The Sphinx
I was wondering what an I-search was when my teacher told us that we had to do one on the Ancient World. I realized it was basically a documentary of a research paper. I decided to do my I search on the Sphinx in Egypt. I chose the Sphinx because it fascinates me.
From my 4 resources I had found off the Internet and in books, I had a lot of information to work with. In my life, I was never really taught anything about the Sphinx. I thought I had some idea about. I was really wrong.
I thought that the Sphinx was a place for praying to a god. I have an educational video game that takes you inside the Sphinx. What you see in the video game is not really inside the Sphinx. One of my objectives that I wanted to find out was “Is there anything in the Sphinx? If so, what?” Actually there is nothing is in the Sphinx. It is pure stone. It is not hollow.
When I researched the Sphinx I learned some other interesting things. I also discovered that nobody really knows a true fact. For example: Ancient Egyptian Art by Susan Hodge, states that the Sphinx was made out of sandstone. This was on page twenty two of the book. However, the website, “http://guardians.net/egypt/sphinx” states it was made out of bedrock. So really nobody knows what the Sphinx was built of.
The Sphinx was built by Khafre. He is one of the sons of Khufa. Khufa commissioned the Great Pyramid. The face of the Sphinx maybe the Pharaoh Djedefre (Radjedef), an older brother of Khafre. Djedefre’s pyramid is badly damaged at Abu Roash. He is the only male pyramid commissioner in his family to not have a pyramid on the Giza Plateau. Khufa had another son, Menkarue also built a pyramid on the Giza Plateau along with his father.
I also discovered that some people think that there might be a second Sphinx. They believe that it is located on the other side of the causeway. It is most likely in very poor condition due to air pollution, water erosion, and lightning. It is most likely buried under the sand. These people have alot of facts to prove this, starting with this Egyptian Belief:
The first form of art that I will talk about that the ancient Egyptians are known for are sculptures. An example of this is the Sphinx of Hatshepsut. I just want to say a few things about King Hatshepsut since we all know a bit more about her from the lectures. Hatshepsut is known to be a successful female Pharaoh. She declared herself as the king when Thutmose III, the one next in line, was too young to rule. She ruled for about 20 years. Her reign was full of building projects and the most recognized building under her rule was the Deir el-Bahari. Like most Pharaohs, her tomb contained statues of her as well as gods to honour them and help her transcend into the afterlife.
The statue of King Khafre Seated , from the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, 2520 - 2492 BCE, was created by an unknown artist in the smooth permanence of graywacke stone. Although the statue is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as number 56 in the Special Egyptian Exhibition, its true home is at the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo. The man being portrayed, King Khafre, ruled Egypt for approximately thirty years, during which he commissioned the single most recognizable monuments of Egypt, the a fore mentioned Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. These monuments of symmetry and solidity characterize the focus of popular architecture and sculpture from the Old Kingdom in Egypt.
The great Sphinx is located on the Giza Plateau. Now days the Egypt City of Cairo is just barely 200 meters from it's paw. The three Giza pyramids also are close to the Great Sphinx.
The great sphinx ,in other words “Father of Terror”, was built 5,000 years ago. It was very tall and used for many things, So let's go on an adventure to the great sphinx. The Arabs called the great sphinx Father of Terrors because they believed it witnessed all the horrors of history. 5,000 years ago they built or chiseled the rock to create the head of the great sphinx.
Ancient Egypt has produced many great things. One of those things were sphinxes. Sphinxes were very important to Ancient Egyptians in many ways.
One of the most mysterious structures found in today’s world is the Great Sphinx of Egypt, located on the outskirts of the hustling city of Giza. Many archeologists and explorers spend their entire careers trying to answer many unknowns about the Sphinx such as, “Who built the Sphinx,” and “Why does it exist?” Although these questions do not have clear answers, there are many theories that try to crack the mysteries of the Great Sphinx.
Hawass,Zahi. The secrets of the Sphinx: restoration past and present. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 1998.
The sphinx of Hatshepsut is 649/16 inches high and 1351/6 inches long and made of granite. Once more Hatshepsut is rendered wearing a nemes headdress and royal beard.1 However she has neither a male or female body but that of a lion. One author believe that the sphinx seen above, were originally displayed on the lower terrace of Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahri. They wrote that they were six of these sphinxes “that were space evenly in two east-west rows flanking the scared route across the terrace to the ramp that ascended to the temple’s middle level.”3 Due to the positioning the sphinx it can be assumed that they were intended to depict guardianship of the temple and the religious processions into the temple. In this figure, it is apparent that the artist focused on showing the strength of the lion’s body more so than the facial features of Hatshepsut and the body is larger in comparison to the face. It can be hypothesized that this was done because the image would have been viewed from the side initially. Therefore so that the viewer would get the desired feeling or impression of strength and protection, the artists emphasize this in the body of the
Arguably one of the most important discoveries made regarding the historical and cultural study of ancient Egypt is the translation of the writing form known as hieroglyphics. This language, lost for thousands of years, formed a tantalizing challenge to a young Jean François who committed his life to its translation. Scholars such as Sylvestre de Sacy had attempted to translate the Rosetta Stone before Champollion, but after painstaking and unfruitful work, they abandoned it (Giblin 32). Champollion’s breakthrough with hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone opened up new possibilities to study and understand ancient Egypt like never before, and modern Egyptology was born.
People have believed this to be true because of the architecture in ancient monuments, such as: the pyramids, the Stonehenge, the sphinx, etc. Numerous conspirators have believed for the longest time that the well – known stone statues of Easter Island were placed by extraterrestrial visitors. The statues were actually man – made by the natives and also placed by the natives of Easter Island in their current resting place for all to see their craftsmanship. Pyramids long ago were made for pharaohs when they die or tombs they too were man made by the
Thesis statement: In this research, I will investigate the basic concepts of the Egyptian mythology and its gods.
The construction of the Great Pyramid is still a mystery and marvel to this day, there are seven major feats that archeologists still don’t understand.
- [2] Redford, Donald B, Ph.D.; McCauley, M, "How were the Egyptian pyramids built?", Research The Pennsylvania State University, Retrieved 11 December 2012.
Of all the pyramids of Egypt, the first three are held in the highest regards. This is known as the Great Pyramid. It was built for the Pharaoh Khufu. The Great Pyramid is about 450 feet tall and covers about 13 acres. The subject of this pyramid was to honor the pharaoh and show him some respect. It took about 100,000 workers and 20 years to build the pyramid.