The Origins Of The Greek And Egyptian Sphinx

Along the plateau of Giza, facing the rising sun, thethe heads of other creatures (frequently men or
Great Sphinx statue still sits. Visiting the site it israms) like the great avenue of 900 sphinxes at
impossible to remain unmoved; the Sphinx is gigantic;Thebes in Egypt, however these sphinxes (we do
241 ft in length, 20 feet wide, and 66.34. It is one ofnot actually understand what the Ancient Egyptians
the earliest AND most significant statues on thecalled them.  The Egyptian sphinx statue was a
globe, but apart from these measurements, many ofprotector, the lions physique symbolized the sun
us fully understand almost nothing about it. No-onegod;  and that is not the only difference.
has learned for certain whose face the sculptureA Greek sphinx statue shows a lion's body, a
bears, exactly who had it constructed or even theserpent's tale and the face of a female. The lion is
key reason why. We can say for sure that the Greatsitting down, her front legs vertical, but her most the
Sphinx may be so ancient the Pharaohs (includingmost impressive feature may be the set of two
Rameses II) regarded it as an incredibly ancient andeagle's wings stretching out from her shoulder blades.
sent trades-people to restore it, as in their period theEgyptian statues show a prone leonine body and
vast majority of the historic sculpture had vanishedcommonly contain the head of a man or other
underneath the sands. Beyond that we know of nocreature. Most more importantly they've got no
more writings to mention it's construction and wewings at all.
don't know its name. Why do we even call this 'TheIt seems odd that one word could come to
Sphinx'?represent two such different forms of an ancient
Greek mythology tells of the mythical beast whichstatue, however the Great Sphinx again has even
had the body of a lion as well as the head of agreater mysteries.
woman. This beast protected the city of Thebes,In 1950  R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz observed the
however this really is Greek Thebes, not theevidence of what he presumed was water erosion
Egyptian city of the same name. According to legendinside the Sphinx Enclosure. In 1989 a further analysis
this particular beast told every single passing travellerby geologist, Robert  Schoch, revealed that this
a riddle. �Which beast in the morning goes'weathering'  had been brought on by rain, yet
on four legs, at mid-day on two, and at night uponthe typical yearly rainfall in the region since 2600 BC
three, and the more legs it has, the less strong it(when archaeologists think the sphinx was built) was
be?� Anybody unable to answer the riddleonly one inch. This has lead quite a few authors to
ended up being immediately strangled by the beaststate that the sphinx is in fact much older than initially
and swallowed. According to legend Oedipus escapedthought and goes from pre-dynastic times, making
killing with this answer "Man�who crawls onthis particular Egyptian statue over 5000 years
all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as anold.  While many respectable archaeologists say
adult, and then walks with a cane in old age." this can't be true and present several other
The monster then simply leaped from the cliff whereexplanations for the water erosion effect, the belief
she lived, to her death.  This particular monsterthat not one other construction on the Giza plateau
the Greeks called a sphinx, from the Greek wordreveals virtually any indication of this weathering
which means 'to strangle' the result is that theseleaves the inquiry unanswered.
kinds of ancient monuments of a mythologic beastAlthough it may perhaps lack the flamboyance of the
with the physique of a lion, whether Greek statue orwinged Greek sphinx statue, the Great Sphinx is
Egyptian statues are now labeled 'sphinx'.undoubtedly spectacular. We might not know its age
Anyone who has looked at an Egyptian statue of aor even why it was so very carefully carved from
sphinx might be puzzled - this really does not seemthe rock within the Giza Plateau, but we have been
like a sculpture of a monster. Could there be somefortunate enough to be able to enjoy this ancient
sort of mistake?  There are lots of relatedstatue and its mysteries, and anticipate the day
Egyptian statues displaying lion bodied beasts withwhen they can be completely unraveled.