In late 1996 - early 1997, a sensational report by Polina Konovrotskaya (the most complete version in Petersburg Secrets for 1996) appeared in St. Petersburg newspapers that the sphinxes, which are located near the Academy of Arts, have an abnormal effect on people.
In 1996, the most talented, up-and-coming state university graduates, not to mention faculty, fell victim to the Sphinx's "energy attack." There were cases when walks to the sphinxes caused mental illness in our fellow citizens, destroyed families, provoked suicide.
According to the historian - a specialist in Ancient Egypt - Vitaly Stepanovich Gerasimov, the impact on people is as follows: “Usually the victim is forced to walk along the embankment. In the area of the academy, this desire intensifies, a person almost runs to the sphinxes.
The only thing he sees is the face of the statue, which occasionally turns into the face of a lioness. He feels psychological pressure that escalates into anxiety. Coming out of stupor, a person will not remember what happened to him during those few minutes, but he will still feel the power of the sphinx over himself."
Usually, according to V. S. Gerasimov, representatives of intellectual labor - scientists, teachers or artists - are chosen as victims of the half-virgin-half-lioness. Most often, stone sculptures have a detrimental effect on people in winter or when it rains. Their influence can last for several days.
Directly according to Vysotsky: scary, already horror! It turns out that creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a lion nullify the spirituality of our intellectual elite!
Not believing too much in these "facts", we decided to try to get to the bottom of the truth. First we looked at the available literature, and that's what turned out.
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V. S. Gerasimov in his publication claims that “the name Sphinx arose from the convergence with the verb“squeeze”,“stifle”, and the image itself - under the influence of the Asia Minor image of the winged half-virgin half-lioness. The ancient "Sphinx" was a ferocious monster that devoured those who could not solve its riddle. According to one of the myths, only Oedipus managed to penetrate the secret, and then in despair the Sphinx threw herself into the abyss. As you can see, many now make the mistake of talking about the Sphinx in the masculine gender. This is the feminine principle, and insidious and dangerous."
Is it so? Despite the fact that "sphinx" is a Greek word, its roots must be sought in Egypt. First, because “our” sphinxes were brought to “the city of St. Peter in 1832” from “ancient Thebes in Egypt”; secondly, because the most ancient images that have come down to us - the Great Sphinx of Giza - are also Egyptian, and, by the way, is a wingless monster with a lion's body and a male head. It was from Egypt that the myth of the Sphinx spread to Assyria, Greece, and then throughout Western Europe.
In ancient Egypt, these statues were designated by the word “shepesses-ankh”, which can be translated into Russian as “precious living image”. For the Egyptians, there was nothing terrible about them. It was an image designed to express a certain idea, such as, for example, a symbolic image of the Motherland in Russia.
According to other sources, the Sphinx hieroglyph "heaven" meant "master", "ruler". The Sphinx also served as a symbol of the comprehension of truth, and was also considered the guardian of religion and divine mysteries, and even a symbol of resurrection after death. Only later did the Greeks, under the impression of the terrifying grandeur of these statues, formulate the legend of the winged half-virgin half-lioness.
Even in ancient times, there was no single concept of the Sphinx. As already mentioned, in Egypt he was a wingless male creature and was often depicted sitting. In Ancient Mesopotamia, the Sphinx could be both male and female, and winged, and wingless creature. The female Sphinxes are often found in the art of Phenicia and Syria. In ancient Greece, the Sphinx was usually depicted with a woman's face and chest, the wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Images of the reclining Sphinx are rare among the Greeks.
In Greek legends, the Sphinx was associated with mental illness and death. Apparently, proceeding from this, V. S. Gerasimov interprets the influence of stone monsters on our fellow citizens as destructive. But it must be emphasized once again that the statues standing, or rather, lying opposite the Academy of Arts, are from Egypt.
In the annals of history, only one evidence of the "communication" of Egyptian statues with people has been preserved. In Giza, near the Great Sphinx, there is a stele on which the text of the legend is carved. It tells that the pharaoh of the 18th dynasty Thutmose IV, while still heir, lay down to rest in the shadow of the Sphinx and dozed off.
A thunderous voice woke him up. The Sphinx, called by the name Khor-em-Akhet, asked to be freed from the drifting sands and promised for this to make the young man the most powerful pharaoh under whom Egypt would prosper. So the outcome of this "communication" was more than favorable. Thus, theoretically, the expression “the devil is not so terrible as he is painted” is applicable to “our”, Egyptian, sphinxes.
However, there was also an experiment conducted by V. S. Gerasimov. Its essence is that the researcher "by logical analysis chose a potential victim" and left the "participant in this devilish game" to look in the face of the Sphinx, while he himself watched at a distance. When it seemed to him that the man had fallen under the harmful effects of the statue, he decided to intervene and touched the Sphinx. “My touch ruined the whole game, the spell didn't work this time. But for a long time after that day I was tormented by headaches, high blood pressure,”the historian says.
This experiment (or is it a game?) Pushed us to conduct our own research. For greater objectivity, a friend of a psychologist working in one of the closed research institutes was involved in this. He kindly agreed, but warned that it is not easy to check the available facts, it takes time, patience and perseverance. We met only a month later, and this is what Mikhail V said:
- I tried to find out whether the Sphinx really exerts psychological pressure on a person, which develops into a state of anxiety. Twice a day - at lunchtime and after work (fortunately, our institution is not far from the embankment), I came to the stone statues and measured my functional state with the help of special devices.
They are portable, easily fit in a briefcase and provide express information about a person's psycho-emotional stress. Several times I came to the Sphinx in bad weather, when it was raining like a bucket, and I was all alone on the embankment.
Every day in the laboratory at rest, I determined the level of reactive anxiety using the C. D. Spielberger test, measured my emotional arousal with the Biometer device and recorded the functional state with a special indicator card from FuturesHels (USA). Then he recorded the same indicators, being next to the statues.
I assumed that there would be differences in my functional state compared to rest. But, oddly enough, the objective results obtained eloquently testified that I did not experience any psychoemotional stress, especially anxiety, near mythical creatures. Similar studies were conducted by two more of my colleagues - the same result. So our firm opinion is “the curse of the sphinxes,” to put it mildly, an invention.
To make sure of this personally, we went to the Sphinxes this weekend together with Mikhail V. Before the trip in the morning we passed the test tests; at rest, the level of reactive anxiety turned out to be low, the other parameters recorded by the devices were within the normal range. The same measurements taken next to the sphinxes turned out to be the same! Just in case, we checked the presence of geopathogenic zones at the foot of the statues using a special device, and again nothing! The Sphinxes did not show themselves in any way …
We walked for a long time, peering at their frozen faces. They calmly, majestically and indifferently looked at Mir. It is impossible not to admire this amazing magnificent ensemble installed on the embankment of the Neva.
There is no reason for students or university professors to fear mythical giants. They stand here for the good. In ancient Egypt, from where they were brought “to the city of St. Peter,” the sphinxes served as a symbol of the comprehension of the truth.
From the book "Phenomena, Secrets, Hypotheses" A. V. Potapov