Residues of red pigments on the face of the Sphinx suggest the statue may have been painted. When he became Pharaoh, Khafre constructed his own pyramid next to his father’s though Khafre’s pyramid is 10 feet shorter than the Great Pyramid, it is surrounded by a more elaborate complex that includes the Great Sphinx and other statues. Hieroglyphic texts suggest Khafre’s father, Pharaoh Khufu, built the Great Pyramid, the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in Giza. The most common and widely accepted theory about the Great Sphinx suggests the statue was erected for the Pharaoh Khafre (about 2603-2578 B.C.).

In Greek traditions, the sphinx also had wings, as well as the tail of a serpent-in legends, it devours all travelers unable to answer its riddle. Compared with the Egyptian model, the Asian sphinx had eagle wings, was frequently female, and often sat on its haunches with one paw raised in depictions. Sphinxes with the likeness of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut also exist, such as the granite sphinx statue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the large alabaster sphinx at the Ramessid temple in Memphis, Egypt.įrom Egypt, the sphinx imported to both Asia and Greece around 15th to 16th century B.C. For instance, the so-called Sphinx Alley in Upper Egypt is a two-mile avenue that connects the temples of Luxor and Karnak and is lined with sphinx statues.

In ancient Egypt, the sphinx was a spiritual guardian and most often depicted as a male with a pharaoh headdress-as is the Great Sphinx-and figures of the creatures were often included in tomb and temple complexes. It is a prominent mythological figure in Egyptian, Asian, and Greek mythology. A sphinx (or sphynx) is a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human, with some variations.

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