The Spinx :: essays papers

The SpinxIn a drop-off to the south of Chephrens pyramid sits a creature with a human liberty chit and a lions body. The name sphinx which means strangler was first given by the Greeks to a fabulous creature which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The sphinx appears to concur started in Egypt in the make water of a sun god. The Egyptian sphinx is usually a head of a king wearing his headdress and the body of a lion . in that respect are, however, sphinxes with ram heads that are associated with the god Amun.The Great Sphinx is to the northeast of Chephrens Valley Temple. Where it sits was formerly a quarry. Chephrens workers shaped the stone into the lion and gave it their kings face over 4,500 years ago. The sphinx faces the rising sun with a temple to the presence, which resembles the sun temples which were built afterwards by the kings of the 5th Dynasty. The figure was buried for most of its life in the horse sense. King Thutmose I V (1425 - 1417 BC) placed a stela between the front paws of the figure. It describes when Thutmose, while still a prince, had gone hunting and fell incognizant in the shade of the sphinx. During a dream, the sphinx spoke to Thutmose and told him to clear away the sand because it was choking the sphinx. The sphinx told him that if he did this, he would be rewarded with a kingship. Thutmose carried out this asking and the sphinx held up his end of the deal. The sphinx is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is 200 feet in continuance and 65 feet tall. The face of the sphinx is 13 feet wide and its eyes are 6 feet high. Part of the uraeus (sacred cobra), the nose and the ritual face fungus are now missing. The beard from the sphinx is displayed in the British Museum. The statue is crumbling today because of the wind, humidity and the smog from Cairo. Attempts to restore it have often caused more harm than good. No one can be certain who the figure is to personify. It is possible that it is Chephren. If that is so, it would then be the oldest known empurpled portrait in such large scale.