Pyramid building reaches its peak during the Fourth Dynasty in the famous triad of great pyramids at Giza. They are all the same shape - with smooth edges. Initially, they had an external facing of carefully hewn stone, which later disappeared, with the exception of the top of the Khafre pyramid. Around the three large pyramids, several small and large numbers are grouped for members of the pharaoh's family and high officials, but a simpler device has replaced the complex complex that was the burial of Djoser. Each of the large pyramids is adjoined to the east by a memorial temple, from which the funeral procession proceeded to a second temple, located below, in the Nile Valley, about a third of a mile away.
Next to the lower temple of Khafre's pyramid stands the Great Sphinx, carved out of rock, perhaps an even more impressive incarnation of the god-like pharaoh than the pyramids themselves. The majesty of the sphinx inspires such awe that after a thousand years it can be treated as an image of the sun god. Structures of this gigantic scale mark the highest point of the rise of the power of the pharaohs. Since the end of the Fourth Dynasty (less than two hundred years after Djoser), there has never been an attempt to do something like this.
Already in ancient times, the sphinx was covered with sands. The young prince, the future Pharaoh Thutmose IV (XV century BC), once, after hunting in the desert, dozed off in his shadow and heard the voice of a stone giant, asking to be freed from the weight of the sand. Having become pharaoh, Thutmose IV fulfilled this request and ordered to decorate the sphinx with a slab with a relief and an inscription telling about this event. The stove still exists today.
From the descriptions and engravings of European artists, at the beginning of the 19th century, only the head and shoulders of the sphinx were again visible. His face, disfigured by the soldiers of the Napoleonic army, lost his nose (the size of which reached the height of an average person). After the excavations were again carried out, the mighty lion's body and the outstretched clawed paws of the sphinx were revealed. His broad, cheekbone face, once painted red, possibly bearing a portrait resemblance to Pharaoh Khafre, is impenetrable and stern, his eyes turned to the east. The Arabs called the Great Sphinx the Father of Horror, but this statue, which has long attracted people to itself, evokes a feeling of calm strength rather than fear.
Memories of the Sphinx by O. Vereisky are interesting:
“People who have been to a new country for the first time return usually overwhelmed with impressions and are eager to share them with others. At the same time, I noticed that every person who returned, for example, from India, behaves like the discoverer of the Taj Mahal, the treasures of the Ajanta caves and the temples of Benares.
I experienced it myself. I find myself dying to inform readers about the existence of pyramids in Egypt.
Is there a schoolboy in the world who would not see many images of the sphinx and pyramids? As for me, I even happened to draw pyramids a good ten years before I saw them.
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And now I stood at the Cheops pyramid and looked at it. I could touch her with my hands. Below, far below us, lay, sprawled, some kind of stone cat. This was the famous Sphinx.
It is difficult to imagine that the pyramids were built by the hands of ordinary people. It seems that these mountains were erected by the Cyclops or they were piled up by the elements, giving them, according to their whim, such correct, clear outlines.
There was an amazing silence around us. Only the wind-driven sand rustled, rustled, hitting the ancient stones … And suddenly, with a whistle, with a noise, with a whoop, a crowd rushed at us. It seemed that a military unit was moving towards us for a massive strike. Horse and foot people in unimaginable clothes, horses and camels in ribbons, wreaths, amulets, and all this rushes at us in full spirit …
When the attackers approached, it was revealed that they were guides, souvenir sellers and owners of horses and camels. There were no tourists at that hour, and everyone who made the pyramids a means of their existence stormed us, vying with each other to offer their services.
We resisted. We did not buy the "genuine" jewelry found in the Khafre pyramid, we did not take pictures against the background of the pyramids, we did not prancing past them on decorated Arab horses, we did not sit on the hump of a snow-white camel … We staunchly resisted.
Later we met a man who became a victim of such an invasion. He went through everything - rode, pranced, took pictures with the sheikhs at the Sphinx and bought a bunch of souvenirs. On some "antiquities" we found the mark: "Made in Germany".
We were saved by a car horn. Hearing him, the whole armada rushed to this sound, announcing the arrival of new tourists.
We once again approached the edge of the dais at the pyramid of Cheops, looked at the Sphinx lying below and promised him a quick date.
In the distance, the Nile delta and the outlines of Cairo were visible. We left, having already created in our imagination a lot of sketches at the foot of the pyramids.
Looking around the city, we came across a monument in the woods, erected on the square in front of the station. It was a huge granite figure of a walking Ramses. The Turks tried to take her away from Memphis during their reign, but, obviously, they could not cope with the giant and threw him along the way. A beautiful monument of ancient art lay for many years in the desert with a broken leg.
During our time, gardeners broke lawns around the monument, stone cutters, sitting at its foot, knocked out a new leg for the Pharaoh from a granite block …
We have carved out a day to write pyramids. In the morning, until comrades from the embassy came to pick us up, we were drawing out the window of the square, praying Muslims on the lawns against the background of advertisements for Mercedes-Benz cars and the beginning of the morning procession of street peddlers.
This time we drove up to the Sphinx from the other side, and the first impression dissipated. The Sphinx turned out to be huge. Its base has only recently been dug out of the rubble of sand. Paws were found under the sand drifts; they are now being restored. How many times do we hear and pronounce the word "sphinx" in combination with the epithet "mysterious" I did not notice the mystery. I saw absolutely sighted eyes of the stone Sphinx, the gaze is surprisingly lively and sharp-sighted. The face of the Sphinx is proud, majestic and beautiful, despite the wounds inflicted on it by time and conquerors."