Each civilization has its own symbols, which are considered integral parts of the people, their culture and history. The Sphinx of Ancient Egypt is an immortal proof of the country's power, strength and greatness, a silent reminder of the divine origin of its rulers, who have sunk into the ages, but left the image of eternal life on earth. The national symbol of Egypt is considered one of the greatest architectural monuments of the past, still inspiring involuntary fear with its impressiveness, a halo of secrets, mystical legends and centuries-old history.
Monument in numbers
The Egyptian Sphinx is known to everyone and every inhabitant of the earth. The monument is cut down from a monolithic rock, has the body of a lion and the head of a man (according to some sources - the pharaoh). The statue is 73 meters long and 20 meters high. The symbol of royal power is located on the Giza plateau on the west coast of the Nile River and is surrounded by a wide and fairly deep moat. The thoughtful gaze of the Sphinx is directed east, towards the point of heaven where the Sun rises. The monument was covered with sand many times and was restored more than once. The statue was completely cleared of sand only in 1925, striking the imagination of the inhabitants of the planet with its scale and size.
Sculpture History: Facts Against Legends
In Egypt, the Sphinx is considered the most mysterious and mystical monument. Over the years, its history has been of intense interest and special attention to historians, writers, directors and researchers. Everyone who happened to touch the eternity that the statue personifies offers his version of its origin. Locals call the stone landmark "the father of horror" due to the fact that the Sphinx is the keeper of many mysterious legends and a favorite destination for tourists - lovers of mysteries and fiction. According to researchers, the history of the Sphinx has more than 13 centuries. Presumably, it was built in order to fix an astronomical phenomenon - the reunion of three planets.
The myth of origin
Until now, there is no reliable information about what this statue symbolizes, why it was built and when. The lack of history is replaced by legends that are passed from mouth to mouth and told to tourists. The fact that the Sphinx is the oldest and largest monument in Egypt gives rise to mysterious and ridiculous stories about it. There is an assumption that the statue guards the tombstones of the greatest pharaohs - the pyramids of Cheops, Mykerin and Chefren. Another legend says that the stone statue symbolizes the personality of Pharaoh Chefren, the third - that it is a statue of the god Horus (the god of the sky, half-man, half-haul), watching the rise of his father - the Sun God Ra.
Legends
In ancient Greek mythology, the Sphinx is referred to as an ugly monster. According to the Greeks, the legends of Ancient Egypt about this monster are as follows: a creature with a body of a lion and a human head gave birth to Echidna and Typhon (a female half-serpent and giant with a hundred dragon heads). It had the face and chest of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. The monster lived near Thebes, lay in wait for people and asked them a strange question: “Which of the living creatures moves on four legs in the morning, two on the day, and three on the evening?” None of the wanderers trembling with fear could give the Sphinx an intelligible answer. After which the monster sentenced them to death. However, the day came when the wise Oedipus was able to solve his riddle. “This is a man in childhood, adulthood and old age,” he replied. After that, the crushed monster rushed from the top of the mountain and crashed onto the rocks.
According to the second version of the legend, in Egypt the Sphinx was once God. Once the heavenly ruler fell into the insidious trap of sand, called the "cell of oblivion," and fell asleep in it with an eternal sleep.
Real facts
Despite the mysterious subtext of legends, the real story is no less mystical and mysterious. According to the initial opinion of scientists, the Sphinx was built at the same time with the pyramids. However, in ancient papyri, from which information was obtained on the development of the pyramids, there is not a single mention of a stone statue. The names of architects, builders who created grand tombs for the pharaohs are known, but the name of the person who gave the Egyptian Sphinx to the world remains unknown.
True, a few centuries after the creation of the pyramids, the first facts about the statue arise. The Egyptians invoke her "Shephes Ankh" - a "living image." Scientists could not give the world any more information and scientific explanation of these words.
But at the same time, the cult image of the mysterious Sphinx - the winged virgin monster - is mentioned in Greek mythology, numerous tales and traditions. The hero of these tales, depending on the author, periodically changes his appearance, appearing in some versions as a half-human half-dome, and in others as a winged lioness.
The history of ancient Egypt about the Sphinx
Another puzzle for scientists was the annals of Herodotus, which in 445 BC described in great detail the process of building the pyramids. He told the world interesting stories about how buildings were erected, for how long and how many slaves were involved in their construction. The narration of the “father of history” even touched upon such nuances as the nutrition of slaves. But, oddly enough, Herodotus never mentioned the stone Sphinx in his work. In none of the subsequent entries, the fact of the erection of the monument was also discovered.
The work of Roman writer Pliny the Elder, Natural History, helped the scholars to shed light on the riddle of the Sphinx . In his notes, he talks about the next cleansing of the monument from sand. Based on this, it becomes clear why Herodotus did not leave the description of the Sphinx to the world - at that time the monument was buried under a layer of sand deposits. So how many times did he end up in a sand trap?
The first "restoration"
Judging by the inscription left on the stone stele between the claws of the monster, Pharaoh Thutmose I spent a year on the liberation of the monument. Ancient writings tell us that, being a prince, Thutmose fell asleep a sound sleep at the foot of the Sphinx and saw a dream in which the god Harmakis appeared to him. He predicted the prince's ascension to the throne of Egypt and ordered the statue to be freed from the sand trap. After some time, Thutmose safely became a pharaoh and remembered the promise given to the deity. He ordered not only to dig out the giant, but also to restore it. Thus, the first revival of the legend of Egypt occurred in the XV century. BC. It was then that the world learned about the grandiose construction and the unique religious monument of Egypt.
It is known for certain that after the revival of the Sphinx by the pharaoh Thutmose, he was once again dug up during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty, under the Roman emperors who conquered Ancient Egypt, and the Arab rulers. Nowadays, it was again liberated from the sands in 1925. Until now, the statue has to be cleaned after sandstorms, as it is an important tourist attraction.
Why is the monument missing a nose?
Despite the antiquity of the sculpture, it is practically preserved in its original form, embodying the Sphinx. Egypt (photo of the monument is presented above) managed to preserve its architectural masterpiece, but failed to protect it from the barbarism of people. The statue does not have a nose at the moment. Scientists suggest that one of the pharaohs, for reasons unknown to science, ordered his nose to be beaten off the statue. According to other sources, the monument was damaged by Napoleon’s army, shelling his face with a cannon. The British, however, broke off the beard of the monster and transported it to their museum.
However, the later records of the historian Al-Makrizi from 1378 indicate that the stone statue no longer had a nose. According to him, one of the Arabs, wanting to atone for religious sins (the image of human faces was forbidden in the Quran), broke off the giant's nose. In response to such atrocity and abuse of the Sphinx, the sands began to take revenge on people, stepping on the lands of Giza.
As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that in Egypt the Sphinx lost its nose as a result of strong winds and floods. Although this assumption has not yet been found real confirmation.
Sphinx's stunning secrets
In 1988, as a result of exposure to caustic factory smoke, a decent part of a stone block broke off the monument (350 kg). UNESCO, worried about the appearance and condition of the tourist and cultural site, resumed repairs, thereby paving the way for new research. As a result of a careful study of the stone blocks of the pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx, Japanese archaeologists hypothesized that the monument was built much earlier than the great tomb of the pharaoh. The conclusion was a stunning discovery for historians who suggested that the pyramid, Sphinx and other funerary structures are contemporaries. The second, no less surprising discovery was a long narrow tunnel discovered under the left paw of a predator, connected to the Cheops pyramid.
After Japanese archaeologists, hydrologists took up the most ancient monument. They found traces of erosion on his body from a large stream of water that moved from north to south. After a series of studies, hydrologists concluded that the stone lion was a silent witness to the spill of the Nile - a biblical catastrophe that occurred about 8-12 thousand years ago. The American researcher John Anthony West explained the traces of water erosion on the lion's body and their absence on the head as evidence that the Sphinx existed even during the ice age and dates from any period up to 15 thousand years BC. e. According to French archaeologists, the history of Ancient Egypt can boast of an ancient monument that existed even during the death of Atlantis.
Thus, the stone statue tells us about the existence of the greatest civilization, which managed to erect such a magnificent structure, which has become an immortal image of the Past.
The worship of the ancient Egyptians before the Sphinx
The pharaohs of Egypt regularly made pilgrimages to the foot of the giant, which symbolized the great past of their country. They made sacrifices on the altar, which was between his paws, burned incense, receiving from the giant a mute blessing on the kingdom and the throne. The Sphinx was for them not only the embodiment of the god of the Sun, but also in a sacred manner, which granted them hereditary and legal power from their ancestors. He personified powerful Egypt, the history of the country was reflected in its majestic form, embodying every image of the new pharaoh and turning modernity into a component of eternity. Ancient writings glorified the Sphinx as a great creator god. His image reunited the past, present and future.
Astronomical explanation of the stone sculpture
According to the official version, the Sphinx would be built in 2500 BC. e. by order of Pharaoh Chefren during the reign of the Fourth Ruling Dynasty of the Pharaohs. The huge lion is located among other magnificent structures on the stone plateau of Giza - three pyramids.
Astronomical studies have shown that the location of the statue was not chosen according to blind influx, but in accordance with the point of intersection of the path of heavenly bodies. It served as an equatorial point indicating the exact location on the horizon of the place of sunrise at the vernal equinox. According to astronomers, the Sphinx was built 10.5 thousand years ago.
It is noteworthy that the Giza pyramids are located on the earth in exactly the same order as the three stars of the Orion Belt in the sky that year. According to legend, the Sphinx and the pyramids recorded the position of the stars, then the astronomical time that the ancient Egyptians called the first. Since Orion was the heavenly personification of the god Osiris, who ruled at that time, man-made structures were built with the aim of depicting the stars of his belt in order to perpetuate and record the time of his power.
The Great Sphinx as a tourist attraction
Currently, a giant lion with a human head attracts millions of tourists who are eager to see firsthand the legendary stone sculpture shrouded in the darkness of centuries of history and many mystical legends. The interest in it of all mankind is due to the fact that the secret of creating the statue has remained unsolved, buried under the sands. It is hard to imagine how many secrets the Sphinx holds in itself. Egypt (photo of the monument and the pyramids can be seen on any tourist portal) can be proud of its great history, outstanding people, grandiose monuments, the truth of which their creators took with them to the kingdom of Anubis - the god of death.
The huge stone Sphinx is great and impressive, the history of which has remained unsolved and full of secrets. The calm look of the statue in the distance is still directed, and its appearance is still unperturbed. How many centuries has he been a silent witness to human suffering, the vanity of rulers, sorrows and troubles that have befallen Egyptian land? How many secrets does the Great Sphinx hold in itself? Unfortunately, for all these questions no answers have been found over the years.