Fourth Dynasty of Egypt

The Fourth Dynasty formed part of Egypt’s Old Kingdom and is conventionally dated to roughly 2613–2494 BCE. Its rulers inherited a strongly centralised monarchy and commanded the agricultural, administrative and labour resources needed for some of the largest building projects of the ancient world.

The dynasty is especially associated with the pyramid complexes of Giza. Khufu commissioned the Great Pyramid, while Khafre and Menkaure built neighbouring pyramid complexes. Royal power was expressed through monumental architecture, court administration, elite tombs and a religious system in which the king occupied a central place between the gods and the ordered world of Egypt.

This period supports historical and historical-fantasy fiction centred on Khufu, the royal court, pyramid-age Egypt and imaginative reconstructions of Old Kingdom religion and kingship. It should be assigned instead of the broader Old Kingdom Egypt parent when the Fourth Dynasty or Khufu’s era is the principal setting.