Does anyone really know what happened to the nose of the Great Sphinx of Giza?

Question

I have to do a Global term project on this, and I've heard different conspiracies of what happened, but can anyone tell me (that has evidence to back it up, like a website) what happened to the nose on the Great Sphinx of Giza?

Answer 1

Wow, I hope no one gets mad if I use a wiki word for her...

The one-meter-wide nose on the face is missing. A legend that the nose was broken off by a cannon ball fired by Napoléon's soldiers still survives, as do diverse variants indicting British troops, Mamluks, and others. However, sketches of the Sphinx by Frederick Lewis Norden made in 1737 and published in 1755 illustrate the Sphinx without a nose. The Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, writing in the fifteenth century, attributes the vandalism to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi fanatic from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada. In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose. Al-Maqrizi describes the Sphinx as the "Nile talisman" on which the locals believed the cycle of inundation depended.

Answer 2

The one-meter-wide nose on the face is missing. A legend that the nose was broken off by a cannon ball fired by Napoléon's soldiers still survives, as do diverse variants indicting British troops, Mamluks, and others. However, sketches of the Sphinx by Frederick Lewis Norden made in 1737 and published in 1755 illustrate the Sphinx without a nose. The Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi, writing in the fifteenth century, attributes the vandalism to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi fanatic from the khanqah of Sa'id al-Su'ada. In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the nose. Al-Maqrizi describes the Sphinx as the "Nile talisman" on which the locals believed the cycle of inundation depended.

Curious and droll fictional explanations of the nose's disappearance occasionally appear in modern entertainment set in vaguely appropriate times, such as in Asterix and Cleopatra.

In addition to the lost nose, a ceremonial pharaonic beard is thought to have been attached, although this may have been added in later periods after the original construction. Egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann has posited that the rounded divine beard may not have existed in the Old or Middle Kingdoms, only being conceived of in the New Kingdom to identify the Sphinx with the god Horemakhet. This may also relate to the later fashion of pharaohs, which was to wear a plaited beard of authority—a false beard (chin straps are actually visible on some statues), since Egyptian culture mandated that men be clean shaven. Pieces of this beard are today kept in the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum.

Answer 3

Turks and French during the Napoleonic era have both been blamed for this, but pictures from before then show the sphinx already had a busted nose. It seemed a Muslim fanatic attacked it because villagers made sacrifices to it.

Answer 4

Many theories and rumors have been posited over the years. It has, however, been missing for a long time. Possibly as far back as the early years of Islam. Check wikipedia and other websites. It might give you something to go on. Good luck.

Answer 5

There are several stories. The first is that the Moslems shot it off when they took over Egypt. The second is that Napoleon's men shot it off. However, more likely than not it simply came off on its own during antiquity, either because of weathering or engineering difficulties.

Answer 6

I have read that Napoleon's soldiers shot it off with a cannon.

Answer 7

It was shot off by cannon fire by Turks.