195: The Egyptian Giant

A Giant King over 8 Feet Tall

King Khasekhemui (also spelled Khasekhemwy and Khasekhem, ca. 2690 BC) was the final ruler of the Second Dynasty of Egypt based near Abydos and was involved in the construction of Hierakonpolis, the Predynastic capital. This is the same site where the gigantic knife was discovered. This flint knife is 5x larger than normal. Other items found at this site are up to 10x larger than normal

Khasekhemui was buried at the necropolis at Umm el-Qa'ab in what was once described as the earliest stone structure in Egypt. The large limestone tomb was not sophisticated in any way and when Prof. Robert Temple investigated the site in 2001 he was amazed that the quality of the construction was so primitive. Especially compared to the step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, which has been dated to the start of the third dynasty, just a few years later. Djoser was also thought to have ‘buried’ Khasekhemui at this site before moving north to the area of Saqqara.

Khasekhemui’s skeleton was never found, suggesting it was looted long before the excavation. This is not entirely unusual in Egypt. The Second Dynasty King is unique in Egyptian history as having both the symbols of Horus and Set on his serekh. Some Egyptologists believe that this was an attempt to unify the two factions, but after his death Set was dropped from the serekh permanently. He was the earliest Egyptian king known to have built statues of himself.

But the most startling thing about this Pharaoh was the fact that he was something of a giant. Flinders Petrie, who first excavated the site, found evidence from the 3rd Century BC that he was “…5 cubits and 3 palms high, which would be about 8 English feet (2.44m), if the short cubit of 17.4 inches were used .” In the most recent translation of Manetho it is said: “ He was five cubits and three palms (eight and one-half feet) tall .” Manetho is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytus who lived during the Ptolemaic era in the early 3rd century BC and he wrote about this giant in Aegyptiaca (Αἰγυπτιακων), or History of Egypt , a book written at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. (note that the Egyptians even wrote about this giant)

However, if we use the ‘Royal Cubit’ his height increases to 14ft, 7in (4.45 meters) tall. Considering he was a ‘King’ perhaps the ‘Royal’ cubit should be considered, but this kind of stature is well out the normal range of humans, so although tantalizing and correlating with other accounts, the more conservative height range of 8ft to 8ft 6in (2.44-2.6 meters) is much more likely. A statue of him is on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, but it does not give details about how tall he was.

The story originally appeared in The Arizona Silver Belt ., November 16th, 1895 with the headline Prehistoric Egyptian Giants :

"In 1881, when professor Timmerman was engaged in exploring the ruins of an ancient temple of Isis on the banks of the Nile, 16 miles below Najar Djfard, he opened a row of tombs in which some prehistoric race of giants had been buried. The smallest skeleton out of some 60 odd, which were examined during the time Timmerman was excavating at Najar Djfard, measured seven feet and eight inches in length and the largest eleven feet one inch. Memorial tablets were discovered in great numbers, but there was no record that even hinted that they were in the memory of men of extraordinary size. It is believed that the tombs date back to the year 1043 B.C ."