Editing Old Kingdom of Egypt (section)

===Height of the Old Kingdom===
{{Main|Fourth Dynasty of Egypt}}

[[File:Cairo, Gizeh, Sphinx and Pyramid of Khufu, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|thumb|The [[Great Sphinx of Giza]] in front of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]]]
The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith under the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] (2613–2494 BC). King Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, held territory from [[ancient Libya]] in the west to the [[Sinai Peninsula]] in the east, to [[Nubia]] in the south. An Egyptian settlement was founded at [[Buhen]] in Nubia which endured for 200 years.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url= https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt/The-Old-Kingdom-c-2575-c-2130-bce-and-the-First-Intermediate-period-c-2130-1938-bce#ref134440 | title= The Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 BCE) and the First Intermediate period (c. 2130–1938 BCE)
|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref> After Djoser, Sneferu was the next great pyramid builder. He commissioned the building of three pyramids. The first is called the [[Meidum Pyramid]], named for its location in [[Egypt]]. Sneferu abandoned it after the outside casing fell off of the pyramid. The Meidum pyramid was the first to have an above-ground burial chamber.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.penfield.edu/webpages/jgiotto/onlinetextbook.cfm?subpage=1525828|title=Ancient Egypt – the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom|website=Penfield High School|language=en|access-date=2017-12-04}}</ref>

Using more stones than any other Pharaoh, he commissioned the three pyramids: a now collapsed pyramid in [[Meidum]], the [[Bent Pyramid]] at [[Dahshur]], and the [[Red Pyramid]], at North Dahshur. However, the full development of the pyramid style of building was reached not at Saqqara, but during the building of the Great Pyramids at Giza.<ref>Carl Roebuck (1984), ''The World of Ancient Times'', p. 57.</ref>

Sneferu was succeeded by his son, [[Khufu]] (2589–2566 BC), who commissioned the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]. After Khufu's death, his sons [[Djedefre]] (2566–2558 BC) and [[Khafre]] (2558–2532 BC) may have quarrelled. The latter commissioned the second pyramid and (in traditional thinking) the [[Great Sphinx of Giza]]. Recent re-examination of evidence has led Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev to propose that the Sphinx was commissioned by [[Djedefre]] as a monument to his father Khufu.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/1478998/I-have-solved-riddle-of-the-Sphinx-says-Frenchman.html |title=I have solved riddle of the Sphinx, says Frenchman |work=The Telegraph |first=Nic |last=Fleming |date=14 December 2004 |access-date=21 May 2022}}</ref><!-- Not enough detail at this page to verify: <ref>[http://documentarystorm.com/riddle-of-the-sphinx/ link 2]</ref> -->Alternatively, the Sphinx has been proposed to be the work of Khafre and Khufu himself.

There were military expeditions into [[Canaan]] and [[Nubia]], with Egyptian influence reaching up the Nile into what is today [[Sudan]].<ref>p.5, ''The Collins Encyclopedia of Military History'' (4th edition, 1993), Dupuy & Dupuy.</ref> The later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were [[Menkaure]] (2532–2504 BC), who commissioned the smallest of the three great pyramids in Giza; [[Shepseskaf]] (2504–2498 BC); and, perhaps, [[Djedefptah]] (2498–2496 BC).

[[File:Kairo Museum Statuette Cheops 03 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Khufu]], the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza]]