THE GREAT SPHINX - The Discovery
THE GREAT SPHINX, as you may remember, is something around the Giza pyramids in Egypt. Yes, the human head and the lion body. But did you know that, it is not the way it always seemed like. Discovering the great sphinx actually happened over a span of years.
To start somewhere with, this is how the Great Sphinx looked in 1857, before it was excavated. The famous sculpture was buried in the sands, surrounded by a series of mysteries that remain unsolved to this day.
The Sphinx was discovered in the early 19th century, but initially, only the top of its head was visible, with much of it buried under the sand. OK, but by that, I meant that by the modern excavation. Prior to the dig by Italian Giovanni Battista Caviglia when he discovered the chest , but the indications on the great sphinx go a few centries back, and be only traced by the ancient painting crafted at the time. Here below I will show some images that will depict the evolution of the discovery.
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George Sandys, A relation of a journey begun an dom. 1610 (1615)
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Cornelis de Bruijn, Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn door de vermaardste Deelen van Klein Asia (1698)
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Description de l'Egypte, Planches, Antiquités, volume V (1823)
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The Great Sphinx partially excavated, ca. 1878
Even today, the Sphinx continues to hold many mysteries that have yet to be deciphered by the modern civilization. For instance, why does its face does not align with whats known as the faces of the pharaohs? In Roman chronicles and Arabian tales, the Sphinx is referred to as the "Father of Terror," yet there is no explanation for its origin or its intended symbolism. 🤔
Nobody knows for sure who built it or when. The primary hypothesis suggests that the statue predates the Pyramid of Khufu, which stands nearby. The Sphinx is believed to have emerged around the 6th millennium BCE, during a time when this area experienced a massive flood. With that, Its thought to have a large probability that the Sphinx was once submerged in water.
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Yas, this is how it looks now.