Menkaure or Menkaura (Egyptian transliteration: mn-kꜣw-rꜥ) was a pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom.
Consort: Khamerernebty II, Rekhetre
Children: Khuenre, Shepseskaf, Khentkaus I, Sekhemre
Father: Khafre
Mother: Khamerernebty I
Born: 2532 BC
Died: ca. 2500 BC
Burial: Pyramid of Menkaure
Dynasty: Fourth Dynasty
That is 4500 years ago and his mausoleum is a pyramid. That face… is 4500 and waiting in stone. A king buried bennet his own pyramid. In the desert, 4th dynasty; The Old Kingdom.
Maybe you happen to know this man? Maybe you have encountered him in your lifetime? Just, maybe… that is 2500 BC. Look at the gaze and you will know, what I’m talking about.
You have meet him. I have done so for sure. Menkaure, a pyramid builder…
Below is another version of the same statue or part of you might want to remember that Tutankhamun was the king of the 18th dynasty which was ca. 1332 – 1323 BC, New Kingdom Egypt.
That’s about 1200 years later, I’m thinking of representation, culture, tradition and head supplement (the hats are not the same and they would have to have changed during 1200 years, which is a long time in a human perspective).
However, a Pharaoh looks like and is defined by… Tutankhamun. That (hat) is how a ancient Egyptian king always looked like, yet they’re still 1200 years apart. One of the representations must be incorrect, either it is the fourth dynasty one or it is the other.
They simply can’t be from the same period and the statues must be separated by several hundreds or 1200 years. One of them is a “false” representation. That would be the Greywacke statue of Menkaura and Queen Khamerernebty II at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
They must be from different periods of time (and stone does not generally corrode (rust), ferrite heavy minerals however or cast iron that is untreated do however, oxidation…). A polished stone surface would normally not rust and would be warmer to the touch.
– Can I please feel the surface of this 2500 BC (stone) statue?
One of them can’t be 2500 BC old and there is at least one other version containing a male dwarf god that most likely predates them both (I think the dwarf god is represented above the head of right female figurine, but I can’t say for sure, I’m not an Egyptologist but that would be meta-data.).
Who were the pyramid builders, again?