Great Sphinx of Giza – A Dream Come True Visit
Egyptian Temples & Tombs | February 26, 2010What do recollect on hearing the words, Great Sphinx? Probably a lion with a human head in Egypt! Yes, the Great Sphinx of Giza refers to a statue whose head is of female, the body is of a sitting lion, and the wings are of an eagle. Located on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile, this sphinx is the largest monolith structure on the planet. Built in 2555 BC to 2532 B.C by the ancient Egyptians of Old Kingdom, the Great Sphinx of Giza is the oldest known historic piece. The body is 200 feet long and 65 feet tall with the face being 13 feet wide with eyes 6 feet high.
Significance
This huge statue is so old that the Egyptian Pharaohs revered it as God without knowing anything about it and built a small temple in its facade. Facing east, the Sphinx is associated with the rising sun and so the later Egyptian kings revered it as the sun god naming it Hor-Em-Akhet (Horus of the Horizon). A small chapel amidst its extended paws holds several inscribed stelae to honor the god. One of them tells the mystic story of Thutmose IV who had a dream while resting in its shade wherein the Sphinx promised him to be King of Egypt after digging it from covering sand and the promise became true after two years of clearance.
Construction
Sculpted from the natural bedrock and extended with limestone blocks, stone hammers, and copper chisels, the body was stretched with large and high quality Tura limestone blocks. An inscription of 600 BC in the Great Pyramid reads that Pharaoh Khufu did some repairs on the Sphinx’s tail and headdress. According to some excavations, there were secret corridors under this lengthen body out of which three tunnels beneath it are already found belonging to the pharaonic times with a mysterious and unclear purpose.
The Missing Nose
There are many myths behind this aspect: falling off during the investigation of the Napoleon’s archaeologists and that the Mameluke army shot it. However, these are not the real reasons. It was purposely detached by a Sufi named Muhammad Sa’im Al-Dahr who regarded the Great Sphinx of Giza as an improper structure in the 8th century AD. In 1378, when this Sufi fellow saw the Egyptian peasants offering to the Sphinx in return of increased harvest, he was enraged that stimulated him to damage the nose. The face that looked dark red also had a stone beard and a sacred cobra (uraeus) on its forehead, both of which are now not seen.
Many people are of the opinion that the Great Sphinx of Giza would have vanished much before if it was not submerged in the sand.
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It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom in the reign of the pharaoh Khafra .
The Great Sphinx is one of the world’s largest and oldest statues, but basic facts about it, such as who was the model for the face, when it was built, and by whom, are still debated. These questions have resulted in the popular idea of the “Riddle of the Sphinx”.