The Sphinx

The Great Sphinx by the pyramids at Giza, near Cairo, stands 20 m high, is 73 m long and was carved from a knoll left from the quarrying of stone for the Great Pyramid - only the paws were carved separately. It dates from the 26th century BC, which makes it the oldest known sphinx in Egypt. Sphinxes were mythological animals, like the unicorn of northern Europe, and they are found in Mesopotamian and Greek mythology as well as in Egyptian tales. Sphinxes were usually male in Egyptian legends and female in Greek ones. Egyptian sphinxes were often constructed with the body of a lion, the tail of a serpent, a human head, and sometimes wings as well; but they could vary. At Karnak, for example, there is an avenue of sphinxes with the heads of rams. Originally, sphinxes were considered by the Egyptians to represent the guardian of the Gates of Sunset, and were erected to protect tombs from intruders. The features of the Great Sphinx are those of the Pharaoh Chephren (Kafre), whose tomb is in one of the three nearby pyramids.