Kawab (c. 2600 BC - c. 2570 BC) was the name of a significant ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was the eldest son of King Khufu and Queen Meritites I. Kawab the prince heir and future ruler of Egypt died without obvious cause during the reign of his father. Succeeded by Djedefre, who married Kawab’s widow Hetepheres II, the transition is testimony to wider events worth understanding. It is speculated that Djedefre the second heir had Kawab murdered, since Djedefre was buried in Abu Rawash, instead of Giza, which was the custom and implying more than a spiritual consolidation of the dynasty. Djedefre of course was the king who introduced the royal title Sa-Rê (meaning “Son of Ra”) and so is the first to connect his name with the sun god Ra (pronounced ray).
It was during the final years of Pharaoh Khufu’s reign, when Egypt stood at the zenith of its power. The Great Pyramid, a monument to eternal glory, had been dedicated to Khufu, and the Royal family was poised to better all who had come before. Among Khufu’s many sons, Kawab was the eldest and so crown prince. However, and whether due to Khufu’s determination to reign supreme or out of over-reach, his bid to expand Egypt’s influence and secure its divine favor instead brought turmoil upon the family and called into question their holy prerogative. Having likely directly sanctioned an ambitious maritime expedition led by two of his other sons: Nefer-Ti-Ru and Nefer-Djeseb, accounts from the voyage provision reason and motive to the madness of the succession of Khufu.
The brothers Nefer-Ti-Ru and Nefer-Djeseb, likely tasked with trade and exploration, had landed upon a distant shores of Australia, according to the controversial inscription at Gosford, Australia. Their mission was both political and spiritual—a demonstration of Egypt’s dominance over the seas and a quest to bring back exotic treasures that would further elevate Khufu’s divine status. Months passed without word from the expedition. When Nefer-Djeseb under the guidance of Captain Nedj Sobed, finally returned to Egypt, his arrival was not met with triumph but with devastating news: Nefer-Ti-Ru had perished in the cursed foreign land, which had been an exhaustive charter. Subsequent to the brothers’ ship making landfall and that subsequent to a voyage which took them the full breath across the Indian ocean and halfway to circumnavigating the island Australia. After succumbing to a snake bite Nefer-Ti-Ru’s body had been interred in Penu in accordance with Egyptian funerary rites, but the prince’s death cast a long shadow over the Royal family.
The court was thrown into disarray. The loss of Nefer-Ti-Ru was not merely a personal tragedy for Khufu—it was seen as an ominous sign from the gods. The death of one of Khufu’s sons during such an important mission suggested that divine favor had been withdrawn from the royal house. Whispers of ill omens spread among the priesthood and nobility, shaking confidence in Khufu’s ability to maintain ma’at (cosmic order). Djedefre seized upon his duty to his people and usurped power from the rightful though doomed heir Kawab, It was a risk Khufu had unduly accepted, and the plain and only forward plan for the cosmic order to continue unabated against the outlying risk of incursion upon the family, that evidenced by the striking down of Nefer-Ti-Ru without human provocation.
In this dramatized retelling, and to preserve Khufu’s legacy as a divinely favored ruler—and to ensure his own legitimacy—Djedefre initiated a campaign to erase all mentions of the ill-fated expedition and its tragic consequences. Nefer-Ti-Ru's memory was likewise erased. The records of Nefer-Ti-Ru's expedition of Penu were systematically scrubbed and his name was omitted from official inscriptions to assist in publicly forgetting their failure against the Gods. The now abandoned Egyptian port Penu where wholly peaceful first contact with the natives was established, there by its temple, history so slipped away. Nefer-Djeseb’s story was silenced, as his distant claim wrought accidentally by the wrath of the seas, proved too ambitious for the Lower Egyptian divine plan: Having returned as the bearer of bad news, Nefer-Djeseb may have even been marginalized altogether to prevent him from challenging Djedefre’s new narrative and the divine plan of the Kingdom of Egypt. Though his inscription remained in that distant cursed land which Reinoud De Jonge has addressed proper with;
FREE TRANSLATION OF THE
GOSFORD GLYPHS from the paper; BURIAL SITE OF LORD NEFER-TI-RU, Reinoud De Jonge, October, 2014, representative of Ray Johnson and von Senff's translation (https://www.academia.edu/17251306/GOSFORD_GLYPHS_OF_AUSTRALIA)
GOSFORDS EGYPTIAN
HIEROGLYPHS ON THE EAST WALL:
[1] FOR HIS HIGHNESS,
THE PRINCE,
from this wretched
place in this land,
where we were carried
by ship.
Engraved for the
Crown of Lower Egypt,
according to God’s
word.
[2]
My fellow Egyptians
call
out from this place in this strange land
for
the god SUTI.
I,
NEFER-DJESEB,
Son
of KHUFU, king of Upper and Lower Egypt
(beloved
by Ptah),
has
brought the god SUTI.
[3]
The Prince was kind and benevolent,
follower
of the SunGod Ra.
[4] For two seasons
(eight months) he directed us eastward,
weary, but strong to
the end.
Always praying,
joyful, and smiting insects.
He, the servant of
God,
said God created the
insects
to protect his
people.
[5] I myself am
hardened, have gone around hills and deserts,
in wind and rain,
with no lakes at hand,
blessed by the
falling nights, when I hided myself,
completely out of
reach.
[6] In our last camp
I cooked fowl on hand, and brought rain,
but hurt my back
carrying the Golden Falcon Standard,
crossing hills,
desert and pools of water along the way.
[7]
Plants are withering, Land is dying.
Is
this our lot from the highest God of the Sacred Mer?
[8]
The Sun is pouring down upon our back!
Oh
mighty Khepera, this is not what the Oracle has said.
Our Harts are
overturned, but not broken.
[9]
This Regal person NEFER-TI-RU
came
from the temple of God in Penu, Egypt.
He
came from the House of God.
He
was the Son of KHUFU, king of Upper and Lower Egypt.
[10]
He, who died before, is here laid to rest.
May
he have life everlasting.
[11] He is never again to stand
beside the waters of the Sacred Mer.
Then clasp him, my Brothers Spirit to
thy side, O Father of the Earth.
GOSFORDS EGYPTIAN
HIEROGLYPHS ON THE WEST WALL:
[12] The snake bit
twice.
We, followers of the
divine king KHUFU,
mighty one of Lower
Egypt, Lord of the Two Adzes,
we shall not all
return.
However, we have to
continue,
we cannot look back.
[13] All creek and
river beds are dry,
and we are dismayed.
Our boats are tied up
with rope.
Death was caused by
snake.
[14] We gave egg-yolk
from the medicine-chest,
and prayed to Amun,
the Hidden One,
for he was struck
twice.
[15] It was a hard
time for all of us,
weeping over the dead
body,
and keeping to the
protocol.
[16] Seated all
aside,
our men watched the
funeral,
with concern and deep
love.
How the mummified
body was buried
in the Red Earth
Section.
[17] Then we
recovered ourselves.
[18] We walled in the
side entrance to the chamber,
with stones from all
around.
The chamber was
aligned with the Western Heavens.
[19] I counted and
impounded the daggers of our men.
[20] The three doors
of eternity were connected
to the rear end of
the Royal Tomb,
and sealed in.
EAST WALL:
[21] He, who doesn’t
belong to this place,
will not return home
to the town of Penu.
[22] Remember with
love his nobel spirit.
He will only receive
the most purest fruit.
Personally I devided
one third of the fruit
for the burial
service.
WEST WALL, AGAIN:
[23] Oh God, reach
down your hands,
and make the Land
green.
[24] A necklace was
placed by his side,
A Royal token, signifying: “Heavens
Gift, as from thou...!”
[25] The
shining relics were carried
to the
private sanctury of his Tomb.
In the name of the spirit
of the sanctuary at the town of Penu.
[26] Along with the silver dagger,
a Royal token of God, our Creator.
Separated from home
is the Royal Body, and all others.
NEAR THE MAIN SITE AT GOSFORD:
Hieroglyphs on a
North Wall:
[27]
We have irrefutable evidence our King’s Son was killed by too much
poison.
Hieroglyphs on a
West Wall:
[28] In the name of
the Lord we buried him in the Royal Tomb in the northern part of this
place, which was closed at the back side.