What is the Egyptian Sphinx. The history of the Sphinx and its symbolism among different peoples of the world. Sphinx was once covered with paint
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Egyptian Sphinx
The oldest images of Gollywolva were found in the excavations of Göbekley-Tepe and dating 10 thousand to n. e.
The statues of the sphinxes became the attribute of ancient Egyptian art during the ancient kingdom, the earliest depicts, probably, Queen Hietepheres II. One of the largest monolithic statues of the world is the sculpture of Sphinx (large Sphinx), which protects the Pharaoh's Pyramids in Giza.
There were three common options for Sphinxes:
- The classic version of the Egyptian sphinx was androsphinx With a person's face, as a rule, a high-ranking person - for example, Pharaoh.
- Temples of God Choir adorned sphinxes with falcon's head - hieraacosphinces
- Near the temples of Amon were installed sphinxes with a muzzle of the Baran - cryosphinches.
The winged stitcher was sent to the beads of the goddess Hero for the crime of the FVAN king, in relation to the Churchippa. She settled the travelers, asked them the helica puzzles and killed everyone who could not guess them. Hera lowered her on the hair. Having learned the riddle of the muses, Sphing sat down at the Fikeh Mountain and began to ask her to Favans.
There is a version that she was a side daughter of Laya, and he told her the secret of saying the Delphian God, given Cadmu. There were many sons from the concubine, and they all could not answer the question and gibbles.
In another interpretation, she was a marine robbery wandering around the seas with the army and fleet, capturing the mountain, she was engaged, until the Oedip with the army from Corinth won it. According to one more interpretation, this is Amazon, the first wife of Cadma, strengthened on Mount Fikion and began to fight with cadm.
The acting face of the Satyrovsky drama of the Sphinx, the plays of the unknown author "Sphinx", Comedy Epharma Sphinx.
India
Sphinx in the art of classicism
The images of the Sphinx are abounding in the art of classicism since the interiors of Robert Adam and ending with the empty furniture of the era of romantic "Egyptomania".
The sphinxes of the steel were an attribute of neoclassical decoration, and the return to the simplified early version, more similar to the painting of grotesque, occurred. Masons considered them a symbol of mysteries and used them in their architecture, considering as the guards of the gates of the temple. In the Masonic architecture, the Sphinx is a frequent detail of the decor, for example, even in the image of the image of his head on the blank of documents.
It was during this period that St. Petersburg decorated with numerous images of the Sphinx (see, for example, the Egyptian bridge). In 1832, pair sphinxes transported from Egypt were installed on the Embankment Neva before the Academy of Arts. The same motive was used when designing a monument to victims of political repression.
From 1800 in St. Petersburg under the leadership of A. F. Labzin, the Masonic Lodge "Dying Sphinx" was operating. In the US, the sphinxes still establish at the entrance to the halls of the Masonic meetings as the personification of the mystery and the call for silence.
see also
- Humiela - ancient sculptural image of an animal.
- In honor of the Sphinx named asteroid (896) Sphinx (eng.)russianopened in 1918.
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Excerpt characterizing Sphinx
To ask your incessant hail questions and a manner at once in two, she strongly reminded me of Stella. And I laughed at heart ...- No, Maya, we, of course, do not live here. It was you very brave that they themselves came here. You need a very big courage to commit such ... You are real well done! But now you have to go back there, where did you come from here, you do not have more reasons to stay here.
- And my mother with dad "at all" died? .. And we will not see them anymore ... True?
Puffy Mayaine sponge threw up, and the first large tear appeared on the brush ... I knew that if it was not to stop it now - there would be a lot of tears ... And in our present "communal" state, it was impossible to admit it ...
- But you are alive, though?! Therefore, you want this or not, but you will have to live. I think that mother and dad would be very happy if they found out that everything is fine with you. After all, they loved you very much ... "As I could, I said.
- How do you know? - Baby stared at me in surprise.
- Well, they accomplished a very heavy act by saving you. Therefore, I think only loves someone very much, you can make such a thing ...
- And where will we go now? We will go with you? .. - Questionfully looking at me with his huge gray glazes, asked Maya.
"Here Arno would like to pick you up with me." What do you think of it? He is also not sweet, too ... and many more and many have to get bored to survive. So you will help each other ... So, I think it will be very correct.
Stella finally came to himself, and immediately "rushed into the attack":
"What happened that this monster got you, Arno?" Do you remember anything? ..
- No ... I only remember the light. And then a very bright meadow, filled with the sun ... But it was no longer the earth - it was something wonderful and completely transparent ... there is no such thing on earth. But then everything disappeared, but I woke up "I'm already here and now.
- And what if I try to "see" through you? - Suddenly a completely wild thought came to my head.
- How - through me? - surprised Arno.
- Oh, and right! - immediately exclaimed Stella. - How did I do not think?!
"Well, sometimes you see, and something comes to me ..." I laughed. - not always only you invent!
I tried to "engage" in his thoughts - nothing happened ... I tried to "remember" the moment with him, when he "leaving" ...
- Oh, what's the horror !!! - Skaking Stella. - Look, this is when they captured it !!!
I stopped my breath ... the picture we saw was and the truth is not pleasant! It was a moment when Arno just died, and his essence began to rise through the blue canal up. And right behind him ... besides the channel, three completely nightmarish creatures were drunk! .. Two of them were certainly the Lower Earth Entities, but the third one clearly seemed some other, very terrible and alien, obviously not earthly ... And all these creatures were very purposefully chased by a person, apparently trying to get it for some reason ... And he, the poor thing, without even suspecting that he was so "cute" hunt, Paril in silver-blue, light silence, enjoying unusually deep , unearthly rest, and, greedily absorbing this rest, rested the soul, forgetting for a moment the wild, destroyed earth pain, "thanks" to which he landed in this transparent, unfamiliar world ...
At the end of the channel, already at the entrance to the "floor", two mandes lightningly jarled behind Arno in the same channel and unexpectedly merged into one, and then this "one" quickly flowed in the main, the most nasty, who was probably the strongest of them. And he attacked ... Or rather, it was suddenly completely flat, "rolling" almost to a transparent haze, and "I wondered" anything unaware of Arno, completely stolen his essence, depriving him of the former "I" and in general any "presence" ... And after, terribly laughing, immediately widths already captured the essence of poor Arno (just the ripe beauty approaching the upper floor) straight into the lower astral ....
"I don't understand ..." Stella whispered. - How did they capture him, he seems so strong? .. And well, let's see what happened even earlier?
We again tried to watch through the memory of our new acquaintance ... And immediately understood why he was such a light target for capturing ...
For clothes and surroundings, it looked as if about a hundred years ago. He stood in the middle of a huge room, where he lay on the floor, completely naked, two female bodies ... Rather, it was a woman and a girl who could be from the strength of fifteen years. Both bodies were scary beaten, and apparently, brutally raped brutally before death. On the poor Arno "there was no facial" ... he stood like a dead man, not moving, and perhaps not even understanding where at that moment was, as shock was too cruel. If we were correctly understood - it was his wife and daughter, over which someone is very brutally inadequate ... Although, to say, it would be wrong to say "in brutal", because no beast does not make what it is capable sometimes human...
Suddenly Arno shouted, as the wounded animal, and fell on the ground, next to the scary worried body of his wife (?) ... In it, as during a storm, wild vortices raged emotions - anger replaced hopelessness, rage caught a longing, after disturbing Inhuman pain, from which there was no salvation ... He rode the floor with his cries, not finding his grief ... until finally, to our horror, completely sat down, no longer stirred ...
Well, naturally, opened such a rude emotional "squall", and he dreamed with him, he began at that moment the ideal "target" for capturing any, even the most weak "black" creatures, not to mention those who later suffered so hard Behind him to use his powerful energy body, as a simple energy "costume" ... to be left after, with it, your horrible, "black" business ...
"I don't want to watch it more ..." Stella said the whisper. "I don't want to see horror anymore anything else ... Is it a human?" Well, tell me !!! Is it right?! We are people !!!
Stella began real hysterics, which was so unexpected that in the first second I was completely confused, not finding what to say. Stella was very indignant and even a little angry, which, in this situation, probably was completely acceptable and explained. For others. But it was so, again, it's not like that that I just finally understood how painful and deeply all this, an endless earthly evil wounded her kind, affectionate heart, and as far as she probably was tired of constantly carrying all this human Dirt and cruelty on their fragile, even very children's, shoulders .... I really wanted to hug this cute, persistent and so sad now, the little man! But I knew that it would upset her even more. And therefore, trying to keep quietly, so as not to affect her even deeper and so too "ragged" feelings, she tried, as she could, calm her.
"But there is a good, not only bad! .. You just look around - and your grandmother? .. And shouted? .. Won Maria generally lived only for others! And how many people! .. They are very very, very much! You're just very tired and very sad, because we have lost good friends. So everything seems to be in the "black paints" ... and tomorrow there will be a new day, and you will become ourselves again, I promise you! And also, if you want, we will not go to this "floor"? Want? ..
- Is the reason in the "floor"? .. - Gorky asked Stella. - From this, it will not change anything, we will go here or not ... It's just a terrestrial life. She is angry ... I don't want to be more here ...
I was very frightened, does Stella think to leave me and go all out forever?! But it was so on her not like! .. In any case, it was not the same Stella, which I knew so well ... And I really wanted to believe that her brown love for life and a bright joyful character "erase powder "All of the current bitterness and barking, and very soon she will again become the same solar stella, which still has been so recently ...
Therefore, a little calming itself, I decided not to do now any "far-reaching" conclusions, and wait until tomorrow before making any more serious steps.
Egypt is a country that is still weighted by a mass of riddles attracting tourists from all over the planet. Perhaps one of the most important secrets of this state is a great Sphynx, whose statue is located in the Giza Valley. This is one of the most ambitious sculptures ever created by the hands of a person. Its dimensions are truly impressive - the length is 72 meters, the height is about 20 meters, the face of the sphinx itself has a length of 5 meters, and the fallen nose, according to the calculations, had a value with an average human growth. No photo is able to transfer all the greatness of this stunning monument of antiquity.
Today, a large Sphinx in Giza no longer instills in a person of sacred horror - after the excavation, it was found that the statue of all-going "sits" in the pit. However, for many centuries, her head sticking out of deserted sand, superstitious fear of deserted Bedouins and locals.
general information
Egyptian Sphinx is located on the west coast of the Nile River, and his head is facing the sunrise. For many thousands of years, a view of this silent witness of the history of the country of Pharaohs is aimed at the point on the horizon, where in the days of autumn and spring equinox the sun begins his leisurely move.
The Sphinx itself is made of monolithic limestone, which is a fragment of the base of the Giza Plateau. The statue is a huge mysterious creature with a body of a lion and a man's head. Many probably saw this grand construction in the photo in books and textbooks on the history of the ancient world.
Cultural and historical importance of the construction
According to historians, almost all ancient civilizations lion was the personification of the Sun and the sunny deity. In the drawings of the ancient Egyptians, Pharaoh was very often depicted in the form of a lion that scores to the enemies of the state and exterminating them. It is based on these beliefs that the version was built that the Great Sphinx is a certain mystical guard guarding the peace of rulers buried in the tombs of the Giza Valley.
It is still not known how the residents of ancient Egypt called the sphinx. It is believed that the word "Sphinx" itself has a Greek origin and is literally translated as "slicer". In some Arabic texts, in particular, in the famous collection "Thousand and one night", the Sphinx is not called the "Father of Horror". There is one more opinion, according to which the ancient Egyptians called the statue of the "way of existing". This once again confirms that the Sphinx was for them the earthly embodiment of one of the deities.
History
Probably the most important riddle that the Egyptian Sphinx is traced - who is who, when and for which it elevated such a grand monument. In the ancient papyrus found by historians, it is possible to find a lot of information about the construction and creators of the great pyramids and numerous temple complexes, but about the Sphinx, its creator and the cost of its construction (and the ancient Egyptians have always been very careful about the costs of this or that matter) there are no mention None in any source. For the first time, he mentioned him in his writings, the historian of Pliny Sr., but it was already at the beginning of our era. He notes that the Sphinx, located in Egypt, was reconstructed several times and was cleaned of sand. It is that not a single source that explains the origin of this monument has not yet been found, and gave rise to countless versions, opinions and guesses regarding who and why he built it.
Big Sphinx fits perfectly into a complex of structures located on the Giza Plateau. The creation of this complex refers to the period of the reign of IV dynasty of the kings. Actually, he himself includes the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx Statue.
Until now, it is impossible to say for how many years this monument. According to the official version, a large Sphinx in Giza was erected during the reign of Pharaoh Hefren - approximately 2500 to our era. In support of this hypothesis, historians indicate the similarity of limestone blocks used in the construction of the pyramid of Hefren and Sphinx, as well as the image of the ruler itself, which was found near the construction.
There is another one, an alternative version of the origin of the Sphinx, according to which its construction refers to even more ancient times. The group of Egyptologists from Germany, which conducted a limestone erosion analysis, concluded that the monument was built in about 7,000 BC. There is also astronomical theories of the creation of Sphinx, according to which its construction is associated with the Constellation of Orion and corresponds to 10500 BC.
Restoration and current monument state
Large Sphinx, even though he has survived to our times, is now very damaged - nor the time nor people spared him. Especially suffered by the face - on numerous photos, it can be seen that it is almost completely erased, and its features cannot be distinguished. The urea is the symbol of the royal power, which is Cobru, who throws his head - irrevocably lost. Boards - a solemn headdress, descending from the head on the shoulders of the statue - also partially destroyed. I suffered and the beard, which is now not fully represented. But where and under what circumstances the nose of the Sphinx disappeared, scientists argue so far.
Damage to the face of a large sphinx located in Egypt, very much resemble traces of chisel. According to Egyptologists, in the XIV century he was discerned by one pious sheikh, who carried out the covenants of the Prophet Mohammed, prohibiting the human face on the works of art. And Mamelukov head of the structure was used as a cannon target.
Today in the photo, video and live can be seen as a very large Sphinx suffered from the time and cruelty of people. There was even a small piece of 350 kg with a small piece of 350 kg, it gives another reason to be amazed to truly gigantic sizes of this facility.
Although only 700 years ago, the face of a mysterious statue described a certain Arab traveler. In his travel notes, it was said that this face was truly fine, and his lips were carried by the majestic stamp of Pharaoh.
For all the years of its existence, a large sphinx has repeatedly immersed on the very shoulders in the sands of the Sahara desert. The first attempts to dig a monument were taken in ancient times by Pharaoh Tathmos IV and Ramses II. With thenamos, the Great Sphinx was not only completely dug out of the sand, but also a huge arrow of granite was installed in its paws. It was carved with an inscription, which says that the ruler gives under the patronage of the Sphinx his body so that it rests on the sands of the Giza Valley and at a certain point he resurrected in the appearance of the new Pharaoh.
In times of Ramses II, the Great Sphinx Giza not only dug out of the sand, but also undergoing a solid restoration. In particular, the massive rear of the statue was replaced by blocks, although before the entire monument was monolithic. At the beginning of the XIX century, archaeologists completely cleaned the statues from the sand, but she was completely relieved of sand only in 1925. It was then that the true dimensions of this grand constructure became known.
Great Sphinx as a tourism facility
Large Sphinx, like the Great Pyramids, is located on the Giza Plateau, which is 20 km from the capital of Egypt. This is a single complex of monuments of the history of ancient Egypt, which has come down to this day since the reign of pharaohs from the IV dynasty. It consists of three large pyramids - Heops, Hefren and Micheerin, the small pyramids of the queen are included here. Here tourists can visit various temple facilities. The Sphinx Statue is located in the eastern part of this ancient complex.
Hearing the combination of the words "Ancient Egypt", many will immediately imagine majestic pyramids and large sphinx - it is with them that a mysterious civilization is associated, separated from us by several millennia. We will get acquainted with interesting facts about sphinxes, these mysterious beings.
Definition
What is Sphinx? The word for the first time appeared in the country the pyramids, and later spread around the world. So, in ancient Greece, you can meet a similar being - a beautiful woman with wings. In Egypt, these creatures most often had a male race. Known Sphinx with the face of female Pharaoh Hatsepsut. Having received the throne and pushing the legal heir, this powerful woman tried to edit, as a man, even wore a special patch beard. Therefore, there is nothing surprising that many statues of this time found her face.
What function did they perform? According to mythology, Sphinx performed as the Guardian of Tomb and Temple Buildings, which is why most of the statues that have come down to this day have been discovered close to this kind of structures. So, in the church of the Supreme Divine, Sunmonn, they found about 900.
So, answering the question of what Sphinx is, it should be noted that this is a statue characteristic of the culture of ancient Egypt, which, according to mythology, guarded temple buildings and tombs. As a material for the creation, a limestone was used, which in the country the pyramids was quite a lot.
Description
The ancient Egyptians portrayed the sphinx so:
- Human head, most often Pharaoh.
- The body of a lion, one of the sacred animals of the roasting country Kemet.
But such appearance is not the only version of the image of mythological creation. Modern finds prove that there were other species, such as heads:
- barana (the so-called cryosphinces were installed at the Amon Temple);
- Sokol (they were called hieralicosphinces and most often placed at the temple of God the mountain);
- jastreb.
So, answering the question of what Sphinx is, it should be indicated that this is a statue with a body of a lion and an head of a different creature (more often - a man, ram), which was installed in the immediate vicinity of the temples.
The most famous sphinches
The tradition of creating a very original statue with the human head and the lion's body was inherent in the Egyptians for a long time. So, the first of them appeared during the fourth pharaoh dynasty, that is, in about 2700-2500. BC e. Interestingly, the first representative was a female genus and portrayed the queen hetfera to the second. Up to us, this statue has reached, everyone can look at her in the Cairo Museum.
Everyone knows the great Sphinx in Giza, which we will talk about below.
The second largest sculpture depicting an unusual being is Creation from Alebastra with the Faracon of the Amenhotel of the Second, found in Memphis.
No less well known and the famous sefnox alley at the Temple of Amon in Luxor.
The greatest value
The most famous worldwide, of course, a great Sphinx, who does not just amaze the imagination with its huge sizes, but also asks the scientist community a lot of riddles.
The giant with a lion's body is located on the plateau in Giza (not far from the capital of the modern state, Cairo) and is part of the burial complex, which also includes three great pyramids. It is carved from the monolithic blister and is the largest structure for which a solid stone was used.
The disputes are even the age of this outstanding monument, although the analysis of the rock and allowed him to assume that he was at least 4.5 thousand years. What features of this colossal monument are known?
- The face of the Sphinx, an disfiguous time and, as one of the legends, the barbaric actions of Napoleon's army soldiers, most likely depicts Pharaoh Hefren.
- The giant face is facing the east, it is there that the pyramids are located - the statue seems to protect the greatest pharaohs of antiquity.
- The dimensions of the figure carved from the monolithic limestone are striking the imagination: length - more than 55 meters, width - about 20 meters, the width of the shoulders is more than 11 meters.
- Previously, the ancient Sphinx was painted, as evidenced by the preserved paint residues: red, blue and yellow.
- The statue also attended a beard peculiar to the kings of Egypt. It has been preserved to the present day, although separate from the sculpture - it is kept in the British Museum.
The gigant was reappeared several times under the sands, he was filing. Perhaps it is the protection of sand that helped the sphinx to survive the disadvantaged effect of natural cataclysms.
Change
Egyptian Sphinx managed to defeat the time, but it affected the change in its appearance:
- Initially, the figure had a traditional headdress for the pharaoh, decorated with a sacred cobra, but it was completely destroyed.
- Lost the statue and overhead beard.
- Nose damage has already been mentioned. Someone vinit in this shelling of the Army of Napoleon, others - the actions of Turkish soldiers. There is also a version that the protruding item suffered from wind and humidity.
Despite this, the monument is one of the greatest creatures of the ancients.
Riddles history
Let's get acquainted with the secrets of the Egyptian Sphynx, many of which are not solved so far:
- The legend says that under the giant monument there are three underground strokes. However, only one of them managed to find a giant head.
- The age of the largest sphinx is still unknown. Most scientists believe that it was built at the Board of Hefre, however, there are those who consider sculpture more ancient. Thus, her face and head retained traces of the effects of water elements, so the hypothesis appeared that the giant was erected more than 6 millennia ago, when a terrible flood hit Egypt.
- Perhaps the Army of the French Emperor in vain is accused of damaging the great monument of the past, since there are drawings of an unknown traveler, on which the giant is already depicted without nose. Napoleon was still not born at that time.
- As you know, the Egyptians knew writing and documented in detail on the papyrus all - from conquering campaigns and the construction of temples before tax collection. However, no scroll was found, which would contain information on the construction of the monument. Perhaps these documents simply did not reach this day. Perhaps the reason is that the Giant appeared long before the Egyptians themselves.
- The first mention of the Egyptian Sphynx was found in the works of the Senior Plane, which refers to the work on the damping of the sculpture from the sand.
The majestic monument of the ancient world has not yet opened all their mysteries to us, so its research continues.
Restoration and security
We learned what Sphinx is, what role he played in the world of ancient Egyptian. To roll up a huge figure from the sand and partially restored it was trying on Pharaohs. It is known that such work was carried out during the time of Tutamos IV. The granite stele (the so-called "Stel of Sleep") is preserved, telling that once Pharaoh had a dream in which God of Ra told him to clear the statue of the sand, in return, he promising power over the state.
Later, to dig up the Egyptian Sphynx commanded and the conqueror Ramses II. Then attempts were made at the beginning of the XIX and XX centuries.
Now let's see how our contemporaries try to preserve this cultural heritage. The figure was carefully analyzed, all cracks were revealed, the monument was closed for visiting and was restored for 4 months. In 2014, he was again open for tourists.
The history of the sphinx in Egypt is amazing and filled with secrets and riddles. Many of them are still unagreened by scientists, so an amazing figure with the body of a lion and a person's face continues to attract attention.
Sphinx Giza is one of the oldest, largest and most mysterious monuments ever created by a person. Disputes about his origin are still going. We gathered 10 little-known facts about the majestic monument in the Sahara desert.
1. Large Sphinx Giza Sphinx is not
Specialists argue that the Egyptian Sphynx can not call the traditional image of the Sphinx. In the classic Greek mythology, the Sphinx was described as a creature that had a body of a lion, a woman's head and bird wings. In Giza, the sculpture of Androsfinse is actually towers, since he has no wings.
2. Initially, the sculpture had several other names.
The ancient Egyptians initially did not call it a gigantic creature "large sphinx". In the text on the "Stale of Dreams", dating from about 1400 BC, the Sphinx is referred to as the "statue of the Great Hepri". When the future pharaoh Tutamos IV slept next to her, he dreamed of a dream in which God Hepry-Ra-Atum came to him and asked to free the statue of sand, and in return he promised that the tathmos would become the ruler of all Egypt. Tutamos IV Dippophaded in the sandy sand with the statue, which after that became known as Horam Axet, which is translated as "mountains on the horizon." Medieval Egyptians called Sphinx "Balkhib" and "Bilhow".
3. No one knows who built a sphinx
Even today, people do not know the exact age of this statue, and modern archaeologists argue about who could create it. The most popular theory says that the Sphinx arose during the Board of Hefren (the fourth dynasty of the ancient kingdom), i.e. The age of the statue dates from about 2500 a year before our era.
This pharaoh is attributed to the creation of the pyramid of Hefren, as well as necropolis Giza and a number of ritual temples. The proximity of these structures with Sphinx prompted a number of archaeologists to believe that hefren ordered to build a majestic monument with his face.
Other scientists believe that the statue is much older than the pyramid. They prove that the face and head of the statue are traces of obvious damage to water and put forward the theory that the Great Sphinx already existed during the era when the region faced an extensive flood (6 millennia to our era).
4. Who would build a sphinx, he rushed from him to break his head after the end of the construction
American archaeologist Mark Leger and the Egyptian archaeologist Canes Havass found a large stone blocks, tool kits and even petrified dinners under the sand layer. This clearly indicates that the workers are so hurried to go away, they did not capture with them even their tools.
5. Basher workers who built a statue, perfectly fed
Most scientists think that people who built the sphinx were slaves. However, their diet assumes quite different. As a result of the excavation, under the leadership, Mark Leger was found that the workers regularly dinner beef, lamb and kvdvatin.
6. Sphinx was once covered with paint
Although now Sphinx gray-sand color, once it was completely covered with bright paint. Red paint residues still can be found on the face of the statue, and on the sphinx body there are traces of blue and yellow paint.
7. Sculpture for a long time was buried under the sand
Great Sphinx Giza several times became the victim of the Szybuchi sands of the Egyptian desert during his long-term existence. The first known recovery of almost completely buried under the sand of the Sphinx occurred shortly before the 14th century BC, thanks to the Rasmos IV, which soon became Egyptian pharaoh. Three millennia later, the statue was again buried under the sands. Up until the 19th century, the front paws of the statue were deep beneath the desert surface. Fully Sphinx was excavated in the 1920s.
8. Sphinx lost his headdress in the 1920s
During the last recovery, a large Sphinx fell out of his famous headdress, and the head and neck was seriously damaged. The Egyptian government hired the team of engineers to restore the Statue in 1931. But during this restoration, a soft limestone was used, and in 1988, the 320-kilogram part of the shoulder fell off, almost killing the German reporter. After that, the Egyptian government again began to restore the work.
9. After the construction of the Sphinx, there was a cult that reverend him
Thanks to the mystical vision of Tutamos IV, who became Pharaoh after the gigantic statue was dug, in the 14th century BC, a whole cult of worship of the Sphinx arose. Pharaohs, ruling during the new kingdom, even built new temples, from which it was possible to see a large sphinx and worship him.
10. Egyptian Sphinx is much the good of Greek
The modern reputation of the sphinx as a cruel creature occurred from Greek mythology, and not Egyptian. In Greek myths, the Sphinx is mentioned in connection with the meeting with the Oedip, to which he guess the allegedly intractable riddle. In ancient Egyptian culture, the Sphinx was considered more benevolent.
11.Napoleone is not to blame for the fact that the Sphinx no nose
The mystery of the lack of nose in a large sphinx spawned all sorts of myths and theories. One of the most common legends states that Napoleon Bonaparte ordered to beat off the nose statue in a gust of Gordini. However, early sphinx sketches show that the nose statue lost even before the birth of the French emperor.
12. Sphinx was once bearded
Today, the remains of the Big Sphinx beard, which were removed from the statue due to severe erosion, are stored in the British Museum and in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, created in Cairo in 1858. However, the French archaeologist Vasil Dobrev claims that the statue was not from the very beginning, and the beard was added later. Dobrev argues his hypothesis by the fact that the removal of the beard, if it were a component of the statue from the very beginning, would lead to damage to the chin of the statue.
13. Big Sphinx - the most ancient statue, but not the most ancient Sphinx
Great Sphinx Giza is considered the oldest monumental sculpture in human history. If we assume that the statue dates back to Hefren's rule, smaller sphinxes depicting its consolidated brother of Jedfra and Sister Notefer II, older.
14. Sphinx - the biggest statue
Sphinx, the length of which is 72 meters, and the height of 20 meters is considered the largest monolithic statue on the planet.
15. Several astronomical theories are associated with Sphinx
The riddle of a large Sphinx Giza led to the emergence of a number of theories about the supernatural understanding of the ancient Egyptians of the space. Some scientists, such as Leger, believe that the Sphinx with the pyramids of Giza is a giant machine for capturing and processing solar energy. In another theory, the Sphynx coincidence, the Pyramids and the Nile River with the stars of the Constellations of Leo and Orion are noted.
