The Sphinx of Agost is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

-influenced Iberian limestone sculpture,''Greeks in Iberia:Colonialism without Colonization'', Adolfo J. Dominguez, The Archaeology of Colonialism, ed. Claire L. Lyons, John K. Papadopoulos, (Getty Research Institute, 2002), 74. dated from the late sixth century BCE, that was found in the Agost reservoir in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in 1893. The badly damaged statue is 82 cm high and represents a

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 ...

with the head of a woman, body of a winged lion and tail of a snake. This particular sphinx may have been included in an Iberian tomb to carry the soul of the deceased to the afterlife. The Sphinx of Agost is on display at the National Archaeological Museum (Madrid).

Notes

References

Agost's town council
6th-century BC sculptures 1893 archaeological discoveries European sculpture Archaeological discoveries in Spain Ancient history of the Iberian Peninsula Iberian art Collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid Limestone sculptures Sculptures in Madrid Stone sculptures in Spain Sphinxes {{Spain-sculpture-stub