Great Sphinx of Giza, Great Sphinx of Egypt (Great Sphinx) world famous monument, carved from a monolithic rock with the body of a lion and the head of a man. The Great Sphinx is a unique statue 73 m long and 20 m high, 11.5 meters at the shoulders, face width 4.1 m, face height 5 m, carved from a limestone monolith that forms the rocky base of the Giza plateau. Along the perimeter, the body of the Sphinx is surrounded by a moat 5.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep. There are 3 world famous Egyptian pyrmids nearby.
There is some interesting information that you might not know. Check yourself …
Disappearing Sphinx
It is believed that the Sphinx was erected during the construction of the pyramid of Khafre. However, there is no mention of him in the ancient papyri relating to the construction of the Great Pyramids.
Moreover, we know that the ancient Egyptians meticulously recorded all the costs associated with the construction of religious buildings, but no economic documents related to the construction of the Sphinx have been found. In the 5th century BC. e. the pyramids of Giza were visited by Herodotus, who described in detail all the details of their construction. He wrote down “everything that he saw and heard in Egypt,” but did not say a word about the Sphinx.
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Before Herodotus, Hecateus of Miletus visited Egypt, after him - Strabo. Their notes are detailed, but there is no mention of the Sphinx there either. Could the Greeks have missed the sculpture 20 meters high and 57 meters wide? The answer to this riddle can be found in the work of the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder "Natural History", who mentions that in his time (1st century AD)
The Sphinx was once again cleared of the sands deposited from the western part of the desert. Indeed, the Sphinx was regularly “freed” from sand deposits until the 20th century.
Ancient pyramids
The restoration work, which began to be carried out in connection with the emergency state of the Sphinx, began to lead scientists to the idea that the Sphinx is possibly older than previously thought. To check this, Japanese archaeologists, led by Professor Sakuji Yoshimura, first enlightened the Cheops pyramid using sonar, and then examined the sculpture in a similar way. Their conclusion was striking - the stones of the Sphinx are older than those of the pyramid. It was not about the age of the breed itself, but about the time of its processing. Later, the Japanese were replaced by a team of hydrologists - their findings also became a sensation. On the sculpture, they found traces of erosion caused by large flows of water.
The first assumption that appeared in the press was that the Nile bed in ancient times passed in another place and washed the rock from which the Sphinx was carved. The hydrologists' guesses are even bolder: "Erosion is more likely traces not of the Nile, but of a flood - a mighty flood of water."
Scientists came to the conclusion that the water flow was from north to south, and the approximate date of the disaster is 8 thousand years BC. e. British scientists, repeating the hydrological studies of the rock from which the Sphinx is made, pushed the date of the flood to 12 thousand years BC. e. This is generally consistent with the dating of the Flood, which, according to most scientists, occurred around 8-10 thousand BC. e.
What is the Sphinx sick with?
The Arab sages, struck by the majesty of the Sphinx, said that the giant is timeless. But over the past millennia, the monument has pretty much gotten, and, first of all, the person is to blame. At first, the Mamluks practiced accuracy of shooting at the Sphinx, their initiative was supported by Napoleonic soldiers. One of the rulers of Egypt ordered to beat off the sculpture's nose, and the British stole a stone beard from the giant and took him to the British Museum. In 1988, a huge stone block broke away from the Sphinx and fell with a crash. She was weighed and horrified - 350 kg. This fact has caused the most serious concern of UNESCO. It was decided to gather a council of representatives of various specialties in order to find out the reasons that destroy the ancient structure. As a result of a comprehensive examination, scientists discovered hidden and extremely dangerous cracks in the head of the Sphinx,in addition, it was established that external cracks filled with poor-quality cement are also dangerous - this creates a threat of rapid erosion.
The Sphinx's paws were in an equally depressing state. According to experts, the Sphinx, first of all, is harmed by human life: exhaust gases from automobile engines and caustic smoke from Cairo factories penetrate into the pores of the statue, which gradually destroys it. Scientists say the Sphinx is seriously ill. Hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to restore the ancient monument. There is no such money. In the meantime, the Egyptian authorities are restoring the sculpture on their own.
Mysterious face
Among the majority of Egyptologists, there is a firm belief that the face of the Pharaoh of the IV dynasty Khafre is captured in the appearance of the Sphinx. This confidence cannot be shaken by anything - neither the absence of any evidence of the connection between the sculpture and the pharaoh, nor the fact that the head of the Sphinx has been repeatedly altered. The well-known expert on the monuments of Giza, Dr. I. Edwards, is convinced that in the face of the Sphinx the Pharaoh Khafren himself is seen. “Although the face of the Sphinx is somewhat mutilated, it still gives us a portrait of Khafre himself,” the scientist concludes. Interestingly, the body of Khafre himself was never found, and therefore statues are used to compare the Sphinx and the pharaoh.
First of all, we are talking about a sculpture carved from black diorite, which is kept in the Cairo Museum - it is on her that the appearance of the Sphinx is verified. To confirm or deny the identification of the Sphinx with Khefren, a group of independent researchers involved the famous New York police officer Frank Domingo, who created portraits to identify suspects.
After a few months of work, Domingo concluded: “These two works of art depict two different faces. The frontal proportions - and especially the angles and frontal protrusions when viewed from the side - convince me that the Sphinx is not Khafren."
Mother of Fear
Egyptian archaeologist Rudwan Ash-Shamaa believes that there is a female couple at the Sphinx and she is hiding under a layer of sand. The Great Sphinx is often referred to as the "Father of Fear". According to the archaeologist, if there is a "Father of Fear", then there must be a "Mother of Fear". In his reasoning, Ash-Shamaa relies on the way of thinking of the ancient Egyptians, who firmly followed the principle of symmetry. In his opinion, the lonely figure of the Sphinx looks very strange.
The surface of the place where, according to the scientist's assumption, the second sculpture should be located, rises above the Sphinx by several meters. “It is logical to assume that the statue is simply hidden from our eyes under a layer of sand,” Ash-Shamaa is convinced. The archaeologist makes several arguments to support his theory. Ash-Shamaa recalls that between the front paws of the Sphinx is a granite stele, which depicts two statues; there is also a limestone tablet that says that one of the statues was struck by lightning and destroyed.
Chamber of Secrets
In one of the ancient Egyptian treatises, on behalf of the goddess Isis, it is reported that the god Thoth placed "sacred books" in a secret place, which contain the "secrets of Osiris", and then cast a spell on this place so that knowledge remained "undiscovered until Heaven will not give birth to creatures who will be worthy of this gift. " Some researchers are still convinced of the existence of a "secret room" today. They recall how Edgar Cayce predicted that one day in Egypt, under the Sphinx's right paw, a room would be found called the "Hall of Testimonies" or "Hall of Chronicles." The information stored in the "secret room" will tell humanity about a highly developed civilization that existed millions of years ago.
In 1989, a group of Japanese scientists, using a radar method, discovered a narrow tunnel under the left paw of the Sphinx, extending towards the pyramid of Khafre, and an impressive cavity was found northwest of the Queen's Chamber. However, the Egyptian authorities did not allow the Japanese to conduct a more detailed study of the underground premises. Research by the American geophysicist Thomas Dobecki showed that under the paws of the Sphinx is a large rectangular chamber. But in 1993, its work was suddenly suspended by local authorities. Since that time, the Egyptian government has officially banned geological or seismological research around the Sphinx.
Sphinx and executions
The word "sphinx" in the Egyptian language is etymologically connected with the word "seshep-ankh", which literally translated into Russian means "the image of God." Another famous translation of this word is "image of the Living". Both of these expressions have a single semantic content - "the image of the living God." In the Greek language, the word "sphinx" is etymologically associated with the Greek verb "sphinga" - to strangle.
Since 1952, five hollow sphinxes have been discovered in Egypt, each of which served as a place of executions and at the same time a grave of those executed. Archaeologists who discovered the secret of the sphinxes were horrified to find that the bones of many hundreds of corpses covered the floors of the sphinxes in a thick layer. Leather straps hung from the ceilings with the remains of the bones of human legs. It is believed that among these corpses there could be workers who built the pyramids and tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs, and sacrificed to preserve their secrets.
The seemingly hollow bodies of the sphinxes deliberately scattered throughout the country served as a place of execution and torture for an extended period of time. The deaths of those subjected to execution were long and painful, and the bodies of those who were hanged by the legs of the victims were deliberately not removed. The screams of the dying were bound to inspire terror in the living.
The fear of the winged sphinxes was so great that it has survived for centuries. When a winged sphinx with a human head was found during excavations in the ruins of Kalakh in 1845, all the workers from the local residents were seized with panic. They refused to continue excavations, for the ancient legend was still alive that the winged sphinx would bring them misfortune and cause the death of all living on earth.
And further …
This is a familiar look to everyone. It seems that the pyramids are lost somewhere far away in the desert, covered by sands, and to get to them, you need to make a long trek on camels.
Let's see how things really are.
Giza is the modern name for the large necropolis in Cairo, covering approximately 2000 sq. m.
The third place in terms of population after Cairo and Alexandria is occupied by this city, which is home to more than 900 thousand inhabitants. In fact, Giza merges with Cairo. The famous Egyptian pyramids are located here: Cheops, Khafre, Mikeren and the Great Sphinx.
Not so long ago - just over a century ago - only the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, cultivating irrigation fields, knew the provincial road to the pyramids. Today, the pyramids of Giza are the center of attraction for tourists, the number of which is increasing every year. The fields around the ancient ritual structures began to be built up with shops, cafes, restaurants and nightclubs, but local authorities do not show much displeasure about this, because tourism is one of the important items of the Egyptian budget.
And this is how this place looked in 1904:
and further …
No matter how funny or strange it may be, this is the first time I see this angle of such a MEGA-KNOWN construction. And you?