The Great Sphinx is one of the world's biggest and oldest stone carvings, but facts about the statue, such as when it was built and by whom or who’s image is depicted in its face, are constantly debated by many Egyptologists.
It is not known by what name its genuine creators called their statue, as a reference to the Great Sphinx does not appear in any known inscription, and there have been no writings found anywhere that describe its construction or its purpose.
The name “Sphinx” was given to it about 2000 years after the accepted date of its construction, the name is actually a reference to a Greek mythological beast with a lion's body, a woman's head which was said to have the wings of an eagle.
There have been conflicting evidence and viewpoints over the years, but the traditional view held by modern Egyptologists is that the Great Sphinx was built in approximately 2500 BC by the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafra, who was also the builder of the second pyramid at Giza. This particular pyramid was the 2nd largest of the three located behind the Sphinix.
Selim Hassan (1887–1961) who was a famous and well respected Egyptian and a prominent Egyptologist as well, who in 1949 wrote his evaluations or conclusions regarding recent excavations of the day about the Sphinx enclosure. His quote:
"Taking all things into consideration, it seems that we must give the credit of erecting this, the world's most wonderful statue, to Khafre, but always with this reservation: that there is not one single contemporary inscription which connects the Sphinx with Khafre; so, sound as it may appear, we must treat the evidence as circumstantial, until such time as a lucky turn of the spade or of the excavator will reveal to the world a definite reference to the erection of the Sphinx."
You should know that the “lucky turn of the spade” so to speak may have been realized. For you see, some Egyptologists and geologists have departed from the mainstream beliefs and now disagreed with traditional construction theories, and have in fact suggested several alternative theories about the builders and the dating.
Early Egyptologists and excavators of the Giza Sphinx / pyramid complex believed the Great Sphinx and perhaps other structures predated the traditionally reported date of construction. Here are a few of those alternatives or the basis for the change in thinking:
The 'Inventory Stella' was a document of a sort unearthed in the ruins of the Temple of Isis by Auguste Mariette, in 1857 who was the founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo; this stone / document which tells how Khufu came upon the Sphinx, already buried in sand but it also states that Khufu restored the Sphinx. This stone provides some of the strongest evidence that the Sphinx was constructed before Khufu and not by him.
Following an examination of the erosion features on the sides of the Sphinx in 1989, Dr Robert Schoch, together with other geologists and geophysicists, determined that the Sphinx had been weathered chiefly by rainfall (as opposed to wind blown sand) sometime before the Sahara became a desert, such an environment existed in the past but began somewhere around 10,000 years ago and thus placing the age of the Sphinx to be in the neighbourhood of 7,000 to 9,000 years old. It turns out that R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, a French amateur Egyptologist, had first noticed evidence of water erosion on the walls of the Sphinx Enclosure as early as the 1950s.
And finally, Frank Domingo is considered a forensic scientist with the New York City Police Department and is an expert forensic anthropologist. By using detailed measurements of the Sphinx, forensic drawings and computer imaging he has concluded that Khafra, as depicted on existing statuary, was not the model for the Sphinx's face as is argued by the majority of traditionalists. In fact most who view the Sphinx generally believe a likeness of Negro or Ethiopian features are more likely to be the features displayed in the stead of traditional Egyptian features as you might expect.
I really liked this post. I always loved anything about ancient Egypt, so if you could please do more posts about Egypt I would love it. Thanks very much & keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, yes I will began work on another Egypt topic, in fact I often need a little help with new topics to research and publish, so thanks again.
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