sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Sphinx or Sphynx may also refer to:

In Egypt

* Great Sphinx of Giza, the giant Sphinx statue near the Great Pyramids *

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 ...

, a stone sphinx located near the ruins of Memphis *

Sphinx International Airport Sphinx International Airport is a public airport, serving the city of Giza, on the western side of Cairo, Egypt. History In October 2017, it was announced that the airport will be open to commercial flights in summer 2018 and is set to start e ...

, a public airport serving the city of Giza

Geographic features

Antarctica

* Mount Sphinx, in the Prince de Ligne Mountains, Queen Maud Land *

Sphinx Hill Sphinx Hill () is a conspicuous, isolated black hill, 145 m, standing 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) north-northwest of Demay Point on King George Island, South Shetland Islands. First charted by the French Antarctic Expedition under Charcot, 19 ...

, King George Island, South Shetland Islands * Sphinx Island, Graham Land * Sphinx Mountain, in the Wohlthat Mountains, Queen Maud Land * Sphinx Peak, Victoria Land

Canada

* The Sphinx (British Columbia), a mountain in British Columbia * Sphinx Dome, a lava dome in British Columbia

Europe

Sphinx (Romania) The Sphinx ( ro, Sfinxul) is a natural rock formation in the Bucegi Natural Park which is in the Bucegi Mountains of Romania. It is located at an altitude of within the Babele complex of rock formations. The first photo of the ''Great Buceg ...

, a natural rock formation in the Carpathian Mountains * Sphinx (Scotland), meteorological feature in the Cairngorms * Sphinx, a Turkish rock outcrop in ANZAC Cove

United States

The Sphinx (Kings Canyon National Park) The Sphinx is a 9,143-foot-elevation (2,787 meter) double summit granitic pillar located west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Kings Canyon National Park, in Fresno County of northern California. This landmark is situate ...

, in California * The Sphinx (Wyoming), a mountain in the Wind River Range *

Sphinx Mountain (Madison County, Montana) Sphinx Mountain, el. is a prominent mountain peak on the western face of the Madison Range in Madison County, Montana. The peak is located in the Beaverhead National Forest and Taylor Hilgard parcel of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area. Its promi ...

Arts and entertainment

Fictional entities

Sphinx (Marvel Comics) The Sphinx is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history The first version of Sphinx first appeared in '' Nova'' #6 (Feb. 1977) and was created by Marv Wolfman and Sal Bu ...

, two Marvel Comics characters * S.P.H.I.N.X., an organization in ''The Venture Bros.'' * The Sphinx, a character in the 1999 film ''

Mystery Men ''Mystery Men'' is a 1999 American superhero comedy film directed by Kinka Usher (in his feature-length directorial debut) and written by Neil Cuthbert, loosely based on Bob Burden's '' Flaming Carrot Comics'', and starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azar ...

'' * Sphinx, a character in the TV series ''

Mahō Sentai Magiranger is Toei Company's twenty-ninth production of the Super Sentai metaseries. It aired from February 13, 2005 to February 12, 2006, replacing '' Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger'' and was replaced by ''GoGo Sentai Boukenger''. The action footage was used i ...

Film and television

* ''The Sphinx'' (1916 film), an American lost silent film * ''The Sphinx'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''The Sphinx'' (1933 film), an American film directed by Phil Rosen * ''Sphinx'' (film), a 1981 American film adaptation of Robin Cook's novel (see below) * "Sphinx" (''Space Ghost Coast to Coast''), a television episode * "The Sphinx" (''Extreme Ghostbusters''), a television episode

Literature and periodicals

* ''Sphinx'' (novel), a 1979 novel by Robin Cook * ''The Sphinx'' (Aeschylus), a fragmentary satyr play in the ''Seven Against Thebes'' trilogy * ''The Sphinx'' (magazine), a 1902–1953 magazine for magicians * ''The Sphinx'' (poem), an 1894 poem by Oscar Wilde * ''The Sphinx'', an 1846 short story by Edgar Allan Poe * ''The Sphinx'', a journal of Alpha Phi Alpha

Music

* Sphynx (band), a 1990s American dance music act * ''The Sphinx'' (album), a 2011 album, or the title song, by Sananda Maitreya (Terence Trent D'Arby) * '' The Sphinx – Das Beste aus den Jahren 1976–1983'', a 2006 album by Amanda Lear * ''Sphynx'' (album), a 2003 album by Melechesh * "The Sphinx" (song), a 1978 song by Amanda Lear

Other media

* ''Sphinx'' (Marc Quinn sculpture), a 2006 sculpture of Kate Moss * ''Sphinx'', a 1984 role-playing game * ''The Sphinx'', a 2013 sculpture produced by Banksy during the

Better Out Than In ''Better Out Than In'' was a residency undertaken by pseudonymous graffiti artist and political activist Banksy in New York City during October 2013. Banksy unveiled at least one work of art daily, documenting it on both a dedicated website and ...

residency in New York City

Organisations

Sphinx (senior society) The Sphinx, founded in 1885, is the oldest of the fourteen official senior societies at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. History The Sphinx was founded as a senior class society in 1885 by 14 male students of the class of 1886. The ...

, a secret society at Dartmouth College * Sphinx Senior Society, a senior society at the University of Pennsylvania *

Sphinx Organization The Sphinx Organization is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of young Black and Latino classical musicians. Based in Detroit, Michigan, it was founded by the American violinist Aaron Dworkin. The Sphinx was chosen to represe ...

, aiding the development of young Black and Latino classical musicians * Sphinx Resources, a Canadian mining company *

Sphinx Systems Sphinx Systems Limited was a Swiss-based manufacturer of high quality pistols used mainly by special forces, elite police units and sports shooters. Sphinx was founded in 1976, specializing in tooling and machining, and then diversified into the ...

, a Swiss firearms manufacturer

Science and technology

* Sphinx (gene), a non-coding RNA in ''Drosophila'' * Sphinx (moth), the common name of many moths in the family Sphingidae ** ''Sphinx'' (genus), a genus of moths in the family Sphingidae * Sphinx (satellite), an American test satellite *

Sphynx cat The Sphynx cat (pronounced , ) also known as the Canadian Sphynx, is a breed of cat known for its lack of fur. Hairlessness in cats is a naturally occurring genetic mutation, and the Sphynx was developed through selective breeding of these anim ...

, a breed of hairless cat *

Sphinx tiling In geometry, the sphinx tiling is a tessellation of the plane using the "sphinx", a pentagonal hexiamond formed by gluing six equilateral triangles together. The resultant shape is named for its reminiscence to the Great Sphinx at Giza. A sphin ...

, a geometric tiling using the "sphinx" hexiamond

Computing

Sphinx (documentation generator) Sphinx is a documentation generator written and used by the Python community. It is written in Python, and also used in other environments. Purpose and function Sphinx converts reStructuredText files into HTML websites and other formats inclu ...

, a free, open-source, extensible documentation generator * Sphinx (home automation system), a conceptual home environment designed in the Soviet Union in 1987 *

Sphinx (search engine) Sphinx is a fulltext search engine that provides text search functionality to client applications. Overview Sphinx can be used either as a stand-alone server or as a storage engine ("SphinxSE") for the MySQL family of databases. When run as a ...

, an SQL full-text search engine *

CMU Sphinx CMU Sphinx, also called Sphinx for short, is the general term to describe a group of speech recognition systems developed at Carnegie Mellon University. These include a series of speech recognizers (Sphinx 2 - 4) and an acoustic model traine ...

, a free voice recognition engine from Carnegie Mellon University * Sphinx, codename for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0; see History of Microsoft SQL Server

Transport

* CSS ''Sphynx'', later the Japanese ironclad ''Kōtetsu'', a 19th-century warship * HMS ''Sphinx'', several ships of the Royal Navy * French ship ''Sphinx'', several ships of the French Navy * La Mouette Sphinx, a French hang glider design

Other uses

Le Sphinx Le Sphinx was a ''maison close'' ( brothel) in Paris in the 1930s and 1940s. Along with the "Le Chabanais" and "One-Two-Two" it was considered one of the most luxurious and famous Parisian brothels. It was the first luxury brothel and opened on t ...

, a Paris brothel founded in 1931 *

Sphinx Ting Sphinx Ting or Ting Chun-cheng () is a Taiwanese actor and male model. TV series and music videos. He has earned the title "fashion 4" (shortened to F4) due to his fashion experience with Godfrey Gao, Victor, and Gaby. They made a show for YKsuit i ...

, Taiwanese actor and model * Sphinx, a typeface produced by

Deberny & Peignot Deberny & Peignot (Fonderie Deberny et Peignot) was a French type foundry, created by the 1923 merger of G. Peignot & Fils and Deberny & Cie. It was bought by the Haas Type Foundry (Switzerland) in 1972, which in turn was merged into D. Stempel ...

* Sphinx, a disc golf fairway driver by

Infinite Discs Infinite Discs is an American disc golf equipment retail company based in Logan, Utah. The company also maintains a disc golf scorekeeping app, a course directory, a round tracking website, and a line of discs. History The company was found ...

* Sphinx, a nickname for Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of United States *

Sphinx Observatory The Sphinx Observatory is an astronomical observatory located above the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. It is named after the ''Sphinx'', a rocky summit on which it is located. At above mean sea level, it is one of the highest observatories in th ...

at the Jungfraujoch glacier saddle in Switzerland