Old Kingdom Egypt - The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx

In The Sphinx, a creature with a human head and a lion's body, resides in a depression to the south of Khafre's pyramid. The name 'sphinx' which means 'strangler' was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god.

The Great Sphinx is to the northeast of Khafre's Valley Temple. Where it sits was once a quarry. Some historians say that it was constructed by Khafre & that his workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face during his rule; over 4,500 years ago. The sphinx faces the rising sun with a temple to the front which resembles the sun temples which were built later by the kings of the 5th Dynasty. The figure was buried for most of its life in the sand, only being uncovered by King Thutmose IV, and more permanently around a century ago.

The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is 60m in length and 20m tall. The face of the sphinx is 4m wide and its eyes are 2m high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose and the ritual beard are now missing. . The beard from the sphinx is displayed in the British Museum.

Today, the statue is crumbling because of the wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Attempts to restore it have often caused more harm than good. No one can be certain who the figure is to personify. It is possible that it is Khafre. If that is so, it would then be the oldest known royal portrait in such large scale. Some say that it was built after the pyramid of Khafre was complete. Still others say it is the face of his guardian deity, rather than Khafre himself. The image of the sphinx is a depiction of royal power. Only a pharaoh or an animal could be shown this way, with the animal representing a protective deity.

In the 1980's, a carefully planned restoration of the Sphinx was in progress. Over 6 years, more than 2,000 limestone blocks were added to the body of the sphinx and chemicals were injected. This treatment did not work. It just flaked away along with parts of the original rock. Later, various mortars and many workers who were not trained in restoration worked for six months to repair it. In 1988 the left shoulder crumbled and blocks fell off. Present attempts at restoration are under the control of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' archaeologists. They are concentrating on draining away subsoil seepage which is damaging the rock. They are also repairing the damaged shoulder with smaller blocks and staying with the original size.

The Sphinx is in essence a carving out of the living rock, though parts of it have been repaired (and possibly were originally constructed) with cut blocks of stone. It is immediately apparent that the rock strata out of which the Sphinx has been made vary from a hard grey to a soft yellowish limestone. The head is formed of good, hard limestone of the same sort as was quarried all around locks of the pyramids. The hulk of the body, on the other hand, is made of

poorly consolidated and therefore readily eroded limestone. The rock improves again at the base of the monument, with a return to harder (but brittle) reef-formed limestone that has allowed some carved details of the beast to remain visible after at least four-and-a-half thousand years of natural and human attrition.

The Sphinx faces due east, with the same great precision of orientation as is seen in the disposition of the Giza pyramids. It seems inevitable that the monument was made from the start to point directly to the equinoctial sunrise. Interestingly, the face (but not including the ears) is a little awry in relation to the head as a whole: the left eye is slightly higher than the right and the mouth off-centre, and the entire face is tilted back a little.

Although most historians say that the Great Sphinx was built by Khafre, some say it was not. They argue that it could have been built much earlier than his reign, indeed earlier than the Old Kingdom. Using scientific evidence such as the idea that the erosion on the sides is from water - indicating the time when Egypt was not arid, long before the Old Kingdom, and stone dating; they have come to the conclusion that the Sphinx may have been built as far back as 10,000 B.C.

	The Great Sphinx

	In The Sphinx, a creature with a human head and a lion's body, resides in a depression to the south of Khafre's pyramid. The name 'sphinx' which means 'strangler' was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to have started in Egypt in the form of a sun god. The Great Sphinx is to the northeast of Khafre's Valley Temple. Where it sits was once a quarry. Some historians say that it was constructed by Khafre & that his workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their king's face during his rule; over 4,500 years ago. The sphinx faces the rising sun with a temple to the front which resembles the sun temples which were built later by the kings of the 5th Dynasty. The figure was buried for most of its life in the sand, only being uncovered by King Thutmose IV, and more permanently around a century ago.


















	The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is 60m in length and 20m tall. The face of the sphinx is 4m wide and its eyes are 2m high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose and the ritual beard are now missing. . The beard from the sphinx is displayed in the British Museum. Today, the statue is crumbling because of the wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Attempts to restore it have often caused more harm than good. No one can be certain who the figure is to personify. It is possible that it is Khafre. If that is so, it would then be the oldest known royal portrait in such large scale. Some say that it was built after the pyramid of Khafre was complete. Still others say it is the face of his guardian deity, rather than Khafre himself. The image of the sphinx is a depiction of royal power. Only a pharaoh or an animal could be shown this way, with the animal representing a protective deity. In the 1980's, a carefully planned restoration of the Sphinx was in progress. Over 6 years, more than 2,000 limestone blocks were added to the body of the sphinx and chemicals were injected. This treatment did not work. It just flaked away along with parts of the original rock. Later, various mortars and many workers who were not trained in restoration worked for six months to repair it. In 1988 the left shoulder crumbled and blocks fell off. Present attempts at restoration are under the control of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' archaeologists. They are concentrating on draining away subsoil seepage which is damaging the rock. They are also repairing the damaged shoulder with smaller blocks and staying with the original size. The Sphinx is in essence a carving out of the living rock, though parts of it have been repaired (and possibly were originally constructed) with cut blocks of stone. It is immediately apparent that the rock strata out of which the Sphinx has been made vary from a hard grey to a soft yellowish limestone. The head is formed of good, hard limestone of the same sort as was quarried all around locks of the pyramids. The hulk of the body, on the other hand, is made of poorly consolidated and therefore readily eroded limestone. The rock improves again at the base of the monument, with a return to harder (but brittle) reef-formed limestone that has allowed some carved details of the beast to remain visible after at least four-and-a-half thousand years of natural and human attrition. The Sphinx faces due east, with the same great precision of orientation as is seen in the disposition of the Giza pyramids. It seems inevitable that the monument was made from the start to point directly to the equinoctial sunrise. Interestingly, the face (but not including the ears) is a little awry in relation to the head as a whole: the left eye is slightly higher than the right and the mouth off-centre, and the entire face is tilted back a little. Although most historians say that the Great Sphinx was built by Khafre, some say it was not. They argue that it could have been built much earlier than his reign, indeed earlier than the Old Kingdom. Using scientific evidence such as the idea that the erosion on the sides is from water - indicating the time when Egypt was not arid, long before the Old Kingdom, and stone dating; they have come to the conclusion that the Sphinx may have been built as far back as 10,000 B.C.