of Kheops, or Shopsiskaf, who followed Mykerinos. [Illustration: 176b.jpg PROFILE OF HEAD OF A MUMMY, (A MAN) THEBES] [Illustration: 177.jpg PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH]