doors 

Sphinx in Egypt: secrets, riddles and scientific facts. The history of the sphinx and its symbolism among different peoples of the world What is the sphinx

Sphinx - mystical creature, hero of myths Ancient Greece and Egypt. This zoomorphic entity is a symbol of deep connection, hidden secrets. The Sphinx is regarded as an enigmatic symbol associated with kingship and guardians. Associated with the secret that hides.

In the article:

Sphinx in different nations

There are variations of the creature in literature, and each one is different. One of the options is the Theban Sphinx, mentioned in the legend of Oedipus. In the myth, the entity has a female head and chest, the body of a bull or a dog, the paws of a lion, the tail of a dragon, the wings of a bird. Researchers explain: this image is an alliance of the main elements and the feminine.

Sphinx, like another monster, is associated with chaos, insane power that destroys everything in its path, which carries an irrational nature. Therefore, it can be defeated with the power of the mind. In the legend, he is defeated by Oedipus, who bears the masculine principle.

One of the Egyptian sphinxes has a ram's head, which associates it with the God Amon, the patron of the black sky and air. The Egyptian sphinxes, unlike the Greek ones, were depicted with a male head and the body of a lion (a parallel was also drawn with the male principle).

In each combination of human and animal parts of the body in myths, a meaning was invested. This entity is a symbol of mystery. It is believed that he is the guardian of the other world.

Mythical creature of ancient Egypt

The first sculptures of a half-man-half-lion in ancient Egypt were found during the excavations of Göbekli Tepe and date back to the 10th millennium BC. e. Such images were part of the ancient Egyptian culture even during the ancient kingdom.

The famous sculpture in the world is a huge sphinx guarding the pyramids in Giza. Common variants of the image of the creature are considered to be these:

  • androsphinx- the usual appearance of a monster with a human head. The face of the pharaoh was more often depicted;
  • hieracosphinx- the head of a falcon was used. Such creatures guarded the temples of the god Horus.
  • cryosphinxes- an entity with a ram's head.

But these are not all options. The funeral temple of Amenhotep III has images of sphinxes with the bodies of a crocodile.

Legend of the Sphinx in Ancient Greece

The Greek monster is different from the Egyptian. It has the wings of a griffin, the body of a dog, the paws of a lion, and the head of a woman. It is believed that this creature is the brainchild of Typhon and Echidna. In the first version of the legend, Chimera and Orff were his parents. The entity destroyed the males.

According to the myth, Hera sent the creature to Thebes as a punishment - one citizen blasphemed. The monster asked questions to anyone who passed by. No one was able to answer them, after which it killed the victims. People died from the paws of the Sphinx, but Oedipus, the future king, decided to fight him. Sphinx asked:

Who walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening, and walks worse on four and three than on two?

Oedipus did not hesitate to say that this is a man - at first he moves on all fours, when he grows up, he becomes on two legs, and the old one moves with the help of a stick. The monster was upset and asked the second riddle:

Name two sisters, one of which gives birth to the other, and the latter in turn gives birth to the first.

Oedipus declared that it was day and night - and this answer annoyed the monster. It lost. And then the entity rushed into the abyss.

There is another version of the legend. It says that the half-girl, half-lion with wings destroyed people, and did not ask them riddles. And Oedipus defeated her directly in battle.

indian sphinx

During the Hellenistic period, the half-man-half-lion motif was also popular outside of Greece. In India, similar sculptures have also been preserved, and there are special terms for half-humans, half-lions, one sounds like this: “purusamriga”.

Figurine of the Indian sphinx.

In the south of Asia, in the Philippines, amulets with the image of a sphinx are still popular today.

Sphinx in the modern world

There are ancient mythical entities that are so part of the culture that after centuries they do not lose their relevance. Used by people, whose popularity has not decreased over the centuries. The story of the Sphinx is similar.

The Sphinx is a symbol of the occult.

In European art, the essence returned in the era of mannerism. Images appeared on frescoes, new sculptures were created. More often than not, they are half-women long hair, bare chest.

With the onset of classicism, the image of a half-man, half-lion becomes more popular. The monster began to appear in paintings, in architecture. The image of the head of the sphinx adorned the forms of documents, was used as a regular detail of the decor of various objects.

Freemasons did not bypass such a bright, speaking element. They decided that it was a symbol of the mysteries. In the United States, these entities are still installed at the entrance to the halls of Masonic meetings as the personification of mystery and a call to silence.

The Sphinx is an important symbol in both Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, and has attracted people throughout human history. One of the recognizable. It is not known whether this embodiment of wisdom and mystery existed or not, but his memory will live on for a long time.

In contact with

Great Sphinx (Egypt) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.

  • Hot tours in Egypt
  • Tours for May all over the world

Previous photo Next photo

One of the most ancient sculptures in the world, without a doubt, can be called the statue of the Sphinx. In addition, it is also one of the most mysterious sculptures, because the secret of the Sphinx has not yet been fully solved. The Sphinx is a creature with a woman's head, the paws and body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the tail of a bull. One of the largest images of the Sphinx is located on the west bank of the Nile, next to the Egyptian pyramids at Giza.

Almost everything related to the Egyptian Sphinx is controversial among scientists. Still unknown exact date the origin of this sculpture and it is completely incomprehensible why the statue is now missing a nose.

The statue, made of limestone, looks monumental and majestic. It is worth noting its impressive dimensions: length - 73 meters, height - 20 meters. The Sphinx looks at the Nile and the rising sun.

Almost everything related to the Sphinx causes controversy among scientists. The exact date of origin of this sculpture is still unknown, and it is completely incomprehensible why the statue has no nose now. The meaning of the word is also unknown: in Greek, “sphinx” means “strangler”, but what the ancient Egyptians put into this name remains a mystery.

It was customary to portray the Egyptian pharaohs as a formidable lion that would not spare a single enemy. That is why it is believed that the Sphinx guards the rest of the buried pharaohs. The author of the sculpture is unknown, but many researchers believe that it is Khafre. Admittedly, this argument is highly controversial. Proponents of the theory refer to the fact that the stones of the sculpture and the pyramid of Khafre located nearby are the same in size. In addition, an image of this pharaoh was found not far from the statue.

Interestingly, the Sphinx does not have a nose. Of course, once this detail existed, but the reason for its disappearance is still unknown. Perhaps the nose was lost during the battle between Napoleon's troops and the Turks on the territory of the pyramids in 1798. But, according to the Danish traveler Norden, the Sphinx looked like this already in 1737. There is a version that back in the 14th century, some religious fanatic mutilated the sculpture in order to fulfill the covenant of Muhammad to ban the image of a human face.

The Sphinx is missing not only a nose, but also a false ceremonial beard. Her story also causes controversy among scientists. Some believe that the beard was made much later than the sculpture itself. Others believe that the beard was made at the same time as the head and that the ancient Egyptians simply did not have technical capabilities for subsequent installation of parts.

The destruction of the sculpture and its subsequent restoration helped scientists find interesting facts. So, for example, Japanese archaeologists came to the conclusion that the Sphinx was built before the pyramids. In addition, they found a tunnel under the left paw of the statue, leading towards the pyramid of Khafre. It is interesting that for the first time Soviet researchers mentioned this tunnel.

For a long time, the mysterious sculpture was under a thick layer of sand. The first attempts to dig up the Sphinx were made in antiquity by Thutmose IV and Ramses II. True, they did not achieve much success. Only in 1817, the Sphinx was freed from its chest, and after more than 100 years, the statue was completely unearthed.

Address: Nazlet El-Semman, Al Haram, Giza

On the western bank of the Nile, on the Giza plateau near Cairo, next to the pyramid of Khafre is one of the most famous and perhaps the most mysterious historical monument. ancient egypt- Great Sphinx.

What is the Great Sphinx

The Great, or Great, Sphinx is the oldest monumental sculpture of the planet and the largest of the sculptures of Egypt. The statue is carved from a monolithic rock and depicts a lying lion with a human head. The length of the monument is 73 meters, the height is about 20.

The name of the statue is Greek and means “strangler”, reminiscent of the mythical Theban sphinx that killed travelers who did not solve its riddle. The Arabs called the giant lion the "Father of Horror", and the Egyptians themselves - "shepes ankh", "the image of the living."

The Great Sphinx was highly revered in Egypt. A sanctuary was built between its front paws, on the altar of which the pharaohs laid their gifts. Some authors conveyed the legend of an unknown god who fell asleep in the "sands of oblivion" and remained forever in the desert.

The image of the Sphinx is a traditional motif for ancient Egyptian art. The lion was considered a royal animal, dedicated to the sun god Ra, therefore, only the pharaoh was always depicted in the form of a sphinx.

Since ancient times, the Great Sphinx was considered the image of the pharaoh Khafre (Chephren), since it is located next to his pyramid and, as it were, guards it. Perhaps the giant was really called upon to keep the peace of the deceased monarchs, but the identification of the Sphinx with Khafre is erroneous. The main arguments in favor of the parallel with Khafre were the images of the pharaoh found near the statue, but there was a memorial temple of the pharaoh nearby, and the finds could be associated with it.

In addition, studies by anthropologists have revealed the Negroid face type of the stone giant. Numerous inscribed sculptures at the disposal of scientists do not bear any African features.

Mysteries of the Sphinx

By whom and when was the legendary monument created? For the first time, Herodotus introduced doubts about the correctness of the generally accepted point of view. Describing the pyramids in detail, the historian did not mention the Great Sphinx in a word. Clarity was introduced 500 years later by Pliny the Elder, talking about the cleaning of the monument from sand drifts. Probably, in the era of Herodotus, the Sphinx was hidden under the dunes. How many times in the history of its existence this could happen, one can only guess.

In written documents there is not a single mention of the construction of such a grandiose statue, although we know many names of the authors of much less majestic structures. The first mention of the Sphinx refers to the era of the New Kingdom. Thutmose IV (XIV century BC), not being the heir to the throne, allegedly fell asleep next to the stone giant and received in a dream a command from the god Horus to clear and repair the statue. In return, the god promised to make him pharaoh. Thutmose immediately ordered to begin the liberation of the monument from the sand. The work was completed in a year. In honor of this event, a stele with a corresponding inscription was installed near the statue.

This was the first known restoration of the monument. Subsequently, the statue was repeatedly freed from sand drifts - under the Ptolemies, during the time of Roman and Arab rule.

Thus, historians cannot present a reasonable version of the origin of the Sphinx, which gives scope to the creativity of other specialists. So, hydrologists noticed that the lower part of the statue bears traces of erosion from a long stay in the water. high humidity, at which the Nile could flood the base of the monument, characterized the climate of Egypt in the 4th millennium BC. e. There is no such destruction on the limestone from which the pyramids are built. This was considered proof that the Sphinx was older than the pyramids.

Romantic researchers considered erosion the result of the biblical Flood - the catastrophic flood of the Nile 12 thousand years ago. Some have even spoken of the Ice Age. The hypothesis, however, has been contested. The destruction was explained by the action of rains and the low quality of the stone.

Astronomers made their contribution, putting forward the theory of a single ensemble of pyramids and the Sphinx. By building the complex, the Egyptians allegedly immortalized the time of their arrival in the country. The three pyramids reflect the position of the stars in Orion's Belt, representing Osiris, and the Sphinx looks at the point of sunrise on the vernal equinox that year. This combination of astronomical factors dates back to the 11th millennium BC.

There are other theories, including traditional aliens and representatives of pracivilizations. The apologists of these theories, as always, do not provide clear evidence.

The Egyptian colossus holds many other mysteries. For example, there is no suggestion which of the rulers he depicts, why an underground passage was dug from the Sphinx towards the pyramid of Cheops, etc.

Current state

The final clearing of the sands was carried out in 1925. The statue has survived to this day in a good state of preservation. Perhaps the centuries-old sand cover saved the Sphinx from weathering and temperature changes.

Nature spared the monument, but not the people. The giant's face is severely damaged - his nose is beaten off. At one time, damage was attributed to Napoleon's gunners, who shot the statue from cannons. However, the Arab historian al-Makrizi reported back in the 14th century that the Sphinx had no nose. According to his story, the face was damaged by a crowd of fanatics at the instigation of a certain preacher, since Islam forbids portraying a person. This statement raises doubts, since the Sphinx was revered by the local population. It was believed that it causes the life-giving floods of the Nile.













There are other assumptions as well. The damage is explained by natural factors, as well as the revenge of one of the pharaohs, who wished to destroy the memory of the monarch depicted by the Sphinx. According to the third version, the nose was recaptured by the Arabs during the conquest of the country. There was a belief among some Arabian tribes that if you beat off the nose of a hostile god, he would not be able to take revenge.

In ancient times, the Sphinx had a false beard, an attribute of the pharaohs, but now only fragments remain of it.

In 2014, after the restoration of the statue, tourists opened access to it, and now you can come up and look close to the legendary giant, in whose history there are many more questions than answers.

(c. 2575-2465 BC), whose funerary pyramid is located nearby. The length of the statue is 72 meters, the height is 20 meters; between the front paws there was once a small sanctuary.

Purpose and name

Even more confusing is the fact that the statue's face has Negroid features, which is at odds with other surviving images of Khafre and his relatives. Forensic experts, using a computer to compare the face of the Sphinx with the signed statues of Khafre, came to the conclusion that they cannot represent the same person.

Since the 1950s in popular literature, the dating of the Sphinx to the period of the Old Kingdom began to be questioned. It has been argued that the lower part of the Sphinx is a classic example of erosion, caused by the long exposure of a stone to water. The last time the corresponding level of precipitation was observed in Egypt at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia, which, according to supporters of this theory, indicates the creation of the statue in the Predynastic period or even earlier. In the scientific literature, the features of sculpture erosion are explained by other reasons - secondary fracturing, the action of acid rain, and the poor quality of limestone.

Relatively small size heads prompted Boston geologist Robert Schoch to suggest that the statue originally had the face of a lion, from which one of the pharaohs had a mysteriously smiling human face carved in his own image and likeness. This hypothesis did not find recognition in the scientific community, as well as Graham Hancock's assumption about the correlation of the three pyramids with the stars in the constellation Orion, which was allegedly observed in the 11th millennium BC. e. (See en:Orion Correlation Theory).

Descriptions

The Italians managed to clear the entire chest of the Sphinx from sand in 1817, and it was completely freed from millennia-old sand drifts in 1925.

In 2014, the sphinx underwent a four-month restoration, after which it became available to tourists.

losses

Sphinx face in profile.

The statue is missing a nose 1.5 meters wide. Its absence can be explained both by the natural destruction of the stone (centuries-old action of wind and moisture), and by human influence. There is a legend that this detail of the statue was knocked off by a cannonball during the Napoleonic battle with the Turks at the Pyramids (1798); according to other versions, the place of Napoleon is taken by the British or the Mamelukes. The falsity of this opinion is indicated by the drawings of the Danish traveler Norden, who saw a noseless sphinx back in 1737.

The medieval Cairo historian al-Makrizi wrote that in 1378, a Sufi fanatic, having caught the fellahs bringing gifts to the Sphinx in the hope of replenishing their harvest, was filled with anger and beat off the nose of the “idol”, for which he was torn to pieces by the crowd. From the story of al-Makrizi, it can be concluded that for the locals the Sphinx was a kind of talisman, the ruler of the Nile, on which, as they believed, the level of the flood of the great river and, accordingly, the fertility of their fields depended.

The Sphinx has survived to this day not only without a nose, but also without a false ceremonial beard, fragments of which can be seen in the British and Cairo Museums. The timing of the appearance of the Sphinx's beard is controversial. Some authors attribute its installation to the New Kingdom. According to others, the beard was made along with the head, because the technical complexity of the high-altitude work on mounting the beard exceeded the capabilities of the builders of that time.

In works of art

  • "The Prisoner of the Pharaohs" (1924) - short story by Howard Lovecraft, built on the assumption of a million-year-old Egyptian sphinx, originally depicting a supposedly creepy monster. Under Pharaoh Khafre, the features of the monster were allegedly knocked off the face of the sphinx and replaced with those of the pharaoh.

Hearing the combination of the words "Ancient Egypt", many will immediately imagine the majestic pyramids and the great Sphinx - it is with them that the mysterious civilization, separated from us by several millennia, is associated. Let's get acquainted with interesting facts about sphinxes, these mysterious creatures.

Definition

What is a sphinx? This word first appeared in the Land of the Pyramids, and later spread throughout the world. So, in ancient Greece you can meet a similar creature - a beautiful woman with wings. In Egypt, these creatures were most often male. A sphinx with the face of a female pharaoh Hatshepsut is known. Having received the throne and pushed aside the rightful heir, this imperious woman tried to rule like a man, she even wore a special false beard. Therefore, it is not surprising that many statues of this time have found her face.

What function did they perform? According to mythology, the sphinx acted as the guardian of tombs and temple buildings, which is why most of the statues that have survived to this day were found near such structures. So, in the temple of the supreme deity, solar Amon, about 900 of them were found.

So, answering the question of what a sphinx is, it should be noted that this is a statue characteristic of the culture of Ancient Egypt, which, according to mythology, guarded temple buildings and tombs. Limestone was used as a material for creation, of which there were quite a lot in the Land of the Pyramids.

Description

The ancient Egyptians depicted the sphinx like this:

  • The head of a human, most often a pharaoh.
  • The body of a lion, one of the sacred animals of the hot country of Kemet.

But such an appearance is not the only option for depicting a mythological creature. Modern finds prove that there were other species, for example with a head:

  • a ram (the so-called cryosphinxes were installed at the temple of Amon);
  • Falcon (they were called hierakosphinxes and most often placed near the temple of the god Horus);
  • hawk.

So, answering the question of what a sphinx is, it should be pointed out that this is a statue with the body of a lion and the head of another creature (more often a man, a ram), which was installed in the immediate vicinity of the temples.

The most famous sphinxes

The tradition of creating very original statues with a human head and a lion's body was inherent in the Egyptians for a long time. So, the first of them appeared during the fourth dynasty of the pharaohs, that is, approximately in 2700-2500. BC e. Interestingly, the first representative was female and portrayed Queen Hetepher II. This statue has reached us, everyone can look at it in the Cairo Museum.

Everyone knows the Great Sphinx at Giza, which we will discuss below.

The second largest sculpture depicting an unusual creature is an alabaster creation with the face of Pharaoh Amenhotep II, discovered in Memphis.

No less famous is the famous Alley of Sphinxes near the Temple of Amun in Luxor.

The greatest value

The most famous all over the world, of course, is the Great Sphinx, which not only amazes the imagination with its huge size, but also sets many mysteries for the scientific community.

The giant with a lion's body is located on a plateau in Giza (near the capital of the modern state, Cairo) and is part of a funerary complex, which also includes the three great pyramids. It is carved from a monolithic block and is the largest structure for which a single stone was used.

Even the age of this outstanding monument causes controversy, although analysis of the rock suggests that it is at least 4.5 millennia old. What features of this colossal monument are known?

  • The face of the Sphinx, disfigured by time and, as one of the legends says, by the barbaric actions of the soldiers of Napoleon's army, most likely depicts Pharaoh Khafre.
  • The face of the giant is turned to the east, and it is there that the pyramids are located - the statue seems to protect the peace of the greatest pharaohs of antiquity.
  • The dimensions of the figure, carved from monolithic limestone, amaze the imagination: length - more than 55 meters, width - about 20 meters, shoulder width - more than 11 meters.
  • Previously, the ancient sphinx was painted, as evidenced by the preserved remains of paint: red, blue and yellow.
  • Also, the statue had a beard, characteristic of the kings of Egypt. It has survived to this day, although separate from the sculpture - it is kept in the British Museum.

The giant was buried under the sands several times, it was dug up. Perhaps it was the protection of the sand that helped the Sphinx survive the destructive influence of natural disasters.

Changes

The Egyptian Sphinx managed to defeat time, but it affected the change in its appearance:

  • Initially, the figure had a headdress traditional for pharaohs, decorated with a sacred cobra, but it was completely destroyed.
  • Lost the statue and false beard.
  • Nose injury has already been mentioned. Someone blames the shelling of Napoleon's army for this, others - the actions of Turkish soldiers. There is also a version that the protruding part suffered from wind and humidity.

Despite this, the monument is one of the greatest creations of the ancients.

Mysteries of history

Let's get acquainted with the secrets of the Egyptian Sphinx, many of which have not been solved so far:

  • Legend has it that under the giant monument there are three underground passages. However, only one of them was found - behind the giant's head.
  • The age is still unknown great sphinx. Most scholars believe that it was built during the reign of Khafre, but there are those who consider the sculpture to be more ancient. So, her face and head retained traces of the influence of the water element, which is why the hypothesis arose that the giant was erected more than 6 thousand years ago, when a terrible flood hit Egypt.
  • Perhaps the army of the French emperor is wrongly accused of damaging the great monument of the past, since there are drawings by an unknown traveler, in which the giant is already depicted without a nose. Napoleon had not yet been born at that time.
  • As you know, the Egyptians knew writing and documented everything on papyri in detail - from conquests and the construction of temples to tax collection. However, not a single scroll has been found that would contain information about the construction of the monument. Perhaps these documents simply have not survived to this day. Perhaps the reason is that the giant appeared long before the Egyptians themselves.
  • The first mention of the Egyptian Sphinx was found in the writings of Pliny the Elder, which refers to the work of digging out sculptures from sand.

The majestic monument of the Ancient World has not yet revealed all its mysteries to us, so its research continues.

Restoration and protection

We learned what the Sphinx is, what role it played in the worldview of the ancient Egyptian. Even under the pharaohs, they tried to dig out a huge figure from the sand and partially restore it. It is known that such work was carried out during the time of Thutmose IV. A granite stele (the so-called “Stele of Sleep”) has been preserved, which tells that one day the pharaoh had a dream in which the god Ra ordered him to clear the statue of sand, in return promising power over the entire state.

Later, the conqueror Ramses II ordered to dig up the Egyptian sphinx. Then attempts were made at the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Now let's see how our contemporaries are trying to preserve this cultural heritage. The figure was carefully analyzed, all cracks were identified, the monument was closed to the public and restored within 4 months. In 2014, it was reopened to tourists.

The history of the Sphinx in Egypt is amazing and filled with secrets and mysteries. Many of them have not yet been solved by scientists, so the amazing figure with the body of a lion and the face of a man continues to attract attention.