The Sphinx: Giza Plateau’s Guardian:
Giza plateau offers visitors an exceptional chance to travel through time. The area unfolds impressive scenes of ancient history not only manifested in the Great Pyramids- one of the Seven Wonders of the World-but also evident in one the most famous monuments in the World, dating about 4,500 years old. “The Sphinx” is a limestone, colossal statue resting on Giza’s gold sand, measuring twenty meters high and fifty-seven meters long. The breathtaking statue was built in King Khafra’s reign around 2500 BC (also known as King Khafre and Khephren), and is considered the earliest known sculptor of ancient Egypt. The statue’s face is a representation of King Khafra, whilst its elongated body is that of a lion with outstretched paws: the animal symbolizing Kings in ancient Egyptian art, representing strength and dominance. Archaeologists believe that the statue was carved of natural rock, amplified by blocks around the base added from the 18th Dynasty onwards.

King Khafra at a glance:
Khafra was a Pharaoh of the Forth Dynasty (roughly from 2600 to 2500 B.C.), ruling his thriving capital at Memphis. King Kharfa was Khufu’s son and successor, and it is during his reign, where the second great Pyramid, Sphinx and the Valley Temple of his Pyramid were built. Today, visitors come from all over the world to appreciate the grandness of the great Pyramids, as well as the impressiveness of the Sphinx. His valley temple, where his body rested before burial in the Pyramid is the best preserved, and the only surviving structure of its kind from the Old Kingdom. According to ancient mythology, Ra was the pre-eminent form of the sun God, and so, the King’s name Khaf-Ra means “rising like the sun”, explaining why the statue was built on the eastern side of Giza’s plateau with its face directly facing Egypt’s rising sun.

The legend behind the name “Sphinx”:
“Sphinx” is a Greek word, translating to “strangler”. Greek legend tales that a Sphinx was a monster, who asked a riddle and devoured those who failed to answer it correctly. Thus, Egyptians refer to the statue as “Abu al-Hol”, which translates to the “father of terror”. In Greek legends, Oedipus was questioned the following by Sphinx “What is that which is four-footed, three-footed and two footed?” Oedipus guessed correctly that it was “man”, as the child crawls on hands and feet, the adult walks, and the elderly walk with the aid of a third leg: stick. It was then believed that Sphinx threw itself from a mountain, as it usually devoured those who failed to answer its riddles. On the other hand, ancient Egyptian legend speaks of Thutmose IV- a prince belonging to the 18th Dynasty, dating to about 1400 BC- who fell asleep under the shades of the Sphinx after a long journey in the sunny desert. He dreamt that Sphinx promised him Kingship, on the condition of cleaning away the sand, as it was choking it. Thutmose obeyed Sphinx’s request and consequently, was crowned King to build an altar between Sphinx’s paws known as “Dream Stela”, which reads that the prince remembered the dream when he woke up and cleared the sand. The Dream Stela is still visible to visitors until the present day.

Facts about The Sphinx:
There is a general misconception among locals and tourists alike that Napoleon’s French army or the Mamluks shot off Sphinx’s nose. However, archeologists clarified that Sphinx’s nose was in fact lost some time before the 15th Century. Originally, The Sphinx had a nemes, which is the ancient royal head cloth, a cobra above the forehead, and a false beard, which was an indicator of royalty. However, the beard fell off and some of the original features of the Sphinx are now displayed in the British Museum in London.