The Great Sphinx

Sphinx is in a depression to the south of Chephren's pyramid at Giza near Cairo. It is the largest Monolith Statues in the world, Standing 73.5 meters long, 1903 meters wide and 20.22 high. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture, and is commonly believed to have been built by Ancient Egyptians of the old kingdom during the reign of the pharaoh Chephren (c. 2558 – 2532 BC).

The Sphinx is a limestone Statue of a reclining (a mythical creature with a lion’s body and a human head).

It is a national symbol of Egypt, both ancient and modern. It has stirred the imagination of poets, scholars, adventurers and tourists for centuries and has also inspired a wealth of speculation about its age, its meaning, and the secrets that it might hold.

It is not known which name the creator gives to the Statue, As there is no inscription of the old kingdom that is showing any information about the Great Sphinx. In the New Kingdom, The Great Sphinx was called “Horus of the Horizon”. The commonly name Sphinx was given to it in the classical antiquity, about 2000 years after the accepted date of its construction, As a reference to the Greet mythological beast with a lion’s body, a woman’s head and the wings of an eagle (although, like most Egyptian sphinxes, the Great Sphinx has a man's head and no wings).

Chephren's workers gave The Sphinx the lion shaped stone and shaped it into their king’s face over 4,500 years ago. The sphinx faces the rising sun with a temple to the front which resembles the sun temples which were built later by the kings of the 5th Dynasty.

Over 6 years, more than 2,000 limestone blocks were added to the body of the sphinx and chemicals were injected but it didn’t work. It just flaked away along with parts of the original rock. Later, many workers who were not trained in restoration worked for six months to repair it. In 1988 the left shoulder crumbled and blocks fell off. Present attempts at restoration are under the control of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' archaeologists. They are concentrating on draining away subsoil seepage which is damaging the rock. They are also repairing the damaged shoulder with smaller blocks and staying with the original size.

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