the story of the Great Sphinx is a great one as this is a colossal limestone 4,500 years old statue, it’s location is near the great pyramid of Giza.
It’s considered one of the most fascinating and wonderful landmarks in Egypt.
Its measurement is 73 meters in length and 20 meters in height.
What is the Sphinx?
It features to be with a human male face and a lion’s body with some variations.
The Sphinx, in ancient Egypt, was considered as a spiritual guardian.
Most of the time represented with human head and pharaoh headdress and some of the sphinxes were also included in some tombs and temples.
For example, the sphinx alley that located in Luxor is a two-mile avenue
It links between Luxor and Karnak temples and it’s surrounded with smaller Sphinx statues.
There are Sphinxes that have similarity to woman pharaoh as Hatshepsut
There is a large alabaster Sphinx that exists at the temple of Ramesside in Memphis, Egypt.
The Sphinx is imported from Egypt to Greece and Asia about 15th to 16 th century B.C.
The Asian Sphinx is figured with eagle wings, most often female look, often raise one paw and sat on its haunches.
The Sphinx in Greece also has wings and a serpent tail as well.
How old is the great Sphinx?
The most widely accepted theory about when the Great Sphinx was built, is that it was constructed for Khafre around 2603 – 2578 B.C.
As some hieroglyphic reliefs say that the king Khufu, the father of Khafre, built the greatest and oldest pyramid of the three pyramids of Giza.
When Khafre became a king, he built his own pyramid next to his father’s pyramid and it’s 10 feats shorter than Khufu pyramid.
But Khufu pyramid is encircled by more statues as the great Sphinx.
There are some suggestions say that the great Sphinx has been painted because of the red dye on its face
According to the organization of the Sphinx and the pyramids, some scientists believe that there was a celestial goal from the temple and the great Sphinx
That was to resurrect the soul of Khafre by directing the power of the sun god and other gods also.
Khafre:
There are several pieces of evidences that link Khafre and his temple complex with the great Sphinx.
The reason for that is, the face and head of the Sphinx is very similar to life-size monuments of king Khafre, that have been found on the valley temple.
In addition to the remnants of the causeway that tie the mortuary temple next to Khafre’s pyramids, to the valley temple.
at the beginning of the 1900s, another ancient building was discovered, just in front of the Great Sphinx, it’s called the Sphinx temple and it has a similar design to the valley temple.
In the 1980s, another evidence was discovered that suggested that the limestones that used in building the walls of the Sphinx came from the ditch around the statue.
It’s also believed that the workers transferred Quarry blocks for the temple of Sphinx during the great Sphinx construction.
Researchers suggested that it might have taken three years and 100 workers to the carve out the great Sphinx from the limestone.
There are some other shreds of evidence show that the workers quit suddenly before completely finish building the temple and the great Sphinx
As there was a leftover of workman’s lunch, some tool kits, and partially quarried bedrock.
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