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The Great Sphinx of Giza is a
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human, and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the
Giza Plateau The Giza Plateau ( ar, هضبة الجيزة) is a plateau in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, site of the Fourth Dynasty Giza Necropolis, which includes the Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, several ceme ...
on the west bank of the
Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...
in
Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the
pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...
Khafre Khafre (also read as Khafra and gr, Χεφρήν Khephren or Chephren) was an ancient Egyptian King (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He was the son of Khufu and the successor of Djedefre. According to the ancient histor ...
. The original shape of the Sphinx was cut from the
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...
, and has since been restored with layers of limestone blocks. It measures long from paw to tail, high from the base to the top of the head and wide at its rear haunches. Its nose was broken off for unknown reasons between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD. The Sphinx is the oldest known
monumental sculpture The term monumental sculpture is often used in art history and criticism, but not always consistently. It combines two concepts, one of function, and one of size, and may include an element of a third more subjective concept. It is often used for ...
in Egypt and one of the most recognisable statues in the world. The archaeological evidence suggests that it was created by ancient Egyptians of the
Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
during the reign of Khafre ().


Names

The original name the Old Kingdom creators gave the Sphinx is unknown, as the Sphinx temple, enclosure and possibly the Sphinx itself was not completed at the time, thus cultural material was limited. In the
New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
, the Sphinx was revered as the
solar deity A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Th ...
'' Hor-em- akhet'' ( en, "Horus of the Horizon";
Hellenized Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
: ''Harmachis''), and the pharaoh Thutmose IV (1401–1391 or 1397–1388 BC) specifically referred to it as such in his Dream Stele. The commonly used name " Sphinx" was given to it in
classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
, about 2,000 years after the commonly accepted date of its construction by reference to a Greek mythological beast with the head of a woman, a falcon, a cat, or a sheep and the body of a lion with the wings of an eagle. (although, like most Egyptian sphinxes, the Great Sphinx has a man's head and no wings). The English word ''sphinx'' comes from the
ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
Σφίγξ ( transliterated: ) apparently from the verb σφίγγω ( transliterated: / en, to squeeze), after the Greek sphinx who strangled anyone who failed to answer her riddle. Medieval
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
writers, including al-Maqrīzī, call the Sphinx by an Arabized Coptic name ''Belhib'' () and ''Belhawiyya (''), which in turn comes from , a name of the Canaanite god
Hauron Hauron, Haurun or Hawran ( Egyptian: ''ḥwrwnꜣ'') was an ancient Egyptian god worshiped in Giza. He was closely associated with Harmachis, with the names in some cases used interchangeably, and his name as a result could be used as a designat ...
with whom the Sphinx was identified. The modern
Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...
name is أبو الهول (''ʼabu alhōl / ʼabu alhawl'' , "The Terrifying One"; literally "Father of Dread") which is a
phono-semantic matching Phono-semantic matching (PSM) is the incorporation of a word into one language from another, often creating a neologism, where the word's non-native quality is hidden by replacing it with phonetically and semantically similar words or roots fro ...
of the Coptic name.


History


Old Kingdom

The archaeological evidence suggests that the Great Sphinx was created around 2500 BC for the pharaoh
Khafre Khafre (also read as Khafra and gr, Χεφρήν Khephren or Chephren) was an ancient Egyptian King (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He was the son of Khufu and the successor of Djedefre. According to the ancient histor ...
, the builder of the Second Pyramid at Giza. The Sphinx is a monolith carved from the bedrock of the plateau, which also served as the quarry for the
pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...
and other monuments in the area. Egyptian geologist Farouk El-Baz has suggested that the head of the Sphinx may have been carved first, out of a natural
yardang A yardang is a streamlined protuberance carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semiconsolidated material by the dual action of wind abrasion by dust and sand and deflation (the removal of loose material by wind turbulence.) Yardangs become e ...
, i.e. a ridge of bedrock that had been sculpted by the wind. These can sometimes achieve shapes which resemble animals. El-Baz suggests that the "moat" or "ditch" around the Sphinx may have been quarried out later to allow for the creation of the full body of the sculpture. The stones cut from around the Sphinx' body were used to construct a temple in front of it, however neither the enclosure nor the temple were ever completed, and the relative scarcity of Old Kingdom cultural material suggests that a Sphinx cult was not established at the time.
Selim Hassan Selim Hassan ( ar, سليم حسن; born on 15 April 1886 – 1961) was an Egyptian Egyptologist. He was the first native Egyptian to be appointed Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo, a post he held from 1936 to 1939. He was then ...
, writing in 1949 on recent excavations of the Sphinx enclosure, made note of this circumstance: In order to construct the temple, the northern perimeter-wall of the Khafre Valley Temple had to be deconstructed, hence it follows that the Khafre funerary complex preceded the creation of the Sphinx and its temple. Furthermore, the angle and location of the south wall of the enclosure suggests the causeway connecting Khafre's Pyramid and Valley Temple already existed before the Sphinx was planned. The lower base level of the Sphinx temple also indicates that it doesn't pre-date the Valley Temple.


New Kingdom

Some time around the
First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spuriou ...
, the Giza Necropolis was abandoned, and drifting sand eventually buried the Sphinx up to its shoulders. The first documented attempt at an excavation dates to , when the young Thutmose IV (1401–1391 or 1397–1388 BC) gathered a team and, after much effort, managed to dig out the front paws, between which he erected a shrine that housed the Dream Stele, an inscribed
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
slab (possibly a repurposed door lintel from one of Khafre's temples). When the stele was discovered, its lines of text were already damaged and incomplete. An excerpt reads: The Dream Stele associates the Sphinx with Khafre, however this part of the text is not entirely intact: Egyptologist Thomas Young, finding the ''Khaf'' hieroglyphs in a damaged
cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...
used to surround a royal name, inserted the glyph ''ra'' to complete Khafre's name. When the Stele was re-excavated in 1925, the lines of text referring to ''Khaf'' flaked off and were destroyed. Later, Ramesses II the Great (1279–1213 BC) may have undertaken a second excavation. In the
New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
, the Sphinx became more specifically associated with the sun god ''Hor-em-akhet'' (
Hellenized Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...
: ''Harmachis'') or "Horus-at-the-Horizon". Pharaoh Amenhotep II (1427–1401 or 1397 BC) built a temple to the northeast of the Sphinx nearly 1000 years after its construction and dedicated it to the cult of ''Hor-em-akhet''.


Graeco-Roman period

In Graeco-Roman times, Giza had become a tourist destination—the monuments were regarded as antiquities—and some Roman Emperors visited the Sphinx out of curiosity, and for political reasons. The Sphinx was cleared of sand again in the first century AD in honor of Emperor
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
and the Governor of Egypt
Tiberius Claudius Balbilus Tiberius Claudius Balbillus Modestus (AD 3-79), more commonly known as Tiberius Claudius Balbilus, was a distinguished Ancient Roman scholar, politician and a court astrologer to the Roman emperors Claudius, Nero, and Vespasian.Holden, ''A History ...
. A monumental stairway—more than wide—was erected, leading to a pavement in front of the paws of the Sphinx. At the top of the stairs, a podium was positioned that allowed view into the Sphinx sanctuary. Further back, another podium neighbored several more steps. The stairway was dismantled during the 1931–32 excavations by
Émile Baraize Émile Baraize (28 August 1874 – 15 April 1952) was a French Egyptologist. Life In 1912 he succeeded Alessandro Barsanti as director of the director of works within the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Throughout his life, he worked to restor ...
.
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
describes the face of the Sphinx being colored red and gives measurements for the statue: A stela dated to 166 AD commemorates the restoration of the retaining walls surrounding the Sphinx. The last Emperor connected with the monument is
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
, around 200 AD. With the downfall of Roman power, the Sphinx was once more engulfed by the sands. File:Retaining walls and Roman Period stairways east of the Sphinx.tif, Side view of the Sphinx with the Roman stairway on the right. File:Excavation East of Sphinx.tif, Top of the Roman stairway before dismantling in 1931-32. File:Sphinx Map by Henry Salt.tif, Map of the area east of the Sphinx by Henry Salt.


Middle Ages

Some ancient non-Egyptians saw it as a likeness of the god
Horon Horon ( pnt, χορόν, khorón) is a traditional folk dance from Pontus or Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. Name Etymology The term ''horon'' derives from Greek ''choros'' ( el, χορός, khorós), which means "dance." The earliest ins ...
. The cult of the Sphinx continued into medieval times. The Sabians of
Harran Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border ...
saw it as the burial place of
Hermes Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus (from grc, Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος, "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"; Classical Latin: la, label=none, Mercurius ter Maximus) is a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a syncretic combination of ...
. Arab authors described the Sphinx as a talisman which guarded the area from the desert.
Al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
describes it as the "talisman of the Nile" of which the locals believed the flood cycle depended upon. Muhammad al-Idrisi stated that those wishing to obtain bureaucratic positions in the Egyptian government gave
incense offering The incense offering ( he, ) in Judaism was related to perfumed offerings on the altar of incense in the time of the Tabernacle and the First and Second Temple period, and was an important component of priestly liturgy in the Temple in Jerus ...
to the monument.


Early European descriptions of the Great Sphinx of Giza

Over the centuries, writers and scholars have recorded their impressions and reactions upon seeing the Sphinx. The vast majority were concerned with a general description, often including a mixture of science, romance and mystique. A typical description of the Sphinx by tourists and leisure travelers throughout the 19th and 20th century was made by John Lawson Stoddard: From the 16th-19th centuries, European observers described the Sphinx having the face, neck and breast of a woman. Examples included Johannes Helferich (1579), George Sandys (1615), Johann Michael Vansleb (1677),
Benoît de Maillet Benoît de Maillet (Saint-Mihiel, 12 April 1656 – Marseille, 30 January 1738) was a well-travelled French diplomat and natural historian. He was French consul general at Cairo, and overseer in the Levant. He formulated an evolutionary hypothesi ...
(1735) and Elliot Warburton (1844). Most early Western images were book illustrations in print form, elaborated by a professional engraver from either previous images available or some original drawing or sketch supplied by an author, and usually now lost. Seven years after visiting Giza, André Thévet (''Cosmographie de Levant'', 1556) described the Sphinx as "the head of a colossus, caused to be made by Isis, daughter of Inachus, then so beloved of Jupiter". He, or his artist and engraver, pictured it as a curly-haired monster with a grassy dog collar. Athanasius Kircher (who never visited Egypt) depicted the Sphinx as a Roman statue ('' Turris Babel'', 1679). Johannes Helferich's (1579) Sphinx is a pinched-face, round-breasted woman with a straight haired wig. George Sandys stated that the Sphinx was a
harlot Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
; Balthasar de Monconys interpreted the headdress as a kind of hairnet, while François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz's Sphinx had a rounded hairdo with bulky collar. Richard Pococke's Sphinx was an adoption of Cornelis de Bruijn's drawing of 1698, featuring only minor changes, but is closer to the actual appearance of the Sphinx than anything previous. The print versions of Norden's drawings for his '' Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie'', 1755 clearly show that the nose was missing. Image:Hogenberg & Braun, 1572.png, Hogenberg and
Braun Braun is a common surname, originating from the German word for the color brown. The name is the 22nd most common family name in Germany. Many German emigrants to the United States also changed their name to ''Brown'' (''see Brown (surname)''). ...
(map), ''Cairus, quae olim Babylon'' (1572), exists in various editions, from various authors, with the Sphinx looking different. Image:Jan Sommer, 1591.png, Jan Sommer, (unpublished) ''Voyages en Egypte des annees 1589, 1590 & 1591'', Institut de France, 1971 (Voyageurs occidentaux en Égypte 3) Image:George Sandys, 1615.png, George Sandys, ''A relation of a journey begun an dom. 1610'' (1615) Image:François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz, 1653.png, François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz, ''Les Voyages et Observations'' (1653) Image:Balthasar de Monconys, 1665.png,
Balthasar de Monconys Balthasar de Monconys (1611–1665) was a French traveller, diplomat, physicist and magistrate, who left a diary, which was published by his son as ''Journal des voyages de Monsieur de Monconys, Conseiller du Roy en ses Conseils d’Estat & Privé ...
, ''Journal des voyages'' (1665) Image:Olfert Dapper, 1665.png, Olfert Dapper, ''Description de l'Afrique'' (1665), note the two different displays of the Sphinx. Image:Cornelis de Bruijn, 1698.png, Cornelis de Bruijn, ''Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn door de vermaardste Deelen van Klein Asia'' (1698) Image:Johanne Baptista Homann, 1724.png, Johanne Baptista Homann (map), ''Aegyptus hodierna'' (1724) Image:Norden, 1755 (1).png,
Frederic Louis Norden Frederic Louis Norden (22 October 1708 – 22 September 1742) was a Danish naval captain, cartographer, and archaeological explorer. Also known as ''Frederick'', ''Frederik'', ''Friderick'', ''Ludwig'', ''Ludvig'' and ''Lewis'', names used ...
, ''Voyage d'Égypte et de Nubie'' (1755)


Modern excavations

In 1817, the first modern
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
dig, supervised by the Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia, uncovered the Sphinx's chest completely. One of the people working on clearing the sands from around the Great Sphinx was Eugène Grébaut, a French Director of the Antiquities Service.


Opinions of early Egyptologists

Early Egyptologists and excavators were of divided opinion regarding the age of the Sphinx and the associated temples. In 1857,
Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...
, founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, unearthed the much later Inventory Stela (estimated to be from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, c. 664–525 BC), which tells how Khufu came upon the Sphinx, already buried in sand. Although certain tracts on the Stela are likely accurate, this passage is contradicted by archaeological evidence, thus considered to be Late Period
historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...
, a purposeful fake, created by the local priests as an attempt to imbue the contemporary Isis temple with an ancient history it never had. Such acts became common when religious institutions such as temples, shrines and priests' domains were fighting for political attention and for financial and economic donations. Flinders Petrie wrote in 1883 regarding the state of opinion of the age of the Khafre Valley Temple, and by extension the Sphinx: "The date of the Granite Temple has been so positively asserted to be earlier than the fourth dynasty, that it may seem rash to dispute the point. Recent discoveries, however, strongly show that it was really not built before the reign of Khafre, in the fourth dynasty."
Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia ...
, the French Egyptologist and second director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, conducted a survey of the Sphinx in 1886. He concluded that because the Dream Stela showed the cartouche of Khafre in line 13, it was he who was responsible for the excavation and therefore the Sphinx must predate Khafre and his predecessors—possibly Fourth Dynasty, . Maspero believed the Sphinx to be "the most ancient monument in Egypt".
Ludwig Borchardt Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and co ...
attributed the Sphinx to the Middle Kingdom, arguing that the particular features seen on the Sphinx are unique to the 12th dynasty and that the Sphinx resembles
Amenemhat III :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat III ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet III, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the sixth king of the Twelfth D ...
. E. A. Wallis Budge agreed that the Sphinx predated Khafre's reign, writing in ''The Gods of the Egyptians'' (1904): "This marvelous object he Great Sphinxwas in existence in the days of Khafre, or Khephren, and it is probable that it is a very great deal older than his reign and that it dates from the end of the archaic period []."
Selim Hassan Selim Hassan ( ar, سليم حسن; born on 15 April 1886 – 1961) was an Egyptian Egyptologist. He was the first native Egyptian to be appointed Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cairo, a post he held from 1936 to 1939. He was then ...
reasoned that the Sphinx was erected after the completion of the Khafre pyramid complex.


Modern dissenting hypotheses

Rainer Stadelmann Dr. Rainer Stadelmann (24 October 1933 – 14 January 2019) was a German Egyptologist. He was considered an expert on the archaeology of the Giza Plateau. Biography After studying in Neuburg an der Donau in 1933, he studied Egyptology, orienta ...
, former director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, examined the distinct
iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
of the '' nemes'' (headdress) and the now-detached beard of the Sphinx and concluded the style is more indicative of the pharaoh Khufu (2589–2566 BC), known to the Greeks as Cheops, builder of the
Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Worl ...
and Khafre's father. He supports this by suggesting Khafre's Causeway was built to conform to a pre-existing structure, which, he concludes, given its location, could only have been the Sphinx. In 2004, Vassil Dobrev of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale in Cairo announced he had uncovered new evidence that the Great Sphinx may have been the work of the little-known pharaoh Djedefre (2528–2520 BC), Khafra's half brother and a son of Khufu.Riddle of the Sphinx
Retrieved 2010.
Dobrev suggests Djedefre built the Sphinx in the image of his father Khufu, identifying him with the sun god Ra in order to restore respect for their dynasty. Dobrev also says that the causeway connecting Khafre's pyramid to the temples was built around the Sphinx, suggesting it was already in existence at the time. Egyptologist Nigel Strudwick responded to Dobrev saying that "It is not implausible. But I would need more explanation, such as why he thinks the pyramid at Abu Roash is a sun temple, something I'm sceptical about. I have never heard anyone suggest that the name in the graffiti at Zawiyet el-Aryan mentions Djedefre. I remain more convinced by the traditional argument of it being Khafre or the more recent theory of it being Khufu."


Recent restorations

In 1931, engineers of the Egyptian government repaired the head of the Sphinx. Part of its headdress had fallen off in 1926 due to erosion, which had also cut deeply into its neck. This questionable repair was by the addition of a concrete collar between the headdress and the neck, creating an altered profile. Many renovations to the stone base and raw rock body were done in the 1980s, and then redone in the 1990s.


Degradation and violation

The nummulitic
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
of the area consists of layers which offer differing resistance to
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...
(mostly caused by wind and windblown sand), leading to the uneven degradation apparent in the Sphinx's body. The lowest part of the body, including the legs, is solid rock. The body of the animal up to its neck is fashioned from softer layers that have suffered considerable disintegration. The layer in which the head was sculpted is much harder. A number of "dead-end" shafts are known to exist within and below the body of the Great Sphinx, most likely dug by treasure hunters and tomb robbers.


Missing nose

Examination of the Sphinx's face shows that long rods or
chisels A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, s ...
were hammered into the nose area, one down from the bridge and another beneath the nostril, then used to pry the nose off towards the south, resulting in the one-metre wide nose still being lost to date.
Mark Lehner Mark Lehner is an American archaeologist with more than 30 years of experience excavating in Egypt. He was born in North Dakota in 1950. His approach, as director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA), is to conduct interdisciplinary archaeo ...
, who performed an archaeological study, concluded that it was intentionally broken with instruments at an unknown time between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD. Christiane Zivie-Coche “Sphinx: History of a Monument” p. 16 Drawings of the Sphinx by
Frederic Louis Norden Frederic Louis Norden (22 October 1708 – 22 September 1742) was a Danish naval captain, cartographer, and archaeological explorer. Also known as ''Frederick'', ''Frederik'', ''Friderick'', ''Ludwig'', ''Ludvig'' and ''Lewis'', names used ...
in 1737 show the nose missing. Many folk tales exist regarding the destruction of its nose, aiming to provide an answer as to where it went or what happened to it. One tale erroneously attributes it to cannonballs fired by the army of
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
. Other tales ascribe it to being the work of
Mamluks Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
. Since the 10th century, some Arab authors have claimed it to be a result of iconoclastic attacks. The Arab historian al-Maqrīzī, writing in the 15th century, attributes the loss of the nose to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
Muslim from the
khanqah A khanqah ( fa, خانقاه) or khangah ( fa, خانگاه; also transliterated as ''khankah'', ''khaneqa'', ''khanegah'' or ''khaneqah''; also Arabized ''hanegah'', ''hanikah'', ''hanekah'', ''khankan''), also known as a ribat (), is a buildin ...
of Sa'id al-Su'ada in 1378, who found the local peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest and therefore defaced the Sphinx in an act of
iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be consid ...
. According to al-Maqrīzī, many people living in the area believed that the increased sand covering the Giza Plateau was retribution for al-Dahr's act of defacement. Ibn Qadi Shuhba mentions his name as Muhammad ibn Sadiq ibn al-Muhammad al-Tibrizi al-Masri, who died in 1384. He attributed the desecration of the sphinxes of Qanatir al-Siba built by the sultan
Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
to him, and also said he might have desecrated the Great Sphinx. Al-Minufi stated that the Alexandrian Crusade in 1365 was divine punishment for a Sufi sheikh of the khanqah of Sa'id breaking off the nose.


Beard

In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction. Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev has suggested that had the beard been an original part of the Sphinx, it would have damaged the chin of the statue upon falling. The lack of visible damage supports his theory that the beard was a later addition. Residues of red pigment are visible on areas of the Sphinx's face and traces of yellow and blue pigment have also been found elsewhere on the Sphinx, leading Mark Lehner to suggest that the monument "was once decked out in gaudy comic book colours". However, as with the case of many ancient monuments, the pigments and colours have since deteriorated, resulting in the yellow/beige appearance it has today.


Holes and tunnels


Hole in the Sphinx's head

Johann Helffrich visited the Sphinx during his travels in 1565–1566. He describes that a priest went into the head of the Sphinx, and when he spoke it was as if the Sphinx itself was speaking. Many New Kingdom stelae depict the Sphinx wearing a crown. If it in fact existed, the hole could have been the anchoring point for it.
Émile Baraize Émile Baraize (28 August 1874 – 15 April 1952) was a French Egyptologist. Life In 1912 he succeeded Alessandro Barsanti as director of the director of works within the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Throughout his life, he worked to restor ...
closed the hole with a metal hatch in 1926.


Perring's Hole

Howard Vyse Major General Richard William Howard Howard Vyse (25 July 1784 – 8 June 1853) was a British soldier and Egyptologist. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Beverley (from 1807 to 1812) and Honiton (from 1812 to 1818). Family life Richard W ...
directed Perring in 1837 to drill a tunnel in the back of the Sphinx, just behind the head. The boring rods became stuck at a depth of , Attempts to blast the rods free caused further damage. The hole was cleared in 1978. Among the rubble was a fragment of the Sphinx's nemes headdress.


Major fissure

A major natural fissure in the bedrock cuts through the waist of the Sphinx, first excavated by
Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...
in 1853. At the top of the back it measures up to in width. Baraize, in 1926, sealed the sides and roofed it with iron bars, limestone and cement, and installed an iron trap door at the top. The sides of the fissure might have been artificially squared; however, the bottom is irregular bedrock, about above the outside floor. A very narrow crack continues deeper.


Rump passage

In 1926 the Sphinx was cleared of sand under direction of Baraize, which revealed an opening to a tunnel at floor-level at the north side of the rump. It was subsequently closed by masonry veneer and nearly forgotten. More than fifty years later, the existence of the passage was recalled by three elderly men who had worked during the clearing as basket carriers. This led to the rediscovery and excavation of the rump passage, in 1980. The passage consists of an upper and a lower section, which are angled roughly 90 degrees to each other: * The upper part ascends to a height of above the ground-floor at a northwest direction. It runs between masonry veneer and the core body of the Sphinx and ends in a niche wide and high. The ceiling of the niche consists of modern cement, which likely spilled down from the filling of the gap between masonry and core bedrock, some above. * The lower part descends steeply into the bedrock toward northeast, for a distance of approximately and a depth of . It terminated in a cul-de-sac pit at groundwater level. At the entrance it is wide, narrowing to about towards the end. Among the sand and stone fragments, a piece of tin foil and the base of a modern ceramic water jar was found. The clogged bottom contained modern fill. Among it, more tin foil, modern cement and a pair of shoes. It is possible that the entire passage was cut top down, beginning high up on the rump, and that the current access point at floor-level was made at a later date. Vyse noted in his diary (February 27 and 28, 1837) that he was "boring" near the tail, which indicates him as the creator of the passage, as no other tunnel has been identified at this location. Another interpretation is that the shaft is of ancient origin, perhaps an exploratory tunnel or an unfinished tomb shaft. File:Sphinx rump, view to east.tif, Rump of the Sphinx, with passage entrance at floor-level. File:Rump Passage Entrance Closeup.tif, Closeup of the entrance hole of the rump shaft. File:Rump passage, entrance from inside.tif, Inside the passage, looking up, seeing entrance stones and upper tunnel. File:Rump passage, upper part.tif, Looking up the upper tunnel. File:Rump passage, upper part, chamber 1.tif, Ceiling of upper tunnel. File:101-black-and-white-photo-02557.tif, Looking down the upper part from chamber 1. File:Rump passage, lower part before excavation.tif, Lower part of rump passage, before excavation. File:Rump passage, lower part after excavation.tif, Lower part after excavation.


Niche in northern flank

A 1925 photograph shows a man standing below floor level in a niche in the Sphinx's core body. It was closed during the 1925-6 restorations.


Gap under southern large masonry box

Another hole might have been at floor level in the large masonry box on the south side of the Sphinx.


Space behind Dream Stele

The space behind the Dream Stele, between the paws of the Sphinx, was covered by an iron beam and cement roof, which was fitted with an iron trap door.


Keyhole Shaft

At the ledge of the Sphinx enclosure, a square shaft is located opposite the northern hind paw. It was cleared during excavation in 1978 by Hawass and measures and about deep. Lehner interprets the shaft to be an unfinished tomb and named it "Keyhole Shaft", because a cuttings in the ledge above the shaft is shaped like the lower part of a keyhole, upside down.


Pseudohistory

Numerous ideas have been suggested to explain or reinterpret the origin and identity of the Sphinx, that lack sufficient evidential support and/or are contradicted by such, and are therefore considered part of pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology.


Ancient Astronauts/Atlantis

* The Sphinx is oriented from west to east, towards the rising sun, in accordance with the ancient Egyptian solar cult. The Orion correlation theory posits that it was instead aligned to face the constellation of Leo during the vernal equinox around 10,500 BC. The idea is considered pseudoarchaeology by academia, because no textual or archaeological evidence supports this to be the reason for the orientation of the Sphinx. * The Sphinx water erosion hypothesis contends that the main type of
weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs '' in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement ...
evident on the enclosure walls of the Great Sphinx could only have been caused by prolonged and extensive
rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
, and must therefore predate the time of the pharaoh Khafre. The hypothesis was championed by René Schwaller de Lubicz,
John Anthony West John Anthony West (September 7, 1932 – February 6, 2018) was an American author and lecturer and a proponent of the Sphinx water erosion hypothesis. His early career was as a copywriter in Manhattan and science fiction writer. He received a H ...
, and
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
Robert M. Schoch Robert Milton Schoch is an American associate professor of Natural Sciences at the College of General Studies, Boston University. Schoch co-authored and expanded the fringe Sphinx water erosion hypothesis since 1990. Education Schoch received a ...
. The theory is considered pseudoarchaeology by mainstream scholarship due to archaeological, climatological and geological evidence to the contrary. * There is a long history of speculation about hidden chambers beneath the Sphinx, by esoteric figures such as H. Spencer Lewis.
Edgar Cayce Edgar Cayce (; 18 March 1877 – 3 January 1945) was an American clairvoyant who claimed to channel his higher self while in a trance-like state. His words were recorded by his friend, Al Layne; his wife, Gertrude Evans, and later by his s ...
specifically predicted in the 1930s that a " Hall of Records", containing knowledge from Atlantis, would be discovered under the Sphinx in 1998. His prediction fueled much of the fringe speculation that surrounded the Sphinx in the 1990s, which lost momentum when the hall was not found when predicted. * Author
Robert K. G. Temple ''The Sirius Mystery'' is a book written by Robert K. G. Temple (born Robert Kyle Grenville Temple in 1945) supporting the pseudoscientific ancient astronauts hypothesis that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited the Earth and made contac ...
proposes that the Sphinx was originally a statue of the jackal god Anubis, the god of funerals, and that its face was recarved in the likeness of a Middle Kingdom pharaoh,
Amenemhet II Nubkaure Amenemhat II, also known as Amenemhet II, was the third pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Although he ruled for at least 35 years, his reign is rather obscure, as well as his family relationships. Family Archaeological fin ...
. Temple bases his identification on the style of the eye make-up and style of the pleats on the headdress.


Racial characteristics

Until the early 20th century, it was suggested that the face of the Sphinx had "Negroid" characteristics, as part of now outdated
historical race concepts The concept of race as a categorization of anatomically modern humans ('' Homo sapiens'') has an extensive history in Europe and the Americas. The contemporary word ''race'' itself is modern; historically it was used in the sense of "nation, ...
.Irwin, Graham W. (1977)
Africans abroad
Columbia University Press, p. 11


Other Alternative Ages

Geologist Colin Reader suggests that water runoff from the Giza plateau is responsible for the differential erosion on the walls of the sphinx enclosure. Because the hydrological characteristics of the area were significantly changed by the quarries, he contends this suggests that the sphinx likely predated the quarries (and thus, the pyramids). He points towards the larger cyclopean stones in part of the Sphinx Temple, as well as the causeway alignment with the pyramids and the break in the quarries, as evidence that the pyramids took the alignment with some pre-existing structure, such as the sphinx, into consideration when they were constructed, and that the sphinx temple was built in two distinct phases. He contends that such erosion could have occurred relatively rapidly and suggests that the sphinx was no more than a few centuries older than present archaeology would suggest, suggesting an origin from the late pre-Dynastic or early Dynastic era, when Ancient Egyptians already were known to be capable of sophisticated masonry.


Gallery

Image:Description de l'Egypte, 1823(1).png, '' Description de l'Egypte'', Planches, Antiquités, volume V (1823) Image:Description de l'Egypte, 1823(2).png, '' Description de l'Egypte'', Planches, Antiquités, volume V (1823) Image:Japanese-Mission-Samurai-Sphinx-Egypt-1864.png, Members of the
Second Japanese Embassy to Europe (1863) The Second Japanese Embassy to Europe ( ja, 第2回遣欧使節, also ), also called the Ikeda Mission, was sent on February 6, 1864 by the Tokugawa shogunate. The head of the mission was Ikeda Nagaoki, governor of small villages of Ibara, Bitc ...
in front of the Sphinx, 1864 Image:Pedro II of Brazil in Egypt 1871.jpg, French archaeologist
Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...
(seated, far left) and Emperor
Pedro II of Brazil Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Emp ...
(seated, far right) with others in front of the Sphinx, 1871 Image:'Le Sphinx Armachis, Caire' (The Sphinx Armachis, Cairo).jpg, The Great Sphinx partly under the sand, ca. 1870s Image:Bonaparte ante la Esfinge, por Jean-Léon Gérôme.jpg, Jean-Léon Gérôme's ''
Bonaparte Before the Sphinx ''Bonaparte Before the Sphinx'' () is an 1886 painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. It is also known as ''Oedipus'' (''Œdipe''). It depicts Napoleon Bonaparte during his Egyptian campaign, positioned on horseback in front of the ...
'', 1886 Image:Nazlet El-Semman, Al Haram, Giza Governorate, Egypt - panoramio (27).jpg, Rear view of the Sphinx in 2014, showing some of the restoration work up to that time.


See also

*
Sphinx of Memphis The Sphinx of Memphis is a stone sphinx located near the remains of Memphis, Egypt. The carving was believed to take place between 1700 and 1400 BCE, which was during the 18th Dynasty. It is unknown which pharaoh is being honored and there ar ...
* Sphinx of Taharqo * African lions in culture * Lion (heraldry) * List of colossal sculpture in situ *
List of tallest statues This list of tallest statues includes completed statues that are at least tall, which was the assumed height of the Colossus of Rhodes. The height values in this list are measured to the highest part of the human (or animal) figure, but exclude ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links

*
Riddle of the Sphinx







What happened to the Sphinx's nose?

Sphinx photo gallery

Al Maqrizi's account

The Age of the Sphinx
by Brian Dunning {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Sphinx Of Giza Buildings and structures completed in the 27th century BC Colossal statues in Egypt Giza pyramid complex Monoliths Art of ancient Egypt Sculptures of ancient Egypt Khafre 3rd-millennium BC establishments in Egypt Limestone statues Tourist attractions in Egypt Sculptures of lions Sphinxes