When mentioning Egypt, people immediately think of the pyramids and the famous sphinx. The sphinx hides many mysteries that have yet to be solved.
Panoramic view of the Egyptian pyramids from above
The Great Sphinx of Giza is located on the Giza plateau, on the left bank of the Nile River, Egypt. The statue has the shape of a lion but has a human head.
For a long time, Western archaeologists have never seen the Sphinx intact. When Napoleon’s army invaded Egypt in 1798, he only saw the head of the statue, the rest was buried in the sand.
It was not until 1936 that Emil Baraize – a French engineer, after many efforts over a decade, was able to excavate the statue as it is today.
Carved from a block of stone
The Sphinx, 1880s
The world’s oldest statue
The 73-metre-long, 20-metre-high statue is the largest monolithic statue in the world, and also the oldest.
The Sphinx Temple next door was also built from 200-tonne blocks of stone dating from the same period as the statue.
The Sphinx may have been important to the king at the time, but there is no information engraved on, inside, or outside the statue that tells who built it, how old it is, or what its significance is.
Most archaeologists believe that the Sphinx dates back to the reign of King Khafra of the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom in 2,500 BC.
He also built the second largest pyramid at Giza. Khafra is described as a cruel, heretical king who closed temples that did not match the architectural style of his father Khufu.
“Contract” between King Thutmose IV and the Sphinx?
The Dream Stele Placed at the Foot of the Sphinx
This is an ancient Egyptian legend that has been pᴀssed down to this day. Before becoming the 8th king of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, Thutmose IV, while hunting, sat under the head of the sphinx.
When he fell asleep, he dreamed that the sphinx appeared in his dream, asking him to restore the statue, in return the sphinx would help Thutmose IV become king.
When he woke up, Thutmose IV ordered the sand around the head of the sphinx to be dug up, and the neck of the statue would be removed. Continuing to dig, he excavated and restored the sphinx as it is today.
After that, fulfilling his promise, the sphinx helped Thutmose IV become king. The story is written on the Dream Stele placed at the foot of the sphinx.
However, there is also research that Thutmose IV was the son of King AmeH๏τep II. Not being the crown prince, he overthrew his brother and usurped the throne, then erected the dream stele to justify his actions.
Could be up to 12,000 years old
There are still many different opinions about the age of the Sphinx
Although most researchers believe that the Sphinx was built around 2,500 BC, many other scientists have been searching for the true age of this statue.
Geologist Robert Schoch is one of them. He observed that the soil and rock around the statue showed signs of erosion a long time ago.
Schoch’s research suggests that the cause of this erosion is due to continuous heavy rain over a long period of time, which is very rare in the Egyptian desert. Looking back at historical documents, geological records show that such weather only occurred between 7,000 and 12,000 BC.
So could the Sphinx date back to 12,000 BC?
Sphinx or Anubis?
Sphinx or Anubis?
Anubis is the name of the dog-headed god who was responsible for mummification and governing the afterlife in ancient Egyptian culture.
Previously, people still thought that this sphinx statue had the shape of a lion. However, some researchers believe that in Egyptian culture, a lion had never been seen with the appearance of a sphinx statue.
On the contrary, the back and body posture of the statue remind people more of a dog than a lion. So is this the image of the god Anubis? Or was the first statue depicting Anubis, but later due to some incident, people replaced it with the face of a sphinx?
Is there a room under the sphinx?
Dr. Joseph Schor (University of Florida, USA) conducted geological studies in the area of the sphinx and confirmed that there is indeed a space under the sphinx.
In addition, another research team also claimed that there was a tunnel connecting the Sphinx to the pyramids.
The above research teams asked the Egyptian government for permission to excavate the area, but were all refused to protect the heritage. To date, the above ᴀssertions have not been verified.
Why did the Sphinx lose its nose?
The Sphinx’s Nose Is Missing
The 1-meter-wide nose on the statue’s face was missing due to chisel marks on the bridge and below the nostrils.
The 15th-century Arab historian Al-Maqrizi wrote that the nose was lost due to vandalism by Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr, a Muslim who saw people worshiping the statue for good harvests and was so angry that he destroyed the nose.
He was later hanged for vandalism.
There is also a theory that the nose was lost due to cannonballs fired by Napoleon’s army during his invasion of Egypt.
