what is the sphinx?

Answer 1

Sphinx is an iconic image of a recumbent lion with the head of a ram, of a falcon or of a person, invented by the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom, but a cultural import in Greek mythology.

The sphinx of Giza is an ancient iconic mythical creature usually comprised of a recumbent lion — animal with sacred solar associations — with a human head, usually that of a pharaoh.


Avenue of ram's-head sphinxes at Karnak in LuxorSeen as guardians in the Egyptian statuary, sphinxes are depicted in one of these three forms:

Androsphinx - body of lion with head of person;

Criosphinx - body of lion with head of ram;

Hierocosphinx - body of lion with head of falcon or hawk.

The largest and most famous is Sesheps, the Great Sphinx of Giza, sited on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile River, facing due east, with a small temple between its paws. The face of the Great Sphinx is believed to be the head of the pharaoh Khafra (often known by the Greek version of his name, Chephren) or possibly that of his brother, the Pharaoh Djedefra, which would date its construction from the fourth dynasty (2723 BC–2563 BC). However, there are some alternative theories that re-date the Sphinx to the pre-Old Kingdom – and, according to one hypothesis, to prehistoric times. Other famous Egyptian sphinxes include the alabaster sphinx of Memphis, currently localizated within the open-air museum at that site; and the ram-headed sphinxes (in Greek, criosphinxes) representing the god Amon, in Thebes, of which there were originally some nine hundred. What name or names the builders gave to the statues is unknown. The inscription on a stele in the Great Sphinx dates it from one thousand years after the carving of the Sphinx, gives three names of the sun: Kheperi - Re - Atum. The Arabic name of the Great Sphinx, Abu al-Hôl, translates as "Father of Terror". The Greek name "Sphinx" was applied to it in the Antiquity. But it has the head of a man, not of a woman.

There was a single Sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck, according to Hesiod a daughter of Echidna and of Orthrus or, according to others, of Typhon and Echidna — all of these chthonic figures. She was represented in vase-painting and bas-reliefs most often seated upright rather than recumbent, as a winged lion with a woman's head; or she was a woman with the paws, claws and breasts of a lion, a serpent's tail and eagle wings. Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (the Greeks remembered the Sphinx's foreign origin) to Thebes and, in Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus, asks all passersby history's most famous riddle: "Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" She strangled anyone unable to answer. The word "sphinx" comes from the Greek Σφινξ — Sphinx, apparently from the verb σφινγω — sphingo, meaning "to strangle". This may be her proper name, but The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology states that her given name was Φιξ — Phix. Oedipus solved the riddle: man — he crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age. Bested at last, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died. An alternative version tells that she devoured herself. The exact riddle asked by the Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the story and was not standardized as the one given above until much later in Greek history. Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a liminal or "threshold" figure, helping effect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the Sphinx, and new, Olympian ones.

Answer 2

There are 2 colleges of ideas on the subject of the beginning, age, and the builder of the Sphinx in Egypt. The accepted group are Egyptologists who have self belief that Pharaoh Khafre equipped the Sphinx around 2500 B.C., it is on the subject of the 4th dynasty. This concept makes the Sphinx approximately 5,000 years previous in accordance to Dr. Zahi Hawass, Director of Giza Saqqara of the Egyptian Antiquities employer. there is yet another college of theory which does not have self belief that the Egyptians equipped the Sphinx, yet think of that it exchange into equipped by using a sophisticated civilization 8,000 to ten,000 B.C. this college of theory has been around for hundreds of years, yet new findings provide it greater credibility. those days, Graham Hancock, John West, an American pupil, Robert Bauval, and others have offered specific information that stressful circumstances the classic ideas on the subject of the Sphinx and the entire Giza complicated. They present day information that could reason a rethinking of the type used to verify who equipped the Sphinx and the large Pyramid and for what objective. Their proofs encompass in actuality 2 products of information: First the geological alerts that the Sphinx’s erosion exchange into with the aid of water particularly than wind/sand making it lots older than before theory, in accordance to the e book Fingerprint of the Gods. 2d, astronomical alignments coach that the Sphinx exchange into for sure an equinoctial marker dealing with east, which identifies the right place on the horizon that the solar dawns on the spring equinox. end ….unique builder of the monument is now popular....it fairly is a secret not certainly solved.

Answer 3

A sphinx is a big statue that consists of a head of a man, particularly the Pharaoh and a body of a lion. I know that it signifies strength and power.

Answer 4

nobody actually knows what the Sphinx is or who it is modelled on. the Human head on the lions body has not been likened to any known Egyptian Pharaoh, so basically it is just that, a human head on a lions body that appears to guard the great pyramid at Giza.

Answer 5

it's a statue symbolizing for the strength of the pharaoh Gavra has the head of a lion and the body of a human looking to the east

Answer 6

A giant sttaue of a lion with a pharaoh's face, or a creature of myth that knows every riddle and it's answer, and presents a challenge to heroes. Story of.... Um... Whoever the greek guy was that was blind but very wise.

Answer 7

A very large stone which ancient-Egyptians carved into a lion's body with a human face ! Totally fascinating !

Answer 8

A statue

Answer 9

a big statue of a lion in egypt

Answer 10

i think that site will help you
http://guardians.net/egypt/sphinx/