Great Sphinx standing on the Giza Plateau is the oldest and grandest sculpture ever created by man. Its dimensions are impressive: the length is 72 m, the height is about 20 m, the nose was the height of a person, and the face was 5 m high.
According to many studies, egyptian sphinx hides even more mysteries than the Great Pyramids. No one knows for sure when and for what purpose this giant sculpture was built.
The Sphinx is located on west bank Nile facing the sunrise. His gaze is directed to that point on the horizon where the sun rises on the days of the spring and autumn equinoxes. The huge statue, made of monolithic limestone, a fragment of the base of the Giza plateau, is the body of a lion with the head of a man.
1. Disappearing Sphinx
It is generally accepted that the Sphinx was erected during the construction of the Khafre pyramid. However, in the ancient papyri relating to the construction of the Great Pyramids, there is no mention of him. Moreover, we know that the ancient Egyptians meticulously recorded all the costs associated with the construction of religious buildings, but economic documents related to the construction of the Sphinx have not been found.
In the 5th century BC e. The pyramids of Giza were visited by Herodotus, who described in detail all the details of their construction. He wrote down "everything he saw and heard in Egypt", but he did not say a word about the Sphinx.
Before Herodotus, Hecateus of Miletus visited Egypt, after him - Strabo. Their records are detailed, but there is no mention of the Sphinx there either. Could the Greeks have overlooked the sculpture 20 meters high and 57 meters wide?
The answer to this riddle can be found in the work of the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder Natural history", which mentions that in his time (1st century AD) the Sphinx in Once again cleared of sands deposited from the western part of the desert. Indeed, the Sphinx was regularly "liberated" from sand drifts until the 20th century.
The purpose of creating the Great Sphinx is also not known for certain. modern science believes that he had a religious significance and kept the rest of the dead pharaohs. It is possible that the colossus performed some other function that has not yet been clarified. This is indicated both by its exact eastern orientation and the parameters encrypted in proportions.
2. Ancient Pyramids
Restoration work, which began to be carried out in connection with the emergency state of the Sphinx, began to lead scientists to the idea that the Sphinx may be older than previously thought. To test this, Japanese archaeologists, led by Professor Sakuji Yoshimura, first illuminated the pyramid of Cheops with an echo sounder, and then examined the sculpture in a similar way. Their conclusion struck - the stones of the Sphinx are older than those of the pyramid. It was not about the age of the breed itself, but about the time of its processing.
Later, the Japanese were replaced by a team of hydrologists - their findings also became a sensation. On the sculpture, they found traces of erosion caused by large flows of water. The first assumption that appeared in the press was that in ancient times the bed of the Nile passed in another place and washed the rock from which the Sphinx was carved.
The guesses of hydrologists are even bolder: "Erosion is more likely not the traces of the Nile, but the flood - a mighty flood of water." Scientists came to the conclusion that the flow of water went from north to south, and the approximate date of the disaster is 8 thousand years BC. e.
British scientists, repeating the hydrological studies of the rock from which the Sphinx is made, pushed back the date of the flood to 12 thousand years BC. e. This is generally consistent with the dating Flood, which, according to most scientists, occurred around 8-10 thousand BC. e.
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3. What is the disease of the Sphinx?
The Arab sages, struck by the majesty of the Sphinx, said that the giant is timeless. But over the past millennia, the monument has suffered a lot, and, first of all, the person is to blame for this.
At first, the Mamluks practiced accuracy of shooting at the Sphinx, their initiative was supported by Napoleonic soldiers. One of the rulers of Egypt ordered to beat off the nose of the sculpture, and the British stole a stone beard from the giant and took it to the British Museum.
In 1988, a huge stone block broke away from the Sphinx and fell with a roar. She was weighed and horrified - 350 kg. This fact caused the most serious concern of UNESCO. It was decided to convene a council of representatives of various specialties in order to find out the reasons that destroy the ancient structure.
For many millennia, the Sphinx has repeatedly been buried under the sand. Somewhere in 1400 BC. e. Pharaoh Thutmose IV, after a wonderful dream, ordered to dig up the Sphinx, setting up a stele between the front paws of a lion in honor of this event. However, then only the paws and the front of the statue were cleaned of sand. Later, the giant sculpture was cleaned under the Romans, the Arabs.
As a result of a comprehensive examination, scientists discovered hidden and extremely dangerous cracks in the head of the Sphinx, in addition, they found that external cracks sealed with low-quality cement are also dangerous - this creates a threat of rapid erosion. The paws of the Sphinx were in no less deplorable condition.
According to experts, the Sphinx, first of all, is harmed by human life: the exhaust gases of automobile engines and the acrid smoke of Cairo factories penetrate into the pores of the statue, which gradually destroys it. Scientists say that the Sphinx is seriously ill.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to restore the ancient monument. There is no such money. In the meantime, the Egyptian authorities are restoring the sculpture on their own. 
4. Mysterious face
Among most Egyptologists there is firm conviction that in the appearance of the Sphinx the face of the pharaoh IV of the Khafre dynasty is imprinted. This confidence cannot be shaken by anything - neither by the absence of any evidence of the connection between the sculpture and the pharaoh, nor by the fact that the head of the Sphinx was repeatedly remade.
The well-known expert on the monuments of Giza, Dr. I. Edwards, is convinced that Pharaoh Khafre himself peeps through the Sphinx. “Although the face of the Sphinx is somewhat mutilated, it still gives us a portrait of Khafre himself,” the scientist concludes.
Interestingly, the body of Khafre himself was never found, and therefore statues are used to compare the Sphinx and the pharaoh. First of all we are talking about the sculpture carved from black diorite, which is stored in the Cairo Museum - it is on it that the appearance of the Sphinx is verified.
To confirm or deny the identification of the Sphinx with Khafre, a group of independent researchers involved the well-known New York policeman Frank Domingo, who created portraits to identify suspects, in the case. After a few months of work, Domingo concluded: “These two works of art depict two different faces. The frontal proportions - and in particular the angles and facial protrusions when viewed from the side - convince me that the Sphinx is not Khafre.
Ancient Egyptian name the statue has not been preserved, the word "Sphinx" is Greek and is associated with the verb "strangle". The Arabs called the Sphinx "Abu el-Khoy" - "the father of horror." There is an assumption that the ancient Egyptians called the sphinxes "seshep-ankh" - "the image of the Existing (Living)", that is, the Sphinx was the embodiment of God on earth.
5. Mother of fear
The Egyptian archaeologist Rudwan Ash-Shamaa believes that the Sphinx has a female couple and it is hidden under a layer of sand. The Great Sphinx is often referred to as the "Father of Fear". According to the archaeologist, if there is a "Father of fear", then there must be a "Mother of fear".
In his reasoning, Al-Shamaa relies on the way of thinking of the ancient Egyptians, who firmly followed the principle of symmetry. In his opinion, the lonely figure of the Sphinx looks very strange.
The surface of the place where, according to the scientist, the second sculpture should be located, rises several meters above the Sphinx. “It is logical to assume that the statue is simply hidden from our eyes under a layer of sand,” Al-Shamaa is convinced.
In support of his theory, the archaeologist gives several arguments. Ash-Shamaa recalls that between the front paws of the Sphinx there is a granite stele, on which two statues are depicted; there is also a limestone tablet that says that one of the statues was struck by lightning and destroyed it.
Now the Great Sphinx is badly damaged - its face is mutilated, the royal uraeus has disappeared in the form of a cobra rising on its forehead, and the festive kerchief that fell from the head to the shoulders is partially broken off.
6. Secret room
In one of the ancient Egyptian treatises, on behalf of the goddess Isis, it is reported that the god Thoth placed in a secret place "holy books" that contain the "secrets of Osiris", and then cast a spell on this place so that knowledge remained "undiscovered until The sky will not give birth to creatures that will be worthy of this gift.
Some researchers are still confident in the existence of a "secret room". They remember how Edgar Cayce predicted that one day in Egypt, under the right paw of the Sphinx, a room called the "Hall of Evidence" or "Hall of Chronicles" would be found. The information stored in the "secret room" will tell mankind about a highly developed civilization that existed millions of years ago.
In 1989, a group of Japanese scientists using the radar method discovered a narrow tunnel under the left paw of the Sphinx, leading towards the pyramid of Khafre, and an impressive cavity was found northwest of the Queen's Chamber. However, the Egyptian authorities did not allow the Japanese to conduct a more detailed study of the underground premises.
Research by American geophysicist Thomas Dobecki showed that under the paws of the Sphinx is a large rectangular chamber. But in 1993, his work was suddenly suspended by local authorities. Since that time, the Egyptian government officially forbids geological or seismological research around the Sphinx.
People did not spare the face and nose of the statue. Previously, the absence of a nose was associated with the actions of the Napoleonic troops in Egypt. Now its loss is associated with the vandalism of a Muslim sheikh who tried to religious motives destroy the statue, or by the Mamluks, who used the head of the statue as a target for their cannons. The beard was lost in the 19th century. Part of its fragments is kept in Cairo, part - in the British Museum. TO XIX century, according to the descriptions, only the head and paws of the Sphinx were visible.
The Great Sphinx, standing on a plateau at Giza, is the subject of controversy among scientists, the object of numerous legends, assumptions and conjectures. Who built it, when, why? Not a single question has a definitive answer. Blown by the sands of time, the Sphinx keeps its secret for many millennia.
It is carved out of a single limestone rock. It is believed that she stood nearby and with her shape already resembled a sleeping lion. The length of the Sphinx is 72 meters, the height is 20. The nose, which has been missing for a long time, was one and a half meters long.
Today, the statue is a lion lying in the sand, but some historians suggest that the original sculpture was completely lion, and one of the pharaohs decided to depict his face on the statue. Hence some disproportions between the huge body and the relatively small head. But this version is just a guess.
No papers have been preserved about the Sphinx at all. Ancient Egyptian papyri about the construction of the pyramids have survived. But there is not, not a single word about the statue of a lion. The first mentions in papyri can be found only at the beginning of our era. Where it says that the Sphinx, which was once cleared of sand.
Purpose
Most scientists agree that the Sphinx guards the eternal rest of the pharaohs. In ancient Egypt, the lion was considered a symbol of power and the guardian of sacred places. Some believe that the Sphinx, in addition, was a religious object; the entrance to the temple supposedly began at its paws.
Other answers are looking for, focusing on the location of the statue. It is turned to the Nile and looks strictly to the east. Therefore, there is an option that the Sphinx is associated with the God of the sun. The ancient inhabitants could worship him, bring gifts here, ask that the harvest be good.
It is not known what the ancient Egyptians themselves called the statue. There is an assumption that "Seshep-ankh" is "the image of the Being or the Living". That is, he was the embodiment of the divine on earth. In the Middle Ages, the Arabs called the sculpture "Father or the king of horror and fear." The word “sphinx” itself is Greek and literally translates as “strangler”. Some historians speculate based on the name. In their opinion, there is emptiness inside the sphinx, people were tortured, tortured, killed there, hence the “father of horror” and the “strangler”. But this is just a guess, one of many.
Sphinx face
Who is immortalized in stone? The most official version is Pharaoh Khafre. During the construction of his pyramid, stone blocks of the same dimensions were used as in the construction of the Sphinx. Plus, not far from the statue, they found an image of Khafre.
But even here it is not so obvious. An American expert compared the face from the image and the face of the Sphinx, finding no similarities, he came to the conclusion that these are portraits of completely different people.
Whose face is the Sphinx? There are many versions. For example, Queen Cleopatra, god rising sun- Horus, or one of the rulers of Atlantis. Proponents of this theory believe that the entire ancient Egyptian civilization was the work of the Atlanteans.
When was it built?
There is no answer to this question either. The official version is in 2500 BC. This just coincides with the reign of Pharaoh Khafre and the unprecedented dawn of ancient Egyptian civilization.
Japanese scientists using echolocators studied the internal state of the sculpture. Their discovery was real sensation. The stones of the Sphinx are processed much earlier than the stones of the pyramids. Hydrologists joined the work. On the body of the Sphinx, they found significant traces of water erosion, on the head they were not so large.
Therefore, experts came to the conclusion that the Sphinx was built when there was a different climate in these places: it rained, there were floods. And this is 10, according to other sources, 15 thousand years before our era.
The sands of time have no mercy
Time and people did not spare the Great Sphinx. In the Middle Ages, it was a training target for the Mamluks, the military caste of Egypt. The nose was broken off either by them, or it was the order of a certain ruler, or it was done by one religious fanatic, who was then torn apart by the crowd. It is not clear just how one and a half meter nose can be destroyed alone.
Once the Sphinx was blue or purple. A little paint remained in the ear area. He had a beard - now it is an exhibit of the British and Cairo Museums. The royal headdress - the uraeus, which was decorated with a cobra on the forehead, did not survive at all.
The sands sometimes covered the statue with its head. In 1400 BC, the Sphinx, on the orders of Pharaoh Thutmose IV, was cleansed for a year. It was possible to free the front paws and part of the torso. About this event, at the foot of the sculpture, a plaque was then installed, it can be seen now.
The statue was freed from the sand by the Romans, Greeks, Arabs. But she was swallowed up again and again by the sands of time. The Sphinx was completely cleaned up only in 1925.
A few more mysteries and conjectures
It is believed that under the Sphinx there are some passages, tunnels and even a huge library with ancient books. In the late 80s and early 90s, American and Japanese scientists, using special equipment, discovered several corridors and a certain cavity under the Sphinx. But the Egyptian authorities stopped the research. Since 1993, any geological and radar work has been prohibited here.
Experts hope to find not only secret rooms. The ancient Egyptians built everything according to the principle of symmetry, and one lion looks somehow unusual. There is a theory that somewhere nearby, under a thick layer of sand, another Sphinx is hidden, only female.
When people talk about places where developed ancient civilizations existed, Ancient Egypt comes to mind first. This country, like a magician's cylinder, keeps many secrets and mysteries. The pyramid complex, located in a valley near Cairo, is one of them. But not only the burial places of the ancient rulers of Egypt annually attract millions of tourists to this valley. Most Interest they and scientists are evoked by the mysterious figure of the Great Sphinx, which is a symbol of Egypt and a world cultural and historical heritage.
On the western bank of the great Nile River, in the city of Giza, located in the southwestern suburbs of Cairo, not far from the Pyramid of Pharaoh Khafre, there is a sculpture of the Sphinx, the oldest of all surviving monumental sculptures. Hewn by the hands of ancient masters from a huge limestone rock, it is a figure with the body of a lion and the head of a man. The eyes of this mythical entity are directed to that place on the horizon, above which the sun appears on the days of the seasonal equinoxes, revered by the ancient Egyptians as the highest deity. The dimensions of the Great Sphinx are amazing: the height exceeds 20 meters, and the length of the mighty body is more than 72 meters.
The secret of the origin of the Sphinx.
For many centuries, the mystery of the origin of the Sphinx statue in Egypt haunts adventurers, scientists, tourists, poets and writers. Despite the fact that historians have been trying for centuries to find out when and by whom, and most importantly why this grandiose structure was erected, they have not yet been able to get closer to the solution. In ancient papyri there is detailed evidence of the construction of many pyramids, the names of those who participated in their creation are mentioned. However, no such data was found about the Sphinx, which gave impetus to disagreements in the interpretation of the age and purpose of erecting this monument.
The first recorded historical mention of it is considered to be the writings of Pliny the Elder, dating from the beginning of the first century AD. In them, the ancient Roman writer and historian noted that regular work was carried out to clear the statue of the Sphinx in Egypt from sand. It is noteworthy that even the real name of the monument has not been preserved. And the one by which he is now known, Greek origin and means "strangler". Although many Egyptologists tend to believe that his name means "the image of Being" or "the image of God."
A lot of controversy arises in the scientific world about the age of the Sphinx. Some researchers believe that the similarity of the materials from which the monument was carved and the stone blocks used in the construction of the Khafre pyramid is indisputable evidence of their same age, i.e. they date back to 2500 BC. However, in the early 90s of the XX century, a group of Japanese archaeologists, while studying the Sphinx, came to a stunning conclusion: the traces of processing left on the stone indicate more early origin monument. This fact is confirmed by geological studies based on the influence of erosion on the surface of the Sphinx, which allowed the 70th century BC to be considered the moment the monument appeared. And the research of hydrologists, who studied the effect of rain flows on the limestone from which the monument was created, pushed back its age by another 3-4 millennia.
There is still no consensus on whose head is on the body of the Egyptian Sphinx. According to some assumptions, earlier it was a statue of a lion, and the human face was carved much later. Some researchers attribute it to Pharaoh Khafre, explaining this by the similarity of the statue with the sculptural images of the pharaohs of the VI dynasty. Others suggest that this is the image of Cheops, and others - great Cleopatra. There is also a fantastic assumption that this is one of the rulers of the mythical Atlantis.
For millennia, time dominated the appearance of the Great Sphinx. Behind long years the cobra, a symbol of divine power, which was placed on the forehead of the statue, collapsed and disappeared, and the festive headdress covering the head was partially destroyed. Unfortunately, the man also had a hand in this. Wishing to fulfill the precepts left to the Muslims by the Prophet Muhammad, one of the rulers in the XIV century ordered to beat off the nose of the sculpture. Cannon shots at XVIII century severely injured the face, and the soldiers of the Napoleonic army in early XIX centuries used the Sphinx as a target during practice shooting. Later, when research was being carried out in the Valley of the Pyramids, a false beard was beaten off on behalf of the Sphinx statue in Egypt, fragments of which are stored in Cairo and British museums. Today, the state of the ancient monument is affected by car exhaust and nearby lime factories. According to studies carried out over the past 20th century, the monument suffered more damage than in all the past millennia.
Restoration work.
For many centuries of the existence of the Sphinx, the sands have repeatedly covered it. The first clearings, during which only the front paws were released, were undertaken under Pharaoh Thutmose IV. To commemorate this, they placed commemorative sign. In addition to excavations, primitive restoration work was carried out to strengthen the lower part of the statue.
In 1817, Italian scientists managed to clear the chest of the Sphinx from the sand, but more than a hundred years passed before its complete release. This happened in 1925. In the late 80s of the XX century, a part of the right shoulder of the statue collapsed. During the restoration work, about 12,000 limestone blocks were replaced.
Geolocation work carried out in 1988 by Japanese scientists made it possible to discover a narrow tunnel starting under the left paw. It stretches in the direction of the Khafre pyramid and goes deeper. A year later, during the implementation of seismic surveys, a rectangular chamber was found, located under the forelimbs of the Sphinx. All this indicates that Great Sphinx not in a hurry to reveal all their secrets.
After restoration work completed at the end of 2014, the ancient statue again became available to tourists. In the evening, the Sphinx greets visitors in several languages, which, together with the illumination, creates an incredible effect.
To preserve this majestic structure for future descendants, the Egyptian government plans to build a glass sarcophagus over it to protect the monument of history and culture from adverse conditions.
Each civilization has its own symbols, which are considered integral parts of the people, their culture and history. Sphinx ancient egypt- an immortal proof of the power, strength and greatness of the country, a silent reminder of the divine origin of its rulers, who have sunk into centuries, but left an image on earth eternal life. national symbol Egypt is considered one of the greatest architectural monuments of the past, which still inspires involuntary fear with its impressiveness, a halo of secrets, mystical legends and centuries of history.
Monument in numbers
The Egyptian Sphinx is known to everyone and every inhabitant on earth. The monument is carved from a monolithic rock, has the body of a lion and the head of a man (according to some sources - a pharaoh). The length of the statue is 73 m, the height is 20 m. The symbol of power royalty located on the Giza plateau west coast the Nile River and is surrounded by a wide and fairly deep moat. The thoughtful gaze of the Sphinx is directed to the east, towards that point in the heavens where the Sun rises. The monument has been covered with sand many times and has been 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.
History of the sculpture: facts against legends
In Egypt, the Sphinx is considered the most mysterious and mystical monument. His story has attracted great interest and special attention of historians, writers, directors and researchers for many years. Everyone who has had a chance to touch the eternity that the statue represents offers their own version of its origin. locals The stone attraction is called the “father of horror” due to the fact that the Sphinx is the keeper of many mysterious legends and a favorite place for tourists who love mysteries and fantasy. According to researchers, the history of the Sphinx has more than 13 centuries. Presumably, it was built in order to record the astronomical phenomenon - the reunion of the three planets.
origin myth
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 Khafre. Another legend says that the stone statue symbolizes the personality of the pharaoh Khafre, the third - that it is a statue of the god Horus (god of heaven, half-man, half-falcon), watching the ascent 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 sound like this: a creature with a lion's body and a human head gave birth to Echidna and Typhon (a half-snake woman and a 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 not far from Thebes, lay in wait for people and asked them a strange question: “Which living being moves on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in 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, maturity and old age,” he replied. After that, the crushed monster rushed from the top of the mountain and crashed against the rocks.
According to the second version of the legend, in Egypt the Sphinx was once God. One day, the heavenly ruler fell into an insidious trap of the sands, called the "cell of oblivion", and fell asleep in it with eternal sleep.
Real facts
Despite the mysterious undertones of the legends, real story no less mystical and mysterious. According to the initial opinion of scientists, the Sphinx was built at the same time as the pyramids. However, in the ancient papyri, from which information about the building of the pyramids was obtained, there is not a single mention of a stone statue. The names of architects and builders who created grandiose tombs for the pharaohs are known, but the name of the person who gave the world the Egyptian Sphinx is still unknown.
True, a few centuries after the creation of the pyramids, the first facts about the statue appear. The Egyptians call her "shepes ankh" - "a living image." No more information and scientific explanation scientists could not give these words to the world.
But at the same time, the cult image of the mysterious Sphinx - a winged monster maiden - is mentioned in Greek mythology, numerous fairy tales and legends. The hero of these tales, depending on the author, periodically changes his appearance, appearing in some versions as a half-man, half-lion, and in others as a winged lioness.
The story of the Sphinx
Another puzzle for scientists was the chronicle of Herodotus, who in 445 BC. described in great detail the process of building the pyramids. He told the world interesting stories about how the structures 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 feeding of slaves. But, oddly enough, Herodotus never mentioned the stone Sphinx in his work. In none of the subsequent records, the fact of the erection of the monument was also found.
He helped scientists shed light on the work of the Roman writer Pliny the Elder "Natural History". 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 - the monument at that time was buried under a layer of sand drifts. So how many times has he been trapped in the sand?
The first "restoration"
Judging by the inscription left on the stone stele between the monster's paws, Pharaoh Thutmose I spent a year freeing the monument. Ancient writings tell that, being a prince, Thutmose fell asleep at the foot of the Sphinx and had 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 released from the sand trap. After some time, Thutmose successfully became pharaoh and remembered the promise given to the deity. He ordered not only to dig up the giant, but also to restore it. Thus, the first revival of the legend of Egypt took place in the 15th century. BC. It was then that the world learned about the grandiose construction and the unique cult monument of Egypt.
It is known for certain that after the revival of the Sphinx by Pharaoh Thutmose, it was once again dug up during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty, under the Roman emperors who captured Ancient Egypt, and the Arab rulers. In our time, it was again freed 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 has practically survived in its original form, embodying the Sphinx. Egypt (the photo of the monument is presented above) managed to maintain its architectural masterpiece but failed to protect him from the barbarism of the people. The statue does not have this moment nose. Scientists suggest that one of the pharaohs, for reasons unknown to science, ordered to beat off the nose of the statue. According to other sources, the monument was damaged by Napoleon's army, firing a cannon at his face. The British, on the other hand, chopped off the beard of the monster and sent it to their museum.
However, in the later records of the historian Al-Maqrizi from 1378, it is said that the stone statue no longer had a nose. According to him, one of the Arabs, wanting to atone for religious sins (the Koran forbade the depiction of human faces), chipped off the giant's nose. In response to such a crime and abuse of the Sphinx, the sands began to take revenge on people, advancing 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 found real confirmation.
The Stunning Secrets of the Sphinx
In 1988, as a result of exposure to caustic factory smoke, a decent part of a stone block (350 kg) broke off from the monument. UNESCO, concerned appearance and the state of tourism and cultural object, resumed repairs, thereby paving the way for new research. As a result of a thorough study of the stone blocks of the pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx by Japanese archaeologists, a hypothesis was put forward that the monument was built much earlier. great tomb pharaoh. The conclusion was a stunning discovery for historians, who assumed that the pyramid, the Sphinx, and other funerary structures were contemporaries. The second, no less surprising discovery was a long narrow tunnel discovered under the left paw of a predator, connected to the pyramid of Cheops.
After Japanese archaeologists ancient monument engaged in hydrology. They found traces of erosion on his body from a large water stream that moved from north to south. After a series of studies, hydrologists came to the conclusion that the stone lion was a silent witness to the flood of the Nile - a biblical catastrophe that occurred about 8-12 thousand years ago. American researcher John Anthony West explained the traces of water erosion on the body of a lion and their absence on the head as evidence that the Sphinx existed back in time 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 the oldest monument that existed even at the time of the death of Atlantis.
Thus, a stone statue tells us about the existence greatest civilization, which managed to erect such a majestic structure, which became immortal way Of the past.
The admiration 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 silent blessing on the kingdom and throne. The Sphinx was for them not only the incarnation of the sun god, but also a sacred image that gave them hereditary and legitimate power from their ancestors. He personified powerful Egypt, the history of the country was reflected in its majestic form, embodying each 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
By official version The Sphinx would have been built in 2500 BC. e. by order of Pharaoh Khafre during the reign of the Fourth ruling dynasty pharaohs. A huge lion is located among other majestic structures on the stone plateau of Giza - the three pyramids.
Astronomical studies have shown that the location of the statue was chosen not by blind intuition, but in accordance with the point of intersection of the path of heavenly bodies. It served as the equatorial point, indicating the exact location on the horizon of the place of sunrise on the day of the vernal equinox. According to astronomers, the Sphinx was built 10.5 thousand years ago.
It is noteworthy that the pyramids of Giza are located on the earth in exactly the same order as the three stars in the sky in that year. According to legend, the Sphinx and the pyramids fixed the position of the stars, the astronomical time, which was called the first. Since Orion was the heavenly personification of the ruler at that time, man-made structures were built to depict the stars of his belt in order to perpetuate and fix the time of his power.
The Great Sphinx as a tourist attraction
Currently, a giant lion with a human head attracts millions of tourists eager to see the legendary, shrouded in darkness centuries of history and many mystical legends stone sculpture. The interest of all mankind in it is due to the fact that the secret of the creation of the statue remained undisclosed, buried under the sands. It is hard to imagine how many secrets the Sphinx keeps in itself. Egypt (photos of the monument and pyramids can be seen on any tourist portal) can be proud of its great history, outstanding people, grandiose monuments, the truth about which their creators took with them to the kingdom of Anubis, the god of death.
Great and impressive is the huge stone Sphinx, whose history has remained unsolved and full of secrets. Still, the calm gaze of the statue is directed into the distance, and its appearance is still imperturbable. How many centuries has he been a silent witness of human suffering, the vanity of rulers, the sorrows and misfortunes that befell the Egyptian land? How many secrets does the Great Sphinx keep in itself? Unfortunately, all these questions have not been answered for many years.
Sphinx is a Greek word of Egyptian origin. The Greeks called this a mythical monster with a female head, a lion's body and bird wings. It was the offspring of the hundred-headed giant Python and his half-snake wife Echidna; from them came other famous mythical monsters: Cerberus, Hydra and Chimera. This monster lived on a rock near Thebes and asked people a riddle; who could not solve it, the Sphinx killed him. So the Sphinx destroyed people until Oedipus solved its riddle; then the Sphinx threw himself into the sea, because fate predetermined that he would not survive the right answer. (By the way, the riddle was quite simple: “Who walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?” “Man!” replied Oedipus. adulthood walks on two legs, and in old age leans on a stick.")
In the Egyptian understanding, the Sphinx was neither a monster nor a woman, as among the Greeks, and did not make riddles; it was a statue of a ruler or god, whose power was symbolized by a lion's body. Such a statue was called shesep-ankh, i.e. "living image" (ruler). From the distortion of these words, the Greek "sphinx" arose.
Although the Egyptian Sphinx did not ask riddles, the huge statue itself under the pyramids in Giza is a riddle incarnate. Many have tried to explain his mysterious and somewhat contemptuous smile. Scientists asked questions: who does the statue depict, when was it created, how was it carved?
After a hundred years of study, during which drilling machines and gunpowder were involved, Egyptologists have revealed the real name of the Sphinx. The surrounding Arabs called the statue Abu "l Hod - "Father of Horror", philologists found out that this is a folk etymology of the ancient "Horun". This name hid several even more ancient ones, and at the end of the chain stood the ancient Egyptian Haremakhet (in Greek Harmahis), which meant "Chorus in the sky". The choir was called the deified ruler, and the sky was the place where, after death, this ruler merges with the god of the Sun. The full name meant: "The living image of Khafre." So, the Sphinx depicted pharaoh Khafra(Khafre) with the body of the king of the desert, a lion, and with symbols of royal power, i.e. Khafre - a god and a lion guarding his pyramid.
Mysteries of the Sphinx. video film
There is no statue in the world that exceeds the size of the Great Sphinx. It is hewn from a single block left in the quarry, where the stone was mined for the construction of the pyramid of Khufu, and then of Khafre. It combines a wonderful creation of technology with a wonderful fiction; the appearance of Khafre, known to us from other sculptural portraits, despite the stylization of the image, is conveyed correctly, with individual traits(broad cheekbones and large lagging ears). As can be judged from the inscription at the feet of the statue, it was created during the life of Khafre; therefore, this Sphinx is not only the largest, but also the oldest monumental statue in the world. From her front paw to the tail - 57.3 meters, the height of the statue - 20 meters, the width of the face - 4.1 meters, the height - 5 meters, from the top to the earlobe - 1.37 meters, the length of the nose - 1.71 meters. The Great Sphinx is over 4500 years old.
Now it is badly damaged. The face is disfigured, as if it had been hit with a chisel or shot with cannonballs. The royal uraeus, a symbol of power in the form of a cobra raised on the forehead, disappeared forever; the royal nemes (a festive scarf descending from the back of the head to the shoulders) is partially broken off; from the "divine" beard, a symbol of royal dignity, there were only fragments found at the feet of the statue. Several times the Sphinx was covered with desert sand, so that one head stuck out, and even that was not always complete. As far as we know, the pharaoh was the first to order it to be excavated at the end of the 15th century BC. e. According to legend, the Sphinx appeared to him in a dream, asked for it and promised the double crown of Egypt as a reward, which, as evidenced by the inscription on the wall between his paws, he subsequently fulfilled. Then he was released from the captivity of the sands by the Saisi rulers in the 7th century BC. e., after them - the Roman emperor Septimius Severus at the beginning of the III century AD. e. In modern times, the Sphinx was first dug up in 1818 by Caviglia, doing this at the expense of the then ruler of Egypt Muhammad Ali, who paid him 450 pounds sterling - a very large amount for those times. In 1886, his work had to be repeated by the famous Egyptologist Maspero. Then the excavations of the Sphinx were carried out by the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1925-1926; The work was supervised by the French architect E. Barez, who partially restored the statue and erected a fence protecting it from new drifts. The Sphinx generously rewarded him for this: between the front paws were the remains of a temple, which until then none of the researchers in the field of the pyramids in Giza had suspected.
However, time and the desert did not damage the Sphinx as much as human stupidity. The wounds on the face of the Sphinx, resembling chisel marks, were indeed inflicted by a chisel: in the 14th century, a certain pious Muslim sheikh mutilated him in such a way in order to fulfill the covenant of the prophet Muhammad, which forbids depicting human face. Wounds that look like traces of nuclei are also such. It was the Egyptian soldiers - the Mamelukes - who used the head of the Sphinx as a target for their cannons.
