Sphinx

Iconic half-lion, half-human limestone monument at Giza

The Great Sphinx is the largest monolithic sculpture in the world — a single piece of limestone, 73 metres long and 20 metres high, carved directly from the bedrock of the Giza plateau. It depicts a lion's body with a human head, facing east toward the sunrise, and is believed to represent the pharaoh Khafre, whose pyramid stands directly behind it.

The sphinx sits in the Valley Temple complex at the base of the plateau, surrounded by the remains of the temples built to receive the royal funerary processions. It is best viewed from the front — the face, much eroded, still conveys the scale of the original vision. Enter the Giza plateau ticket compound to reach it. Visiting at different times of day gives different lighting; the early morning or late afternoon sun on the stone is particularly good.

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A story

The Sphinx spent most of its existence buried to the neck in sand — it was excavated and re-buried multiple times over the millennia. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus ordered an excavation around 200 CE. The Mamluk governor of Cairo reportedly had the nose deliberately broken off in the 14th century — a story supported by the fragmentary evidence of a chisel mark — though other accounts attribute it to Napoleonic cannon fire, a myth that has been thoroughly disproven.

☰Sphinx

Sphinx