The Sphinx

I like to read a lot of books with different subjects and now I am reading about Ancient Egypt. It is very interesting to learn new places and cultures. I am going to write all about ancient Egypt in this blog.

The Sphinx is a symbol of Egypt from ancient times with body of a lion and body of a human. In Ancient Egypt a lot of times the head was that of a Pharaoh or a god. 

The Great Sphinx of Egypt is the largest free-standing sculpture. It is 57 metres (260 feet) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and has a height of 20 m (65 ft)

The Great Sphinx is located on the Giza Plateau 25km (15 miles) south west of Cairo, bordering the Sahara Desert on the west bank of the River Nile.

Over the past 4500 years weather and erosion have taken their toll on the Great Sphinx. It is really amazing that so much of it is left for us to see. The original Sphinx would have looked a lot different. It had a long braided beard and a nose. It also was painted in bright colors. Archeologists think that the face and body were painted red, the beard was blue, and much of the headdress was yellow. That would have been an amazing site! 



What happened to its nose? 

No one is entirely sure exactly how the nose got knocked off. There are stories that Napoleon's men accidentally knocked off the nose, but that theory has proven untrue as pictures have been found without the nose prior to Napoleon's arrival. Other stories have the nose getting shot off in target practice by Turkish soldiers. Many people now believe that the nose was chiseled off by someone who considered the Sphinx evil. 

Legend of the Sphinx 

After the Sphinx was built, over the course of the next 1000 years it fell into disrepair. The entire body was covered in sand and only the head could be seen. Legend has it that a young prince named Thutmose fell asleep near the head of the Sphinx. He had a dream where he was told that if he restored the Sphinx he would become Pharaoh of Egypt. Thutmose restored the Sphinx and later became Pharaoh of Egypt. 




Fun Facts about the Sphinx

• There was also a famous Sphinx in Greek Mythology. It was a monster that terrorized Thebes, killing all those who could not solve its riddle.
• It was the Greeks who gave the name "sphinx" to the creature.
• The beard was likely added to the Sphinx during the period of the New Kingdom.
• A portion of the beard can be seen in the British Museum in London.
• Efforts are being made to preserve the Sphinx, but it continues to erode.