SPHINX
Sphinx is an iconic image of a recumbent lion with the head of a ram, of a falcon or of a person, invented by the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom, but a cultural import in Greek mythology.
EGYPTIAN SPHINX
The sphinx of Giza is an ancient iconic mythical creature usually comprised of a recumbent lion — animal with sacred solar associations — with a human head, usually that of a pharaoh. Androsphinx - body of lion with head of person;
Criosphinx - body of lion with head of ram;
Hierocosphinx - body of lion with head of falcon or hawk.
The largest and most famous is Sesheps, the Great Sphinx of Giza, sited on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile River, facing due east, with asmall temple between its paws. The face of the Great Sphinx is believed to be the head of the pharaoh Khafra (often known by the Greek version of his name, Chephren) or possibly that of his brother, the Pharaoh Djedefra, which would date its construction from the fourth dynasty (2723 BC–2563 BC). However, there are some alternative theories that re-date the Sphinx to the pre-Old Kingdom – and, according to one hypothesis, to prehistoric times. Other famous Egyptian sphinxes include the alabaster sphinx of Memphis, currently localizated within the open-air museum at that site; and the ram-headed sphinxes (in Greek, criosphinxes) representing the god Amon, in Thebes, of which there were originally some nine hundred. What name or names the builders gave to the statues is unknown. The inscription on a stele in the Great Sphinx dates it from one thousand years after the carving of the Sphinx, gives three names of the sun: Kheperi - Re - Atum. The Arabic name of the Great Sphinx, Abu al-Hol, translates as "Father of Terror". The Greek name "Sphinx" was applied to it in the Antiquity. But it has the head of a man, not of a woman.
DESCRIPTION
The Great Sphinx in 1867. The Great Sphinx is a statue with the face of a man and the body of a lion. Carved out of the surrounding limestone bedrock, it is 57 metres (260 feet) long, 6 m (20 ft) wide, and has a height of 20 m (65 ft), making it the largest single-stone statue in the world. Blocks of stone weighing upwards of 200 tons were quarried in the construction phase to build the adjoining Sphinx Temple. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River within the confines of the Giza pyramid field. The Great Sphinx faces due east, with a small temple between its paws.
RESTORATION
After the necropolis was abandoned, the Sphinx became buried up to its shoulders in sand. The first attempt to dig it out dates back to 1400 BC, when the young Tutmosis IV formed an excavation party which, after much effort, managed to dig the front paws out. Tutmosis IV had a granite stela known as the Dream Stela placed between the paws. The stela reads, in part:...the royal son, Thothmos, being arrived, while walking at midday and seating himself under the shadow of this mighty god, was overcome by slumber and slept at the very moment when Ra is at the summit (of heaven). He found that the Majesty of this august god spoke to him with his own mouth, as a father speaks to his son, saying: Look upon me, contemplate me, O my son Thothmos; I am thy father, Harmakhis-Khopri-Ra-Tum; I bestow upon thee the sovereignty over my domain, the supremacy over the living ... Behold my actual condition that thou mayest protect all my perfect limbs. The sand of the desert whereon I am laid has covered me. Save me, causing all that is in my heart to be executed.Ramesses II may have also performed restoration work on the Sphinx.It was in 1817 that the first modern dig, supervised by Captain Caviglia, uncovered the Sphinx's chest completely. The entirety of the Sphinx was finally dug out in 1925.
MISSING NOSE
The one-meter-wide nose on the face is missing. A legend that the nose was broken off by a cannon ball fired by Napoléon's soldiers still survives, as do diverse variants indicting British troops, Mamluks, and others. However, sketches of the Sphinx by Frederick Lewis Norden made in 1737 and published in 1755 illustrate the Sphinx without a nose. The Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, writing in the fifteenth century, attributes the vandalism to Muhammad Saim al-Dahr, a Sufi fanatic from the khanqah of Said al-Suada.
In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Saim al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose. Al-Maqrizi describes the Sphinx as the "Nile talisman" on which the locals believed the cycle of inundation depended.Curious and droll fictional explanations of the nose's disappearance occasionally appear in modern entertainment set in vaguely appropriate times, such as in Asterix and Cleopatra.In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction. Egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann has posited that the rounded divine beard may not have existed in the Old or Middle Kingdoms, only being conceived of in the New Kingdom to identify the Sphinx with the god Horemakhet. This may also relate to the later fashion of pharaohs, which was to wear a plaited beard of authority—a false beard (chin straps are actually visible on some statues), since Egyptian culture mandated that men be clean shaven. Pieces of this beard are today kept in the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum.
MYTHOLOGY
The Great Sphinx was believed to stand as a guardian of the Giza Plateau, where it faces the rising sun.
It was the focus of solar worship in the Old Kingdom, centered in theadjoining temples built around the time of its probable construction. Its animal form, the lion, has long been a symbol associated with the sun in ancient Near Eastern civilizations. Images depicting the Egyptian king in the form of a lion smiting his enemies appear as far back as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. During the New Kingdom, the Sphinx became more specifically associated with the god Hor-em-akhet (Greek Harmachis) or Horus at the Horizon, which represented the Pharaoh in his role as the Shesep ankh of Atum (living image of Atum). A temple was built to the northeast of the Sphinx by King Amenhotep II, nearly a thousand years after its construction, dedicated to the cult of Horemakhet.
RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX
The Great Sphinx is one of the world's largest and oldest statues, yet basic facts about it such as the real-life model for the face, when it was built, and by whom, are debated. These questions have collectively earned the title "Riddle of the Sphinx", a nod to its Greek namesake, although this phrase should not be confused with the original Greek legend.
ORIGIN AND IDENTITY
The Great Sphinx is commonly accepted by Egyptologist to represent the likeness of King Khafra (also known by the Hellenised version of his name, Chephren) in which he believed to be the builder as well. Crediting Khafra as the builder would place its construction somewhere between 2520 - 2494 B.C. Because the evidence for this is often ambiguous it continues to be the subject of debate.Supporting Egytologists base the Khafra theory on the belief that the context of the monument resides within part of a greater funary complex credited to Khafra which includes the Sphinx and Valley Temples as well as the 2nd pyramid. Supporting evidence includes a diorite statue of Khafre discovered buried upside down in the nearby Valley Temple. Because of the relatively close proximity of the two structures, as well as it is assumed they were built at the same time, it is from this relationship Egyptologists associate Khafra with the Sphinx.
In addition, the Dream Stela erected by Pharaoh Thutmose IV in the New Kingdom is believed by Egyptologists to associate the Sphinx with King Khafra. When discovered, however, the lines of text were incomplete only referring to a "Khaf", and not the full "Khafra". The missing syllable "ra" was later added to complete the translation by Thomas Young on the assumption the text referred to "Khafra". The translation reads as follows.
"...which we bring for him: oxen... and all the young vegetables; and we shall give praise to Wenofer ...Khaf.... the statue made for Atum-Hor-em-Akhet."Regardless of the translation, the stela offers no clear record if at all of what context the name Khafre was used in relation to the Sphinx as the builder, restorer, or otherwise. The lines of text referring to Khafre flaked off and were destroyed when the Stela was re-excavated in the early 1900's in which Young's translation was based on an earlier facsimile.
Traditionally, the evidence for dating the Great Sphinx by Egyptologists has been based primarily on fragmented summaries of early Christian writings gleaned from the work of the Hellinistic Period Egyptian priest Manethô who compiled the now lost revisionist Egyptian history Aegyptika. These works, and to a lesser degree earlier Egyptian sources, mainly the "Turin Canon" and "Table of Abydos" among others, combine to form the main body of historical reference for Egyptologists giving a timeline by popular consensus of rulers known as the "King's List", found in the reference archive; the Cambridge Ancient History. As a result, Egyptologists have ascribed the Sphinx to Khafra, establishing the time he reigned by default subsequently dates the monument as well.
In 2004, French Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev announced the results of a 20-year reexamination of historical records and uncovering of new evidence that suggest the Great Sphinx may have been the work of the little known Pharaoh Djedefre, Khafra's half brother and a son of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Dobrev suggests it was built by Djedefre in the image of his father Khufu, identifying him with the sun god Ra in order to restore respect for their dynasty. Former director of the German Institute of Archaeology in Cairo Rainer Stadelmann suggests it was Khufu and not his son Khafre who is responsible for constructing the monument. Regardless, the sphinx's link with Khafra continues to be the most widely held view by Egyptologists.
ALTERNATIVE THEORIES
In common with many famous constructions of remote antiquity, the Great Sphinx has over the years been the subject of numerous speculative theories and assertions by non-specialists, mystics, pseudohistorians, pseudoarchaeologists and general writers. These alternative theories of the origin, purpose and history of the monument typically invoke a wide array of sources and associations, such as neighboring cultures, astrology, lost continents and civilizations (e.g. Atlantis), numerology, mythology and other esoteric subjects. Egyptologists and the wider scientific community largely ignore such claims; however, on occasion they are drawn into public debate when a claim purports to rely upon some novel or re-interpreted data from an academic field of study.
WATER EROSION
French scholar and mathematician R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz in the 1950s was the first to note water erosion to the Sphinx, an idea expanded upon by writer John Anthony West in the 1970s. In the 1990s Robert M. Schoch of Boston University investigated the geology of the Sphinx at the urging of John Anthony West, and concluded based solely on the geological evidence that the Sphinx must be much older than currently believed. Schoch has argued that the particular weathering found on the body of the Sphinx and surrounding "ditch" or "hollow" the monument was carved from, displays evidence that can only be caused from prolonged water erosion. Egypt's last time period where there was a significant amount of rainfall ended during the late 4th to early 3rd millennium BC. Schoch claims the amount of water erosion the Sphinx has experienced indicates a construction date no later than the 6th millennium BC or 5th millennium BC, at least two thousand years before the widely accepted construction date and 1500 years prior to the accepted date for the beginning of Egyptian civilization.
English geologist and secretary of The Manchester Ancient Egypt Society Colin Reader who has studied the weathering patterns as well, agrees the weathering occured from heavy water erosion, but concludes that the Sphinx is only several hundred years older than the traditionally accepted date believing the Sphinx to be a product of the Early Dynastic period. Independently, geologist David Coxill has also come forward to confirm in principle Schoch's findings, but like Reader has taken a more conservative approach to the dating of the Sphinx, yet concludes: "Nevertheless, it (the Sphinx)is clearly older than the traditional date for the origins of the Sphinx-in the reign of Khafre, 2520-2490 B.C." Both Schoch and Reader base their conclusions not only on the Sphinx and surrounding enclosure, but have also taken into account other congruent weathering features found on the Giza plateau from monuments such as the Sphinx Temple which are known to be consistant with the time period the Sphinx was constructed.
This theory has not been accepted by mainstream Egyptologists. Alternative theories offered by Egytologists for the erosion include wind and sand, acid rain, exfoliation or the poor quality of the limestone used to construct the Sphinx. Schoch, Reader, and Coxill have independently argued, regardless of when the Sphinx was actually built, that none of these explanations can account for what they consider as geologists to be "classic" water erosion patterns.Schoch has also noted as have others that the clearly evident disproportionately small size of the head compared to the body suggests the head to have been originally that of a lion, but later re-carved to give the likeness of a pharaoh. This implies that the Egyptian Kings were the inheritors of an already existing structure of which they re-made in their own image to give provenance over the monument.
HANCOCK AND BAUVAL
One well-publicised debate was generated by the works of two writers, Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval, in a series of separate and collaborative publications from the late 1980s onwards. Their claims include that the Great Sphinx was constructed in 10,500 BC; that its lion-shape is a definitive reference to the constellation of Leo; and that the layout and orientation of the Sphinx, the Giza pyramid complex and the Nile River is an accurate reflection or "map" of the constellations of Leo, Orion (specifically, Orion's Belt) and the Milky Way, respectively.Their initial claims regarding the alignment of the Giza pyramids with Orion ("…the three pyramids were an unbelievably precise terrestrial map of the three stars of Orion's belt"— Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods, 1995, p.375) are later joined with speculation about the age of the Sphinx (Hancock and Bauval, Keeper of Genesis, published 1997 in the U.S. as The Message of the Sphinx). By 1998's The Mars Mystery, they contend:...we have demonstrated with a substantial body of evidence that the pattern of stars that is "frozen" on the ground at Giza in the form of the three pyramids and the Sphinx represents the disposition of the constellations of Orion and Leo as they looked at the moment of sunrise on the spring equinox during the astronomical "Age of Leo" (i.e., the epoch in which the Sun was "housed" by Leo on the spring equinox.) Like all precessional ages this was a 2,160-year period. It is generally calculated to have fallen between the Gregorian calendar dates of 10,970 and 8810 BC. (op. cit., p.189)A date of 10,500 B.C. is chosen because they maintain this is the only time in the precession of the equinoxes when the astrological age was Leo and when that constellation rose directly east of the Sphinx at the vernal equinox. They also suggest that in this epoch the angles between the three stars of Orion's Belt and the horizon was an "exact match" to the angles between the three main Giza pyramids. This time period coincidentally also coincides with the American psychic Edgar Cayce's "dating" of Atlantis. These and other theories are used to support the overall belief in an advanced and ancient, but now vanished, global progenitor civilization.Their theories, and the astronomical and archaeological data upon which they are based, have recieved refutations by some mainstream scholars who have examined them, notably the astronomers Ed Krupp and Anthony Fairall. The refuting evidence includes noting that the correspondence of the angles between the pyramids and the angles in Orion's Belt at that epoch is not in fact precise or even very close, that the "Age of Leo" (period when the Sun's path appears in this constellation at the equinoxes) in fact starts 1500 years later than this, that the Zodiac of western astrology is known to have originated in Mesopotamia and not pre-ancient Egypt, and that if the Sphinx is meant to represent Leo, then it should be on the other side of the Nile (the "Milky Way") from the pyramids ("Orion"). Hancock, Bauval, and others have offered counter-arguments to Krupp's points and maintain their positions, continuing to publish books based on their theories. The majority of the scientific community regards these ideas as being counter to mainstream views and as a result are often labeled as pseudoscience.
EARLY EGYPTOLOGISTS
While mainstream Egytologists today rail against any alternative theory suggesting the Great Sphinx is possibly older than currently accepted, this was not always the case. The emininant Keeper of the Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum and father of modern egytology Sir E.A. Wallis Budge states in his 1904 book Gods of the Egyptians: "This marvelous object [the Great Sphinx] was in existence in the days of Khafre, or Khephren, and it is probable that it is a very great deal older than his reign and that it dates from the end of the archaic period." French Egyptologist and Director General of Excavations and Antiquities for the Egyptian government Gaston Maspero who surveyed the Sphinx in the 1920's asserts:" The Sphinx stela shows, in line thirteen, the cartouche of Khephren. I believe that to indicate an excavation carried out by that prince, following which, the almost certain proof that the Sphinx was already buried in sand by the time of Khafre and his predecessors."
source: Wikipedia
|
